O.T. Missing Folder/files

Robert in CA wrote:
I started the 8500 and went to do something and when I came back it said
it had finished the malwarebytes scan. This must be automatic because I
didn't start it. However on the spur of the moment I decided to run another
Malwarebytes scan myself and found this.

https://postimg.cc/rzVn5mMY

I quarantined it and ran another scan just to make sure it was clean. Strange
the automatic scan didn't find it?

I followed your instructions.

https://postimg.cc/14czjynF

https://postimg.cc/nXTcc2Yh

I assume now I click Repair Computer to get to the keyboard layout and then
follow the steps in your link then scroll to the bottom to the Dell Factory Image
Restore and click it, is that correct?

Robert


I like your second picture set, with the Repair Your Computer.
Something works for a change.

The first picture says it quarantined "ByteFenceGUI" which is
sitting in the recycle bin.

It's possible the first scan was a fake scan ? To
throw you off the scent.

In any case, it's a PUP rather than a malware. You can
quarantine, but it does not say whether it will come back or not.

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/detect...nal-bytefence/

Paul

Robert in CA wrote:


I assume now I click Repair Computer to get to the keyboard layout and then
follow the steps in your link then scroll to the bottom to the Dell Factory Image
Restore and click it, is that correct?

Robert

Now that Repair Computer is present, you can
continue on with the next steps, give the 8500
a "clean" OS, and see if it remains stable or not
when booted to the nice fresh OS.

Paul

I started the Repair Your Computer and it went it to a black screen
and so far the System Restore box hasn't appeared to allow me
to select keyboard layout. It's been 10 minutes now and still nothing,
just a black screen. I would of thought it would of brought up
the System Restore box by now don't you think?

Robert

It's been over 30 minutes now it should not take this long.
Should I power it off or give it more time?

Robert

It's been over 2 hours and nothing, just a black screen.
I fear I have no alternative except to power off and restart
it. First, I want to see if #3 is still OK and boots correctly to
the desktop, aside from the normal messages of abnormal
shutdown.

If it does, then I can try the F8 again and see if it does what it's
suppose to so I can finish this process. See what I mean? the
same way when we were attempting to clone the1TB for the first
time ever and it gave us that Invalid Windows OS. Which put us
in this situation after we had already done all that previous work.

Robert

I powered off and it went immediately back to the desk top
without the messages of abnormal shutdown or selecting Win 7
or any of that it just went straight to the desktop.

I will give it another try and see if I can get it to work.

Robert

I'm trying it again and I make sure I could select other options
before I selected the Repair Your Computer to make sure it
wasn't hung up at the source.

I selected it and again it went to the black screen. I don't think
that's normal. I think for some reason, there's a command missing
or it's corrupted. I gave it over 2 hours last time to respond and this
is doing the same thing. So I'm going to power it off and hopefully
bring back the desktop.

I would take pictures for you but its just a black screen and you've
already seen I enabled it and my F8 shows I have Fix Your Computer
but it doesn't work.

Robert

I forget whatever you call it but after you power up where it says Windows 7
and connects after (29) seconds is gone and also the abnormal shutdown
message did not appear! It goes directly to the desktop! I tried restarting it
and shutting it down but it went directly to the desktop each time. Whatever
it did it screwed up the #3 hd so now it goes directly to the desktop.

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
I started the Repair Your Computer and it went it to a black screen
and so far the System Restore box hasn't appeared to allow me
to select keyboard layout. It's been 10 minutes now and still nothing,
just a black screen. I would of thought it would of brought up
the System Restore box by now don't you think?

Robert

reagentc /info

The only problem with reviewing the information,
is I don't know what a good one looks like.

There should at least be a populated setosimage.

What is strange about this, is reagentc is brittle
and easily broken, yet there's no infrastructure for
maintaining it automatically (with enforced filenames
to ensure it works). WinRE.wim is an example of a fixed
filename, but the files used to restore C: go by a
variety of other names.

This isn't a cure, but it shows you how to do simple
stuff.

http://woshub.com/restoring-windows-...in-windows-10/

What I can't figure out at the moment, is how a black
screen is appropriate. The articles I can find, some
of the error situations result in a dialog with the
details. Giving the user a black screen isn't exactly
good feedback.

Paul

Well first of all we need to get #3 back to normal.

I was thinking of using the Rescue CD and have it fix
the boot problems. Perhaps that would restore everything?

As far as why reafentc /info I followed your instructions
but as you say its brittle. Maybe we need to call Microsoft
and have them Activate it because this isn't working either.

See what I mean? It's like the backspace key, it should work
but it doesn't and I don't know why?

In any case lts get the #3 back to where it was at least. So
use the Rescue CD and fix boot problems?

Robert

Hmmmmm since F8 didn't work maybe we should we try a System
Restore although this clone is so new I don't know if any have been
made but I first want to try the Rescue CD to get back to normal.

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
Hmmmmm since F8 didn't work maybe we should we try a System
Restore although this clone is so new I don't know if any have been
made but I first want to try the Rescue CD to get back to normal.

Robert

But F8 did work. It got you to a screen with a ton
of options, and one option was broken.

Doing a boot repair now, will remove the Repair My System item,
at a guess.

I don't think the ReagentC information is changed by
Boot Repair, but it might be doing "reagentc /disable"
and that's why the Repair My System disappears.

I wanted to see if we could make a "stable 8500" by
using a clean OS.

Paul

OK if it worked then why did I loose the normal logon ?

You won't believe this because I don't but the #3 hung up on
me when I was in Word. I also had the Patriot Key attached
so I could save files without loosing them and that also hung
up.

When I clicked it to removed safely the message never popped
up to say it was OK to remove and I tried several times and
eventually it wouldn't let me click at all. I also noticed that the
drive was grayed out. I opened Task Manager but Word wouldn't
close so I opted to power it down and pulled the Patriot Key.

When it restarted it did give the abnormal shutdown screen but
then went straight to the desktop

https://postimg.cc/jWNbkcWd

It normally goes to the next logon screen where it has a (29)
second countdown (what is that called? MBR????? I just can't
remember)and then the desktop but it's bypassing it and going
straight to the desktop.

So how do we get it to logon 'normally' again without disturbing
the repair and I get the (29) second countdown screen back
(whatever its called) which then loads the desktop.

Robert

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm so if this worked do you want
me to put the 1TB back in the 8500 and see if I can connect
the external hd to clone ?

If so, then I think we should try cloning #4 and keep #3 as a
backup just in case. Since it's the only other hd I have with Win
7 on it.

What do you think?

Robert

How could it have worked when it never gave me the System Restore
popup to select keyboard display so I could select the Dell Factory
Imagine Restore?


All I had both times was a black screen


Robert