How do I fix my laptop?

[Sadira]

Long story...My computer keeps repeating the same message over and over again everytime I start it up, the message is: For Realtek RTL8100E/8101E Fast Ethernet Network Adapter v1.02 (060510) PXE-E61: Media Test Failed check cable PXE-M0F: Exiting PXEROM Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082) Copyright ©1997-2000 Intel Corp. ...I've tried everything. Pressing F2, F12, Holding down "0" & "C", Tapping F8, Putting in a disc that came with the laptop named "Recovery and Applications/Drivers" (which I assume is the recovery disc) and afterwards restoring the computer back to factory settings, Taking out the hard drive and reconnecting in and restarting the computer. EVERYTHING!! I read somewhere that if it's repeating that same message, the hard drive is broken, but I don't understand how it could be fried, broken, etc. when all I have ever used it for was Internet Explorer, never downloaded anything. It all started when my stepdad downloaded an "Anti-virus" thing onto it, it started running extremely slow, and I asked him to look at it, he then turned on the computer hit F2 and clicked something that started with "boot" this was all before I tried all of the options I listed above. I just now tried to put the recovery disc back in and did everything exactly how I did before and it restarted and is now saying "Error loading operating system_". Also, someone told me to press "Ctrl+Alt+Del" and delete something called "System32" I would try this, except, everytime I press "Ctrl+Alt+Del" my computer just turns off and turns back on quickly. I'm sorry I have so many questions but I NEEED my laptop in order to do work, school, and social networking, please, please, please if someone can answer me ASAP I would be forever grateful!
Re: Sors' Answer, Under the "Boot" Menu, listed (in order from top to bottom" : Built-in HDD1 Hitachi HTS545050B9A300-(S1), CD/DVD HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T20N-(PM), FDD, LAN

[Sors]

The error you mention first was the laptop trying to read a program through the network adapter to start, because it could not find the windows files in the hard drive.

Now by the sound of it, your dad and you have deleted/corrupted the information in the hard drive, the normal way to fix this would be using the Recovery and Applications/Drivers disc that came with the laptop, it should give you an option to restore the machine to the factory settings. But if the problem is that the hard drive is damaged then none of this would help.

One more thing you can check is to go into the BIOS pressing F2 at the start and in that section label as boot look for what device is set be used first to load the operating system, it could be a hard drive, a cdrom, an external device, the network card or a USB device. Set it so the HDD is the first device to search for boot information.

[Graham]

It's possible your grandfather downloaded a fake antivirus. Can you supply its name? In the meantime...

Try this:

Firstly, boot your computer to the Safe Mode menu screen. You do this by repeatedly pressing F8 as soon as you boot up. Once there, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode with Networking. Continue to boot from there, by pressing Enter. You will now see some drivers being loaded. There will be a pause at some point. This usually lasts for no more than 30 seconds.

If that’s successful, open your browser, copy and paste this link into the address bar and press Enter. It's a direct download for RKill. Save it to your desktop, then run it. It takes just a minute to run. As it's running, any remaining desktop icons will vanish for a few seconds. When the notepad report is displayed, just close it.

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/rkill.exe

RKill SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THE INFECTION(S) FROM RUNNING, BUT IT WON'T HAVE REMOVED IT / THEM.

Now open your browser and copy and paste this link into the address bar, and press Enter. It's a direct download for the free version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (MBAM). Install it, get updates and run a full scan (still in Safe Mode):

http://www.myantispyware.com/mbam

You should now delete RKill, as updated versions are often made available. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is easy to uninstall, but it may prove to be beneficial in the future.

After this, try rebooting normally. If that's successful, I recommend you run another full scan with MBAM. It will detect malware that wasn't running in Safe Mode.

Hope this helps.