🚀 go-pugleaf

rknazik@x102a.harris-atd.com (knazik bob) writes:
>My 386 PC reports that I have 654360 conventional memory when I do a
>"chkdsk" or a "mem" (DOS 5.0).  This is 1024 short of the expected
>amount.  I seem to remember that there was a virus that caused this
>result, but VSCAN finds nothing wrong.  Does anyone know if this is a
>virus or just some weird hardware failure ?  Any help is appreciated.

Well, it depends.  See, not ALL computers get 655360 bytes free.  For
example, genuine IBM's are 1K under the 640K barrier.  It is possible
you have an unknown virus, though I can't think of one which is 1K
exactly; most MBR infectors take at least 2K.
 
To do a quick check, what you could do would be get a System disk from
a friend that is not infected, and boot with it.  RUn their copy of
chkdsk.  If it says 655360, then you have a problem.  Otherwise it's
prob. just your BIOS.  You could also try to run "fdisk/mbr" while at
the C: prompt, and then reboot your computer immediately after. This
will get rid of generic MBR infectors.  It does not matter if the
virus is in memory at this time.  (This is true for SToned,
Michelangelo, etc.).
 
Additionally, some BIOS's allow for 1K below 640K to be reserved as a
buffer.  Enter your CMOS and check through the options to see if you
have this flag set.  Sometimes they'll allow you to switch from
location 0:300 in memory to 1K below 640.
 
Newer AMI BIOS' definately have this function, I do not know about
others.