Corrupt CI.dll file?????

Hey everyone:

I was working on my Dell Inspiron laptop two nights ago and all of a sudden is shut down on me. When I tried to restart the laptop, it went directly to Start-up Repair. I tried to start it in safe-mode so I could run a scan, but it would not allow me to do that. The error read: "Boot Critical File E:\CI.dll is corrupt" The E drive on this laptop is the CD/DVD drive....... I was able to get to the command prompt and use the sfc.exe command. When I ran the options, I got stuck in a loop saying there was a repair pending and that I needed to re-boot. It always took me back to Start-up Repair. After getting frustrated for a day, I just decided to use the Dell Factory Image Restore. I had all my important data backed up on an external hard drive anyway. All I would have to do is re-install my software. No biggie. It seemed to go well, and I was in the process of re-installing my software. It got late last night, so I figured I would finish it this morning. I shut down the computer and it showed 55 updates. I let it shut down on its own and went to bed. When I tried to start the laptop up this morning, it went right back to Start-up Repair. I openly admit that I am no computer guru (probably obivious to most of you....lol). Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

MJ

Start-up Repair is a non destructive step that is worth trying because it can replace missing or corrupt files. Repair install on the other hand requires more caution.

Did you make the repair disks when you first got it?

BTW, welcome to the forum.

Yodap: I did make the repair CD, but, I know this will sound lame, my Great Dane puppy used it as a chew toy..... Never made another one (stupid, I know). Start-up Repair is fine, it just did not work. It just ran in circles over and over. I was able to reboot this morning, so I followed a link in another forum that recommended the use of TDSSkiller by Kaspersky. I downloaded it and ran it. It found a problem "Root......." cannot remember the name now. It removed the problem and everything "SEEMS" to be fine now. I have successfully re-booted three or four times now. What a pain. As soon as I get things back the way I want them, I will be making a restore point CD. I am just glad I have my data on an external and a second copy of the external stashed away in a safe place. The rpograms are easy to re-install, but the data would suck to lose.

MJ

Sounds like you may have/had a root kit virus. Nasty buggers. You want to make sure you are running a good active Anti-Virus and consider a secondary passive AV that you run manually once a week or so. If you have no active AV then Microsoft Security Essentials is not bad for free (some here have been disappointed but it is definitely better than none) and we recommend the freeware version of Malwarebytes for secondary scanning.

See our Freeware DB for links.

Some one recommended to me to run that TDSS Killer scan a couple of months ago. I downloaded it, it came in a zip file.

I run it once a month or so, only takes a few seconds.

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses...?qid=208280684

Glad to hear that you got that fixed, Music Junkie. This type of thing eludes some AV's.

And welcome to the forum! Hope to see you again soon.

Cat