HAMSTER VIRUS HELP

returntosender · Mar 24, 2021

I'd feel at peace if you all would move on. I don't know if my English is off or my typing but I have said probably three times the situation but you won't accept if. There is nothing more I can say to convince you of the truth of the situation.
Thank you very much.
Bye
I will wait for new posts that accept after reading my posts, the truth of the situation. My elevator really does go to the top. If new posters don't come then that will be fine with me at this point.

returntosender · Mar 24, 2021

For those new posters that may want to add advise I will post these few facts that seem to be overlooked by the others. Please read them so I don't have to keep repeating them.
The monitor died first.
The computer died 2nd.
When I turned it on it came on for a split
second and then died forever.
No sound, lights, it is DEAD.
The monitor is dead, no lights or menu, it is dead.
It is not a cathode ray tube, it is a slim wide hp.
Being dead I can not load or check on either one.
Both were checked using different hardware and plugs
and both remained DEAD.

Petros2015 · Mar 24, 2021

OK, good luck

Kenny'sID · Mar 24, 2021

Petros2015 said:
I can't find any info on the Hamster Virus. But I did see that it is feasible for something to peg your CPU at 100% and basically cripple the cooling. I thought that was a myth, but it seems to be real.

You may have alrady mentioned it, but how long between the death of the monitor, and the computer?

If it were mine, and I truly thought this was a virus (something I still doubt) the first thing I would do is reset the motherboard.

Then, if that didnt fix it, I would install another power supply, a used one if you have one lying around, or take it out of another computer if the wiring matches so you're out no money. You don't have to completely install the power supply into the case, just unplug all the wires from rhe board and whatnot then plug up the known good power supply. Some would prefer to install it into the case

If indeed it was a virus, it seems logical it would have had to access the bios to cause trouble like you mention, and on the very outside chance it is a virus, a reset of the motherboard would put everything back to factory settings. However, I have never heard of a virus that was able to disable or kill a power supply, the reason I would move directly to trying another, then go from there.

I understand your thoughts on this being too much of a coincidence, but they do happen.

And I wouldn't be so hard on Petrose, sometimes a little humor is the best medicine for something like this.

Sophrosyne · Mar 24, 2021

Almost sounds like a power problem, maybe a bad surge or lightning strike zapped everything. I've not heard of a computer nuking a monitor... ever and from what I have read newer monitors after 95 are immune to damage from computers telling them to run at resolutions and refresh rates not supported. There is no way to adjust the power output of the data line from the video card to the monitor to zap it either. This is sort of why I have a UPS on my computer and monitor and lately I've been seeing voltage spikes up to 135v here which probably not harmful as it within 10% or so of expected voltage but is concerning.

BNR32FAN · Mar 24, 2021

returntosender said:
A week ago or so I got hit with the hamster virus. After a few days my monitor quit and when I turned on my computer it went dead. Neither recovered and if I had a virus cd I couldn't use it with no power in the computer.
I have been reading about it and nothing I have read has seemed as drastic as what happened to my computer and monitor.
It can take over in some respects as it can direct the computer to heat up and then ...
Anyone have any experience with this and offer ideas on how to recoup. I have lost so much losing this computer. I thought of changing the hard drive but it could have disabled anything like even the power box so that is too big a shot in the dark.
I would appreciate any help or suggestions.
Thank you

Have you tested your power strip or outlet to make sure it’s working?

Taodeching · Mar 24, 2021

We all read your post and I fix computers for a living. I went and researched what you said in your OP even though you dismissed my advice. As other said there is no virus named "hamster". I do believe what you saw on your screen but that does not mean that is what caused all the problems. The fact of the matter whether you like it or not is it is a power problem.

Your monitor went out first and the surge killed you power supply in your computer. I will bet anything you get a new monitor and a new power supply and it will come back on, you know why? Because I worked on computers with the same problems.

HARK! · Mar 24, 2021

Petros2015 said:
Yes that is weird; I can't believe it could burn out monitor AND computer.
(but I believe it is your experience)
Is your computer using a power supply or just a straight power cable into the wall?
If it has a power supply, I'm suspicious of the power supply.
What happens if you move the computer into another room and plug it in there, any luck?

All PCs have a power supply, be it internal, or remote. Because Returntosender mentioned a stand alone monitor; I'm assuming that we are talking about a desktop with an internal power supply.

HARK! · Mar 24, 2021

Taodeching said:
As other said there is no virus named "hamster".

What's this?:

Hamster Removal Tool. Remove Hamster Now

This doesn't look like it would take out a monitor, CPU board, or a power supply.

Switching power supplies can deliver unlimited current, up until the point where they fail. If the voltage drops on a line; they will switch faster, to bring the voltage back up to spec.

All of the modern PCs that I've seen, have an IC that monitors for overcurrent protection. Also modern switching power supplies have a control line; and they must receive a signal from the motherboard to continue running. These two features work together to protect the motherboard and the power supply. However, they are not foolproof.

I'm supposing here; but if the power supply drifted, and began producing a higher voltage, it might have taken out the monitor first. In the process of one of the board level components of the monitor shorting out, before it opened up; it might have stressed the, already failing, power supply.

The protection circuit might have engaged at that time, and shut the system down.

Thereafter, when the computer was turned back on, the power supply might have worked briefly before it failed completely, having been stressed while it was already on its' last leg.

At this point, if it were mine; I would disconnect the power supply and test it by itself. However, I would not try to walk someone through this procedure; unless they had experience as a bench tech.

The best advice I could give, is with the power supply unplugged open up the case to the power supply.

Switching power supplies are very dangerous; because they can deliver unlimited current up to the point where they fail. They can burn the skin off of your hand.

Visually inspect it for any swollen capacitors, or any burn marks. If any of these signs are found; assume the power supply is toast.

If it's bad; be careful ordering a new one. Some companies take a standard power supply and switch up the pinout on the connectors, to make the power supply fit their proprietary configuration. Make sure you get a power supply that will work with your model number.

Some things are just best to be left to those with training and experience.

Taodeching · Mar 24, 2021

HARK! said:
What's this?:

Hamster Removal Tool. Remove Hamster Now

Sorry, I did research as soon as I saw the OP and never ran across a "hamster" virus nor heard of one before the OP

HARK! · Mar 24, 2021

Taodeching said:
Sorry, I did research as soon as I saw the OP and never ran across a "hamster" virus nor heard of one before the OP

It still doesn't look like it would damage hardware; but what do I know?

Taodeching · Mar 24, 2021

HARK! said:
It still doesn't look like it would damage hardware; but what do I know?

I agree. Thank you for bringing that information to the front about hamster

Sketcher · Mar 24, 2021

returntosender said:
For those new posters that may want to add advise I will post these few facts that seem to be overlooked by the others. Please read them so I don't have to keep repeating them.
The monitor died first.
The computer died 2nd.
When I turned it on it came on for a split
second and then died forever.
No sound, lights, it is DEAD.
The monitor is dead, no lights or menu, it is dead.
It is not a cathode ray tube, it is a slim wide hp.
Being dead I can not load or check on either one.
Both were checked using different hardware and plugs
and both remained DEAD.

It's possible that you had the bad luck of having two separate problems - a virus problem and a hardware problem - at the same time.

The virus (if you have one) and the data will be on your hard drive, or your SSD, or if the computer is new enough, NVMe. All of these can be removed and placed into a working computer as non-boot drives (sometimes called a slave drives). Then you can scan that drive for viruses and copy your data. Don't boot from the infected drive, ever. Much of the time, the drive will still be physically usable even if the power supply, CPU, or motherboard no longer is.

returntosender · Mar 24, 2021

To those of you who say they can't find anything on the hamster. Try googling Computer hamster virus and the xhamster?
There are numerous posts and links.
@Kenny, how do you reset the motherboard when there is no power?
unplug it from the power source and then plug it back in?

Taodeching · Mar 24, 2021

I saw xhamster but that is not a virus but a porn site where one could get Mal-ware. Now I found this on a technical computer anti-virus site:

Effective length of the virus is 546 bytes. It will infect all COM files unless they are already infected or if they are EXE files renamed to COM (the virus checks this by the magic number "MZ" in the beginning of EXE files).

Virus will not stay resident in memory, and it seems to infect one file at a time. It will not alter host files time or date fields.

The virus carries the names of the new and old host files within it's code. It also has one text string: "Turbo Hamster Virus!".

Hamster Description | F-Secure Labs

So even if you happened to get this particular virus it would not case your monitor to go out. As @Hark said in post 31 it would not cause hardware problems. All we are trying to do is help here to figure out what went wrong

returntosender · Mar 24, 2021

Things were flakey after the hamster but I continued to use the computer despite.
At the end of the day I was concerned with leaving it on and what it might do so I turned everything off. The next day I tried to turn the monitor on and it would not come on, no light, no nothing, it was dead. Next I turned on the pc it came on for a second as I heard it, just for a split second and then it went dead. Never to return. I took both of them in another room and hooked them up separately but got the same results, dead.
Some computers have fuses, I just thought of this and wonder if maybe it blew a fuse.

ewq1938 · Mar 24, 2021

returntosender said:
Things were flakey after the hamster but I continued to use the computer despite.
At the end of the day I was concerned with leaving it on and what it might do so I turned everything off. The next day I tried to turn the monitor on and it would not come on, no light, no nothing, it was dead. Next I turned on the pc it came on for a second as I heard it, just for a split second and then it went dead. Never to return. I took both of them in another room and hooked them up separately but got the same results, dead.
Some computers have fuses, I just thought of this and wonder if maybe it blew a fuse.

Take it to a computer repair place. There's thousands of things that could be wrong from very simple to fix to catastrophic failure and total replacement.

returntosender · Mar 24, 2021

"All we are trying to do is help here to figure out what went wrong"
It seems little to ask that you read my posts before you start throwing the same questions at me that I already answered several times. It is extremely frustrating that you think I don't know what I am saying and so it is worth ignoring

Taodeching · Mar 24, 2021

returntosender said:
"All we are trying to do is help here to figure out what went wrong"
It seems little to ask that you read my posts before you start throwing the same questions at me that I already answered. It is extremely frustrating that you think I don't know what I am saying and so it is worth ignoring

I have read your post and I was honestly trying to help, I will no more since it didn't help. As @ewq1938 said you should take it to a repair place because we can only make guesses.

returntosender · Mar 24, 2021

Taodeching said:
I have read your post and I was honestly trying to help, I will no more since it didn't help. As @ewq1938 said you should take it to a repair place because we can only make guesses.

Goes without saying.
If that was possible I surely would have rather than go through all of this.

HAMSTER VIRUS HELP

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