Newbie here...

[Fer van Herwaarden]

Nope, there wasn't a drive in the PC, only connected with usb3 (I double checked, it's the Seagate.)

 

But not a normal drive other than the SSD inside the PC.. 

 

Also, still loading screen, over 5 minutes now... 

[Fer van Herwaarden]

Still loading.... Lol 

 

It's like having a Pentium 2 all over again! (Trying to keep it light here haha) 

 

 

[Fer van Herwaarden]

It's started, and plugged back the USB drive.. 

no change, after trying to start it without.. 
any more things I could try?  

Also, really would like to thank you guys for being so patient with me! 
and for your time to think about this and advice given so far! 
really do appreciate that! 

[UrbanFreestyle]

only thing i can think of is to default the BIOS (i think you said it was updated to the latest version)

Take the boot drive out and plug in a spare HDD and do a fresh install of Windows on it to see if that helps.

[Fer van Herwaarden]

Yeah, that's not possible, I don't have a key or a spare harddrive in my possession here, the guy did install windows from his flashdrive..  (also, I only had to pay for the parts and shipping though.. as it was a friend, but lost contact with him, and now I don't even live in the Netherlands anymore, I moved to Spain, and still not able to speak good Spanish yet.. so I can't really ask anyone here to have a look, or, buy windows here, since it's only in Spanish here, I already went to a pc store here, no english versions..)   

I am thinking about reinstalling windows, if I manage to find a legit and affordable one, as I looked at MS website, and no way I am paying 199 dollars for windows 10 pro... lol  

And I am too scared to try to download a "illegal" copy...  because of all the shit that is out there with malware, spyware or things I don't even know they exist yet..   

The Bios is up to date, and I managed to "load optimized default settings"... which where applied successfully, but still the same result..  

 

[UrbanFreestyle]

wish you lived closer so we could sort this out, i have lots of spares to diagnose the issues lol

[VanHeist]

Wait. Didnt Linus make a video about how you can actually just download windows from their site and use it non-activated, and everything will work?

[Fer van Herwaarden]

1 minute ago, VanHeist said:

Wait. Didnt Linus make a video about how you can actually just download windows from their site and use it non-activated, and everything will work?

yeah, but after 30 days it will be locked... I think, it was for testing only...  

or am I wrong? 

[UrbanFreestyle]

exactly this is just for testing with a spare drive. if the issue is fixed you know there is an issue with the SSD.

if it doesnt help then you just put the SSD back in.

[Fer van Herwaarden]

1 minute ago, UrbanFreestyle said:

exactly this is just for testing with a spare drive. if the issue is fixed you know there is an issue with the SSD.

if it doesnt help then you just put the SSD back in.

Okay, I will see if I can get my hands on a HDD or something, or maybe I just buy a smaller SSD.... and try it out.. 

Thanks, this will take some time, as I am also in the middle of trying to move to the south of Spain... 
 

[Fer van Herwaarden]

Yesterday I found out that I only had 60GB left on the SSD... turned out, my adobe premiere folder was located on the video folder on the SSD....  so,  I cleaned everything up, and now I have 320GB free again. 

this morning something different happened... (which freaked me out)  after 15 minutes of loading, the screen turned black, with the "dot circle/loading thing" moving... after 20 minutes I turned off my PC,  and removed the SSD disk... and reconnected it with another free cable (except the cable that is connected to the mainboard, as I remembered that needs to be in the same connector.. so I changed the power (the wider cable)  to another one. 

then rebooted,  and instantly I say "repair......"  after a minute, pc rebooted again, but again, took 15 minutes to completely start up... 

I might go see if I can get my hands on a 240GB SSD disk,  and will see if I can download a legal version of windows, to test it,  and maybe I can buy a key only for cheap somewhere (if someone here knows where to get a cheap key, please send me a message, would mean the world to me, as I am scared one dat my pc just dies...)  

the reason I am scared is I am disabled,  I use my pc to be connected with the world (Facebook, YouTube) as I don't go out much, as I am in pain most of the day..  

Again thanks everyone, for the patience you have with me, and for all the help so far! 
 

[VanHeist]

I would suggest to try unplug the connector (on mainboard and SSD if possible) from the SSD (make sure PC is off) and just reconnect it, maybe there is a bad connection.

Just make sure you plug it in the same connector it came out from. Also were you able to change to AHCI mode or something? i can look up a guide for you it is not that hard.

 

Let me know

 

PS: 60GB Free space on 500GB SSD should be fine and not cause long loadings. They recommend to leave around 10% free I think.

 

Edited January 31, 2019 by VanHeist

[Fer van Herwaarden]

5 hours ago, VanHeist said:

I would suggest to try unplug the connector (on mainboard and SSD if possible) from the SSD (make sure PC is off) and just reconnect it, maybe there is a bad connection.

Just make sure you plug it in the same connector it came out from. Also were you able to change to AHCI mode or something? i can look up a guide for you it is not that hard.

 

Let me know

 

PS: 60GB Free space on 500GB SSD should be fine and not cause long loadings. They recommend to leave around 10% free I think.

 

I did this today,  but I am struggling to make a bootable USB stick for windows.. 
with the mircrosoft tool it keeps failing without explanation... (tried it 10 times so far..)  

After the third attempt testing if I could install windows on the new SSD, it did not work... 
so changed the old SSD back,  and suddenly,  within 3 seconds windows was completely started. 

then windows kinda forced me to do updates, and now its more up to date, and explorer looks different.. 
All I need to do now, is making a bootable USB windows thing... so I can install the new SSD with windows 10... 
so I can use the old SSD as storage..  (I will only format it when everything works again) 

I asked a friend of mine, he said, he thinks it might be some update issue, that was stuck in a loop, and somehow the loop was broken through... and now the pc starts fast again! and also seem to work a little bit faster too.... 

I am currently trying to make that USB boot stick again, after updating everything here.. 
so hopefully that will work now.... 


 

[Fer van Herwaarden]

I hope this is coming through correct... 
everything works like a charm,  reboot time, less then 10 seconds! 


Benchmark of my pc: 
UserBenchmarks: Game 65%, Desk 70%, Work 48%
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 - 72.8%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060-6GB - 66.7%
SSD: Kingston A400 240GB - 83.9%
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB - 130%
HDD: Seagate Expansion 1TB - 26%
RAM: G.SKILL Value DDR4 2133 C15 2x8GB - 71.7%
MBD: MSI Z170M MORTAR (MS-7972)
 

 

[VanHeist]

Nice to hear there is improvement! I hope you get it back to the 3 second-isch!

Let's hope the loop is broken forever 

[Fer van Herwaarden]

Well, I had my very first experience with Ransomware yesterday! 

lost all files, except my edited photos and illustrator edits folders. (just 2, the rest is gone now)  

so, maybe a fair warning for someone here,  as I have learned my lesson with trying to download and install illegal software like adobe illustrator, photoshop, lightroom. 
again, my own damn fault!   So in no way I want sympathy about this, as it's my own stupidity for not looking good! (told you guys I am a newbie haha) 

I had to reinstall windows, and trow away all my original photos (300+GB) as they rendered unusable, as I could not find any solution on multiple forums. 
So, every things is okay now, and I formatted the Samsung SSD drive, and made copies of the 2 folders on a USB disc and also on the Samsung disk now, so I have 2 backups now of those 2 folders... 

Here's how my original photofolder looked like, well, one folder in the photofolder: 


no more Photoshop, Lightroom or Illustrator, as I refuse to pay monthly or a shit-load at once, since I am living off benefits and don't have a lot of money for those 3 programs to install "officially".. it always went good, until yesterday, so karma bit me in the ass..  and it is what it is!
I had fun as long as I managed to use it... 

after it happened there was a text file, located in every folder on C:/ and D:/ drives, with this info: 

---= GANDCRAB V5.1 =---

**********************UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT DELETE THIS FILE, UNTIL ALL YOUR DATA IS RECOVERED**********************

****FAILING TO DO SO, WILL RESULT IN YOUR SYSTEM CORRUPTION, IF THERE ARE DECRYPTION ERRORS****

Attention!

All your files, documents, photos, databases and other important files are encrypted and have the extension: .FLVYYMHTV

The only method of recovering files is to purchase an unique private key. Only we can give you this key and only we can recover your files.

The server with your key is in a closed network TOR. You can get there by the following ways:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| 0. Download Tor browser - https://www.torproject.org/

| 1. Install Tor browser 
| 2. Open Tor Browser 
| 3. Open link in TOR browser: http://gandcrabmfe6mnef.onion/12cdfb1db81246d2 
| 4. Follow the instructions on this page

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On our page you will see instructions on payment and get the opportunity to decrypt 1 file for free.

ATTENTION!

IN ORDER TO PREVENT DATA DAMAGE:

* DO NOT MODIFY ENCRYPTED FILES
* DO NOT CHANGE DATA BELOW

---BEGIN GANDCRAB KEY---
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
---END GANDCRAB KEY---

---BEGIN PC DATA---
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
---END PC DATA---

[VanHeist]

Dang it, i feel sorry for you man. Ofcourse there always are alot of dangers that comes with unofficial downloads but still, i know how you feel..

I think it may have been possible to recover some files, but that will propably depend on the kind of encryption on the files and how good they made the scam.

 

Since the scam wants you to go to Tor browser, there is no way this is 'legal' either. So imo there's no karma involved here. Just scammers.

 

Ive been watching this guy Kitboga on Twitch, he makes scammers spend their time by 'trolling' them and tries to make people aware of these scams.

Link: Kitboga

 

I must say tho, these scams are most of the time not of the size you encountered. (They usually use syskey and thats on Windows 7)

 

Hope this is the last trouble you encountered! Nice to know you were able to fix it.

 

Stay safe buddy! grtz

[UrbanFreestyle]

Just gonna put this here. https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/free-decryption-tool-released-for-multiple-gandcrab-ransomware-versions/

[UrbanFreestyle]

And please don’t use pirate software

[Fer van Herwaarden]

3 hours ago, UrbanFreestyle said:

And please don’t use pirate software

no way anymore, I gave up editing and video editing because of this shit what happened. Learned my lesson... it is what it is, since I just simply can't afford the products I always used "legally"...  so,  now I have a really fast pc for facebook and youtube and netflix, with a whole lot of space!

[UrbanFreestyle]

did you try the information in the link i gave you for recovering the ransomware you were hit with?

[Fer van Herwaarden]

On 2/4/2019 at 12:08 PM, UrbanFreestyle said:

did you try the information in the link i gave you for recovering the ransomware you were hit with?

Yes, but it went "can't display the webpage" error server not responding. 

so I emailed Bitdefender with screenshots of some of my files, and the ransom letter... 
and this is what I received back: 

 

[UrbanFreestyle]

ah damn  well it was nice of them to respond. Fingers crossed buddy