beugel@cs.vu.nl (Beugel BJ) (01/28/88)
Expires: Sender: Followup-To: Distribution: Keywords: In article <676@silver.bacs.indiana.edu> creps@silver.UUCP (Steve Creps) writes: >In article <3237@sphinx.uchicago.edu> cjdb@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Charles Blair) writes: >>On booting an IBM PC I get the following error message: >>SYSTEM ERROR >>982734 [or 45698] >>ALL FILES WILL BE EXPUNGED ... >>GOODBYE > > Sounds like somebody's playing a joke on you. Sounds very likely indeed. I personally know of a program that displays weird error messages like "CPU overheated. Please wait" or "Clock battery low. Please recharge." The program manifested itself at random time-intervals after you had typed a DOS-command. It used to upset quite a few secretaries at a university here in Holland. This one was started from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file so switching off the computer might not help. Check your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and any other .BAT files for suspicious commands. Berend Jan Beugel (beugel@cs.vu.nl).
todd@net1.ucsd.edu (Todd Goodman) (01/28/88)
In article <3237@sphinx.uchicago.edu> cjdb@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Charles Blair) writes:
<
<On booting an IBM PC I get the following error message:
<
<SYSTEM ERROR
<982734 [or 45698]
<ALL FILES WILL BE EXPUNGED ...
<GOODBYE
<
<This doesn't sound like a DOS error message, and I can't find it in my
<XT technical reference. Could anyone explain it to me?
<
<I should point out that in fact no files are expunged, and the
<application I am launching runs fine (it's communications software).
<
<Responses via e-mail preferred.
<
<Thanks.
<
<--
<Bitnet: lib.cb@uchicago.bitnet
<Internet: lib.cb@chip.uchicago.edu
<uucp: ..!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!cjdb
QUARANTINE THIS PERSON!!!!!!!
They're infected.
Get the gun Hoss, we gots ta put dat poor 'puter outta ours misery.
I hope this was a joke posting. If not, then it looks like your
computer was infected with a virus. Are you the only one with access to the
machine, or can others muck with it? What software have you recently used that
may be suspect?
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own.bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (Bobmon) (01/28/88)
{Charles Blair gets weird "FILES WILL BE EXPUNGED" messages when he boots.}
Not only does this sound like someone's goofed on your bootup disk, but it
might well be a virus (hopefully benign). You might want to seriously
consider checking the DOS files against _known_ good ones (like dist. disks
that have been write-protected and locked away...)
Of course, if it's just "a bootable disk with a terminal emulator" that you
use at school or something, it's not so important. But in any case, I think
you should NOT use that disk to format other disks, or indeed to write to
other disks if at all possible.