Has my hard disk given up?

[ARCO 245]

This is not my lucky FS period: After loosing (and re establishing thanks to AVSIM readers's help) my FS9 weather, now it looks like I may have a major problem with my HD. Here is the sequence of events:1/ One of my GF module did not work because it was not detected by my GF config. software, I resolved that problem. And I had to restart Windows so as to install the new GF module.2/ To restart Windows, I simply selected "restart" and Windows initiated its close down process, that lasted for ever (read more than 10mn), I then decided to press the restart button on my PC so as to speed up the process.3/ When restarting my PC went through the BIOS very, very, very slowly as a matter of fact, after 15 mn it is still going on when I type these lines.I don't know what that means, I never had a hard disk breakdown in 20 years and I hope this is not the sign of one. Can any one shed some light and guidance on this? Many thanks in advance.

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

I don't no if your hard disc is failing,but if you only have one good installation of FS9 on that drive ,perhaps making a backup of it while you can (albeit slowly) still access that drive.(just in case it IS going zing,fzzt, wizzz ,phut phut.cheers Andy

[Opa 6]

I don't know if your HD is failing either - but it could be that your system has been infected with a virus or some other form of malware which is "playing games" with your system.I would start by running some utilities to check for the possibilities mentioned above.Good Luck!

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

The fact that your BIOS is also affected makes me think it's a virus more than a hard drive failure. The BIOS does not reside on the h/d.AntiMalware Bytes is an excellent program for finding and removing viruses. Although you can buy it there is also a free version with a reduced level of protection. It's got me out of a few problems over the years.If you're able to download, install and run it from their site. http://www.malwarebytes.org/Cheers,