happy birthday on startup

[den]

as soon as my machine starts-before the memory check,it starts playing 'happy birthday'. the only way to stop it is to shut down and turn off the power at the switch.also sometimes on shutdown i get series of beeps fading away after the machine powers off. help its sending me crazy

[emcron]

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like a virus to me. If you don't have anything to check for it go the the mcafee ( www.mcafee.com (http://www.mcafee.com) ) website and download a evaluation version.

[This message has been edited by emcron (edited 08-30-99).]

[den]

thanks emcrom but contacted Nortons and they suggested it might be something to do with the bios. god knows what

[fishboy]

This is a very stupid observation on my part but did you make sure this is not the set sound in the sound section in the control panel?

[den]

this sound starts before the machine does the memory check-before booting

[fishboy]

Sounds like a boot sector virus. Boot up off of a clean floppy disk and see if the computer still sings to you. You did not happen to mention if it is indeed your birthday. Try changing the system date.

[Susan]

Is this something new that's happening? If it is, you must have a virus.

What kind of system is it?

[den]

right on fishboy-it started right after my birthday.
iam running win98 on a 300mhz cyrix-32m ram-award 4.bios susan.

[fishboy]

Dude, that system date crack was a joke. Its gotta be some sort of virus or something. Try running fdisk/mbr since you say it happens before the memory count. I wish I could see this for myself.

[den]

yes i got that fishboy but it does not change the fact it first happened on the first boot after my birthday.nortons insist it is not a virus because it happens before booting as soon as i hit the switch and the music comes from the speaker inside the box.

[fishboy]

Did anyone send you one of those happy birthday emails that play music or something like that? Try fdisk/mbr and my clean boot disk suggestion. Seriously.

[den]

ill give it a go. thanks fishboy

[den]

went into setup and reset bios defaults and BINGO!!! so far so good.some rat must have zapped me

[jonathankeeping]

If what you say is true then you need to stop using your machine now!!!. You have a virus that has written to a chip on the motherboard called the EEPROM. This chip holds all the settings on it for the BIOS to even configure itself. You should contact McAfee, Norton etc and you may find that they will pay you for your computer!!! This virus is spreadable by some means so don't transfer any media around. If this a one of the first times this virus has been found then no virus scanner will detect it. If you desparetly need to get rid of this virus then contact your motherboard manufacturers for advice on flashing the EEPROM. Good Luck

[jonathankeeping]

If what you say is true then you need to stop using your machine now!!!. You have a virus that has written to a chip on the motherboard called the EEPROM. This chip holds all the settings on it for the BIOS to even configure itself. You should contact McAfee, Norton etc and you may find that they will pay you for your computer!!! This virus is spreadable by some means so don't transfer any media around. If this a one of the first times this virus has been found then no virus scanner will detect it. If you desparetly need to get rid of this virus then contact your motherboard manufacturers for advice on flashing the EEPROM. Good Luck

[jonathankeeping]

If what you say is true then you need to stop using your machine now!!!. You have a virus that has written to a chip on the motherboard called the EEPROM. This chip holds all the settings on it for the BIOS to even configure itself. You should contact McAfee, Norton etc and you may find that they will pay you for your computer!!! This virus is spreadable by some means so don't transfer any media around. If this a one of the first times this virus has been found then no virus scanner will detect it. If you desparetly need to get rid of this virus then contact your motherboard manufacturers for advice on flashing the EEPROM. Good Luck

[den]

i contacted symantec, they dont want to know.since i restored my old bios settings it has'nt happened again in 3 boots.
i will go through what happened step by step.the first boot after my birthday instead of getting one beep as usual the machine started playing 'happy birthday'. the memory check was very slow and it took nearly 10 mins to load windows. i restarted- same again. i shut down and turned off the power at the power point then back on and it started ok. it was ok for a few days then did it again. turned off at the power point and ok again. then a new variation- windows shut down ok but as the computer turned itself off the internal speaker gave a series of quick beeps fading to nothing.
i have seen this mentioned before on a forum but cant remember where as i did'nt take much notice, it was'nt my problem then. i think the heading was 'plays music at startup'. this is all true. hope we can find out what is happening.

[Susan]

ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/virdb/VIRS0548.TXT (http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/virdb/VIRS0548.TXT)

I don't think this is the virus that you have, but it could be a variation of it. The only other that I found that actually plays a tune is called kirsten.

You can go here and search for 'happy birthday' and it will be in the list.

www.avpve.ru/avp_ve.eng/index.htm (http://www.avpve.ru/avp_ve.eng/index.htm)


[This message has been edited by Susan (edited 08-30-99).]

[jonathankeeping]

Hi there again,
I've checked for all known viruses, but none are as clever as the one you have. You don't have a virus that is on the hard-drive (or at least this is not the one that is running when you first boot). The virus has actually wrote itself into your EEPROM. If this is the case then the only way to remove the virus is to flash the EEPROM. This first virus to even touch the EEPROM was WIN CIH. This virus is about 12 months old and would wipe the EEPROM. This would leave you with a dead motherboard!!! You say that the virus was activated on you birthday. This (and the fact that the virus has never really been seen before) would suggest that someone you know or who has access to your PC may have written this virus. I think you need to be very carefull and backup all your important data. Get in contact with McAfee (www.mcafee.com) and see what they have to say. Best of luck!!!

[Glytzhkof]

This all sounds almost unreal to me! Although it is possible that jonathankeeping is right about this being a virus I'm very sceptical towards it.

Here is what I'd do: Open up the computer and check whether somebody has attached some sort of "tone generator" directly to the outlet from your power supply. Somebody might have played you a little birtday "trick". The slow booting and other problems could mean that somebody has screwed up some cabling while fooling around in the case.

[jonathankeeping]

Glytzhkof does have a good point. Either way you must know someone who has a sound knowlege of computers (especially if the circuit was triggered by date, and could effect the speed of the memory check and would fail to work after the bios settings were changed. Maybe the best thing would be to contact the manufacturer or at least let someone check out you PC. Has your computer ever completely restarted of its own accord recently (meaning that the system completely restarted like when you press the reset button)?

[den]

no-one has access to my computer. i have checked under the hood and everything looks ok.no it has not restarted by itself. i am still checking forums to find out where i saw this mentioned

[den]

just had this info from mcafee
This sounds like what you experienced:

"On November 13th, some PCs around the world will play the Happy Birthday
song through the PC speaker.

A "former" programmer at American Megatrends managed to sabotage a BIOS run.
The specific information is listed below:
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends
BIOS Version: M82C498 Evaluation BIOS v1.55
BIOS Category: IBM PC/AT
BIOS ID Bytes: FC 01 00
BIOS Date: 04/04/93"

Yours might be a new prank.

[Glytzhkof]

Well den (no pun intended), I wish you the best of luck. I'm glad you seem to have found the solution. Hopefully this is not a destructive breed of virus.

[jonathankeeping]

What is the curent status of your computer? Does it still play the tune etc... or is it running the way it always did?

[SoopaStar]

man..I read through al of these posts and it seems people are missing the point:

1) he said it came one before the computer really finished booting. That means during the POST (power-on-self-test). When the computer is in this state, it hasn't even read the content of the harddrives, so it couldnt be the boot sector of the drive. Since it came on during the test, it had to be CMOS related.

2) John: he said the computer doesnt sing anymore after he flashed his BIOS. This was due to the fact that his original BIOS was the one that the nifty and crafty programmer from AMI duped up to sing the lil tune.

3) it didn't sound like a 'virus' to me at all. Unless someone wrote a virus that could detect a particular BIOS version on a particular motherboard and re-flash that bios so that it didn't affect any of this other settings........yeah right.

Hehe
Didn't meanto dump on anyone there...just wish people woudl think logically abotu the boot process before telling someone to fdisk /mbr (which can hurt his drive if there was some other problems). /forum/smile.gif

gotta love this BBS. Lots of fun and a chance to read and discuss things that one normally doesn't get to see in everyday life /forum/wink.gif
SS

[jonathankeeping]

Can i just clarify what SoopsStar is trying to say. We have already worked out that this isn't a master boot record virus on the HD. We know that there is some interseption POST which could only be caused by some hacking to the EEPROM. Therefore we do have a virus on our hands!!! You mentioned the flashing of the BIOS( i take it you mean the EEPROM) and as yet this hasn't been done.

[jonathankeeping]

SoopaStar,
You under estimate the intelligence of Virus writters. Most have worked in the computer industry and know exactly what they are doing. The last major virus of this kind was WIN CIH. This destructive virus would clear the EEPROM and render the motherboard useless. The EEPROM (Electrically Programable Read Only Memory) is the very first step of the boot process. We are now talking pre BIOS. Most modern computers are 1M-Bit Flash EEPROM's. The flash means that the EEPROM can be updated to support newer devices as and when is needed. It also gives virus writers the ability to place there corrupt code into the EEPROM. This would allow access to most bacic facilies of which includes the internal speaker. What I'm saying is that it is quite possible that this is a virus and really you need to ensure that the advice you give people is correct before you decide to give people advice!!!

[den]

goodbye from western australia
thanks everyone for your help.
yours,
den

[AuraEdge]

Ohh I dont like that speaker in the box..its more annoying than anything. I leave it unplugged. This is some prank..if you can infect a BIOS. Anyways Glad u got your problem solved

[SoopaStar]

I know what a EEProm is. But for someone to write a virus to fit the addresses of a specific bios would be pretty **** hard. Try to flash your AMI bios with an AWARD bios. will it work? hell no. Thats becuase each has different memory areas used for different things. For a programmer, no matter how crafty, to be able to access a particular memory area of the ROM, and have the virus detect that particular mobo and revision of the bios would be too much work even for someone who had extra spare time to do so.
The CIH virus was nasty. IT didnt detect a particular BIOS or memory address. it just screwed you by Flashing in garbage in place o fyour bios.

SS

[jbyron]

If it starts when you you first trun it on
as when you the pc usualy gives a single bep
then you have a good friend or family
member that knows how to write the cod on the bios to play the song
could do it with the old eeprom

[den]

this is Awards explanation
Award BIOS: Computer plays music.

Question: Why does my computer play music when I turn it on?

Answer: The music is coming from either the CPU cooling fan alarm or
a temperature sensor that triggers the sound chip built into the
motherboard. Some users hear strange music coming out of the PC
speaker and think they have been hit by a virus - they scan the hard
drive multiple times and reformat it, but it just will not go away.
The user now thinks that they have been infected by a virus that no
virus scanning software can detect today, but this is not the case
at all. The music they may hear is a variation on "Fur Elise." DFI
and other manufacturers use this tune, but other boards may use
other sound chips. Below are the possible reasons why the alarm/tune
plays:

Processor, Heat sink/Fan and Power Supply related. Processor related:

1. The processor is missing. To fix, insert the processor and set the
jumpers.

2. The processor is not seated correctly. to fix, check and be sure
the ZIF socket lever is down.

3. The processor has a bent/broken pin. To correct, fix or replace
the entire processor.

4. The processor is malfunctioning or bad. To fix, replace the entire
processor.

Heat sink/Fan related:

1. The processor does not have a heat sink or fan. To fix, add a heat
sink with a fan. All modern processors need this.

2. The processor has a passive heat sink only. To fix, add a fan.

3. The processor's fan/heat sink simply isn't cooling sufficiently.
To fix, use a larger or more efficient heat sink/fan.

4. The processor is overheating because the fan stopped. To fix,
replace the fan.

Power Supply related:

1. The power supply's voltages do not meet the ±10% specification. To
fix, use a voltmeter to check the +5V and +12V lines, or change the power supply
to a different model/brand/type.

2. The power supply's wattage is too low and cannot meet the system's
power requirements. To fix, use a power/wattmeter to check the system's power
consumption or change to a power supply to a relatively larger wattage.
For example, 250W or 300W.

3. The power supply cannot meet the transient/instantaneous demand,
for example, this happens when the HDD motor turns on. To fix, use an
oscilloscope/DSO to monitor the 5V and 12V lines during those
transient stages.

Note: AMD K6 or Cyrix/IBM/SGS-Thomson 6x86 processors require a
heavier duty heat sink and fan than earlier CPUs. See #3 in the Heat
Sink/Fan section above. The heat sink/fan may not be sufficient for
today's faster, hotter running processors like those from AMD and
Cyrix/IBM/SGS-Thomson. Intel's Pentium MMX (and also most classic
Pentium processors) do not run that hot since they are manufactured
under the 0.35-micron process, which requires less power and they
generate less heat. Also, Intel's VRT (Voltage Reduction Technology)
further reduces the power consumption (to 2.8V), so overall, these
Intel processors can use a relatively smaller heat sink/fan combo
than the other processor brands/types. This sound can be intermittent
or continuous. If there are one or two quick beeps/notes, typically
at boot-up, you can ignore it. If it occurs at other times than
during boot-up or if there is a continuous music/beeping, then
something is definitely wrong and it must immediately be checked or
serviced.