Nephew got a serious virus, how can I help him reformat?

[Strawberry]

Why would you need to access components to fix a software problem...? Why does any of that have to do with prebuilts, which it isnt?

Viruses are not always causing software problems.
Seems to me you won't be able to fix this.

[chazus]

Viruses are not always causing software problems.
Seems to me you won't be able to fix this.

Viruses almost -always- cause software problems. Low level and firmware viruses are incredibly rare.

Also, they can definitely fix it. Please stop.

[Strawberry]

Viruses almost -always- cause software problems. Low level and firmware viruses are incredibly rare.

Also, they can definitely fix it. Please stop.

People gave him tons of suggestions and he's been telling them off. He's not fixing this.

[Kagthul]

Viruses almost -always- cause software problems. Low level and firmware viruses are incredibly rare.

Also, they can definitely fix it. Please stop.

Well, as long as they can get into the EFI/BIOS, yeah, they can almost assuredly fix it with a nuke and pave. But unless they can get it to boot an installer, theyre otherwise pooched. I remember a virus on my now wifes computer that wouldnt let you choose a different startup drive, locked you out of the terminal and registry, prevented you from installing some software, and had disabled/uninstalled the basic antivirus she had. Mind, this was an XP system, i havent seen anything so pervasive on W10, but im sure its out there.

So its possible, if for whatever reason they otherwise cannot get it to boot from an installer, that the system might be pooched. But id have to think simply unplugging all the drives would force it into EFI.

[Linkedblade]

I would just get him to try another keyboard/USB port to get into bios.

That seems to be the problem.

Get into bios, change the boot order and then do either a Windows repair or fresh install.

You're hung up on not being able to get into bios, then you need to troubleshoot that first.

[Alcsaar]

People gave him tons of suggestions and he's been telling them off. He's not fixing this.

Not telling anyone off, just the basic troubleshooting steps have either been attempted, or can't reasonably be attempted due to distance. My nephew is very young, I wouldn't trust him opening the PC up to try anything on there, until I am positive we've exhausted all other avenues.

[Temp name]

Not telling anyone off, just the basic troubleshooting steps have either been attempted, or can't reasonably be attempted due to distance. My nephew is very young, I wouldn't trust him opening the PC up to try anything on there, until I am positive we've exhausted all other avenues.

It sounds an awful lot like you just don't want to try to do the steps and are making excuses for why you shouldn't. Either ask your nephew, or his parents/guardians to do it for him. Phones have been invented, guide them through it if necessary

[Twoddle]

Not telling anyone off, just the basic troubleshooting steps have either been attempted, or can't reasonably be attempted due to distance. My nephew is very young, I wouldn't trust him opening the PC up to try anything on there, until I am positive we've exhausted all other avenues.

There's always the motherboard manual if you still have it, or if not:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/m...P8H61-I_R2.pdf

[userA1]

Boot to a linux distro from a thumb drive, format the hard drive from that

This. If he can't do it himself, I'm afraid he doesn't have much of a choice but to drop cash on a repair shop to do it for him.

[ati87]

Viruses almost -always- cause software problems. Low level and firmware viruses are incredibly rare.

Also, they can definitely fix it. Please stop.

Probably need a ISO file that doesn't require a internet connection.
I had annoying bug a month or so ago and the support from Microsoft download a ISO to my computer remotely that solved my issue while the ISO's I created from the tool failed halfway the download (even the ones that that was pre-created on a USB drive).

[Ice 9]

try tapping repeatedly and fast on the del key even before the image appears on the monitor. some computers are fast enough that the post interval when it can receive the enter bios command is of less than one second.

[PACOX]

If you can get to the advanced startup screen where it gives you a bunch of safe mode options, F10 brings up the option to reinstall Windows. I've seen an issue where Windows said Winload was missing. Couldn't initiate it from Settings. Troubleshooting Winload through the command line showed that it was actually still on the computer, it pointed to the recovery partition on the computer, but disabled (well the OS said it didn't exist, command prompt said it did but couldnt enable it. Trying to create a boot disk threw errors as well. An update probably broke but I had no issues reinstalling Windows from the Advanced Startup/Boot menu (the blue screen you would use to tell Windows to load your UEFI).

Actuality seems like you did try this but it also didn't work.

[serenator]

I would definitely Boot to a linux distro from a thumb drive, format the hard drive from that. like mentioned before.