computer hangs when restarting with cd in drive

[poormansdv]

ive got a compaq 7470

20 gb hard drive

128 mb ram

from the begining;

i thought i had a virus some time ago. so i thought i would insert the quick restore disk and redo the system. thats when it all began. screen said error contact an expert to put it my own words. so i did the guy could not restore it to factor settings but he talked me into letting him reinstall win98se.

things seemede to be fine for a little while but it soon crashed again. i mean files started disappearing master boot record kept changing. i had norton on my system all the time to. so now ive got a copy of win98se. i fdisk delete partitions create partions format then install win98 all accroding to waynescomputerworld now when i try to scan for virus after installing windows 98 se the screen is black with a flashing curser.

if i take out norton and restart it loads windows but i can not scan disk

or scan drive before installing norton

my questions are this?

can a virus surrive fdisk and reformatting?

how do i check bios without endarngering my computer? i kow very little about computers but i think that it has something to do with the bios.

what can i do to get it to read the cd rom before loading windows?

i could have almost bought another compaq 7470 for the amount of money ive spent for work that doesnt last please any help would be of great help
thank for even reading the whole post

[tetonbob]

I've read a some conflicting reports as to whether or not a virus can survive a repartition/format. Depends on the type of virus, I think. A boot sector virus could in theory stay in a sector which is not wiped by the format. See http://www.graphic-forums.com/printthread.php?threadid=14898 (http://www.graphic-forums.com/printthread.php?threadid=14898)
for more information.

Have you tried using a startup disk(boot floppy), and performing SCANDISK and
FDISK /MBR from a command prompt?

You can safely view your CMOS setup info by entering it at boot - you've got a Compaq, so I'm thinking that requires you to press F10 at boot to enter. If you are not comfortable making changes, just exit without saving changes. Write down the settings you find questionable.

Check your CMOS boot order - to boot from a CD ROM, the CD ROM should be listed first. The CD ROM must also be a bootable disk.

Completely uninstall Norton untill your install problems are resolved. You don't need it until you go back online, anyway, right?

Try the FDISK/FORMAT routine again. Sounds like all you have to lose there is time, as you've done it so recently....no data loss, right?

So...FDISK /MBR, SCANDISK, then delete partitions, partition,set partition active, reboot, format.

Hope this helps...

[Jonesy]

You're not going to belive this, but your restore CD may have a virus on it. I have seen factory CD's with viruses ... honest.

If you can, check anything you are going to start your machine with in a friend's pc which has an up-to-date anti-virus program on it.

I agree... set your BIOS to boot from anything but your HD.

There are two kinds of formats ... low level and your regular high level.

Only the low level will guarantee the removal of a boot sector virus. Here's some info at the seagate site.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/ata_llfmt_what.html

Hope you solve your problem:

Jonesy