The symptoms you have described indicate a failed hard drive. What makes you think that you have a boot sector virus? Repartitioning writes to the partition table while a format covers most of the drive.

I have deleted all of the partitions but the drive will not format. it comes up with the error "Boot sector write! Virus: continue? (y/n)" Even after i have repartitioned. I cannot format the drive using windows or dos and AVG cannot open the boot sector to check it. Matt matt@bbcomputing.co.uk www.bbcomputing.co.uk

As originally suggested by Rimfire - - Turn OFF your AV in the BIOS, that is what's preventing Windows from (legitimately) changing the boot sector Another case of 'self diagnosis' Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

write zeros to the drive. It will work use ultimate boot cd or visit hdd manufacturers site an download ulitily. It is also called mid level format it takes awhile but is worth it. Some ulitities work on all drives but best to be safe and get the right one. they have dumb names like data life guard utilities and such

If the BIOS AV was on all the while, it's hard to see how a boot sector virus got in. Anyway, I thought they were extinct. M2 If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

So it would seem - looks like the Chipaway virus has struck yet again. ... more Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

#1. Boot up with a DOS boot disk then FDISK /MBR - this rewrites the Boot Sector. #2. If you have it, you can also use Symantec's old NU.exe /M - Zero out the boot sector and use Norton's NDD.exe /Rebuild to repair the Boot Sector

I have the same problem except I didn't get a message about a virus. I decided to reinstall and have the same problem during format. I assumed it was a failed hard drive except I can't get into the BIOS. Is there a connection between a failed hard drive and the inability to get into BIOS? Or is it possibly a boot sector virus not letting me into the BIOS? I booted with Norton antivirus and it did not find a boot sector virus. What gives?

Jeff, 1. Why can you not get into BIOS? 2. If you boot on floppy it won't matter much what's on the HD. In extreme cases, a HD cam prevent booting from ANY device. 3. You can probably improve you ,ileage by starting a new thread in the appropriate forum with a subject like: cannot enter BIOS... bla bla M2 If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

My boot sector is also corrupted. I've tried writing zero's to the drive. I tried reformatting in another computer. None of it works. I tried a fixboot program but it says it's fine. I guess the virus fools the program to make everything seem okay. I need to know how to reformat the boot sector. Erase it all and install all new files.

What OS are you trying to use?

Try the free for first physical drive boot disk Active@KillDisk to repair the hard drive.Partition and format then install Operating System.The primary C drive must be set active:check with fdisk. http://www.killdisk.com/ Good luck.