On my Vista notebook suddenly the screen is fogged up and can’t see anything while it seems like the notebook is running ok in the background. Because I can’t see anything on screen I can’t do anything hence paralyzed.
Is this some sort of virus that my notebook is under attack or is it merely a broken screen?
If you have any idea I hope you will post your suggestion.
Check for malware with this
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.51. http://filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/
always update so you have the latest signatures before you scan
click on the remove selected button to quarantine anything found
post the scan log here
Thanks for the reply. But I can’t see anything on the screen, I can’t operate the computer without the screen. Last thing I wanted to do was perhaps system restore but while I was trying to do, the fog got thicker and finally leading to a state where I couldn’t see anything on screen.
Can you see/read anything before your OS is started…??
No, when it starts up the screen is foggy. At the beggining I could see partially the desktop, but slowly it took over and now I can’t see anything. I tried to get to boot options by hitting F8, F10, but because i cant’ see anything on the screen there is nothing i can do.
I am not sure, if this is some virus that has taken over my notebook or is it simply the broken LCD.
thanks
Looks like condensation of some sort.
Did your machine get wet…??
No it was not wet. It was running fine. For couple of days it was left alone with no Anti-Virus because I had restored the system and had not had chance to install and thats when suddenly the screen appeared foggy.
It could well be malfunctioning screen but my suspicion to being virus is because at the beginning the fog was in the middle part of the screen and was not dense, within couple of hours the fog started getting dense and started spreading across the screen and to the edges.
At the initial phase I tried to boot it up in SafeMode hoping I could restore to earlier state and may be try to install anti-virus but I was not able to move the cursor (i.e up and down arrow key) to chose SafeMode option. Not being able to use cursor to move up and down with arrow keys on safe mode also added the suspicion that it might be virus.
thanks.
Do you have the same problem in safe mode ?
@essexboy, like I wrote earlier, I was once able to boot it up with F8 or F10 to get to boot menu, I could see the Safe Mode and other options listed but I could not move the cursor using up and down arrow keys to get to SafeMode option. The mouse i.e the up/down arrow keys didnt’ work which was similar to some other virus which takes over mouse and this is why I was inclined to think this was perhaps not the case of broken screen but virus, I am so not sure.
[list]OK lets see if we get the same problem from outside of windows - if the screen is unreadable with this then there is a high probability it is a hardware malfunction
Please print these instruction out so that you know what you are doing
Latest version: v3.1.46.0
OTLPENet.exe
MD5=79209302A1AFB2490808DB890A815CED
Size: 127,222,215b / 121.3MB
[*]Download the attached scan.txt to a USB drive
[*]Download OTLPENet.exe to your desktop
[*]Ensure that you have a blank CD in the drive
[*]Double click OTLPENet.exe and this will then open imgburn to burn the file to CD
[*]Reboot your system using the boot CD you just created.
Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD follow the steps here
[*]As the CD needs to detect your hardware and load the operating system, I would recommend a nice cup of tea whilst it loads 
[*]Your system should now display a Reatogo desktop.
Note : as you are running from CD it is not exactly speedy
[*]Double-click on the OTLPE icon.
[*]Select the Windows folder of the infected drive if it asks for a location
[*]When asked “Do you wish to load the remote registry”, select Yes
[*]When asked “Do you wish to load remote user profile(s) for scanning”, select Yes
[*]Ensure the box “Automatically Load All Remaining Users” is checked and press OK
[*]OTL should now start.
[*]Double click the Custom scans and fixes box
[*]In the dialogue locate the scan.txt you have on the USB
[*]Press Run Scan to start the scan.
[*]When finished, the file will be saved in drive C:\OTL.txt
[*]Copy this file to your USB drive if you do not have internet connection on this system.
[*]Right click the file and select send to : select the USB drive.
[*]Confirm that it has copied to the USB drive by selecting it
[*]You can backup any files that you wish from this OS
[*]Please post the contents of the C:\OTL.txt file in your reply.
@essexboy,
I am currently using a netbook ‘A’ to post here
My problem is in notebook ‘B’
I couldn’t understand your instructions:
* Download the attached scan.txt to a USB drive
* Download OTLPENet.exe to your desktop <<<<
* Ensure that you have a blank CD in the drive
* Double click OTLPENet.exe and this will then open imgburn to burn the file to CD<<<
I can’t use the foggy screen notebook B to do anyting because I can’t see anything on it. I would not be able to download any thing on that notebook.
Can you clarify " Download OTLPENet.exe to your desktop" ?
Desktop meaning the same notebook I am having trouble with?
I could put the suggested files in a USB and connect to the notebook B but again because I can’t see anything on notebook B I wouldn’t be able to run anything from USB unless there is a way to run a program from usb on boot up.
I think I am little confused.
at the bottom of Essexboy post you find the "scan.txt " attached
you burn the CD on a working computer, then use it on the infected
Ok, but please read the rest of the instructions which I am confused with>>
How about OTLPENet.exe?
I am a bit confused still.
That is the controlling file that handles the task of burning the CD that you are going to use later on the effected system…
** removed **
Thanks but please read essexboy’s instructions entirely which is confusing and doesn’t seem to match with my situation.
Ok I will use OTLPENet.exe to bun scan.txt file on to a cd(?) in a working computer.
And then boot the infected computer with the CD.
But read his other instructions which doesn’t imply to my situation because I can’t anything on screen I would not be able to choose the options he is talking about like:
* Double-click on the OTLPE icon. <<< I CAN NOT CLICK ANYTHING ON INFECTED COMPUTER >>>
* Select the Windows folder of the infected drive if it asks for a location << >>
* When asked "Do you wish to load the remote registry", select Yes
* When asked "Do you wish to load remote user profile(s) for scanning", select Yes
OK, first, this is essentially a ‘test’ scenario as you will be booting to a bootable CD and that will be outside of windows.
Disregard any virus related stuff just for the moment, we want to know if you can even see the screen whilst running outside of windows.
If you can’t it is a hardware problem.
If you can see the screen clearly (then you should be able double click the OTLPE icon) then there is a ‘possibility’ that you do have a malware infection. Now you have to start the process of trying to clean the system as outlined.
OK lets see if we get the same problem from outside of windows - if the screen is unreadable with this then there is a high probability it is a hardware malfunction
Guys, see reply #3 & #4…
You may have sat, stepped or stood on it, thus damaging the motherboard and all that hardware in it, that’s why your screen is all foggy. I recommend you throw your laptop away and buy a new one.