[sdiy] OT: Can your computer catcha computer virus from anothercomputer's RAM?

[Veronica Merryfield]

Just so everyone is clear, or that I got it completely wrong, Anthony  
was talking about the DDR ram not the CMOS or RTC devices. There are  
vriuses that hide the CMOS memory areas as Paul describes but the DDR  
sticks are not battery backed and are therefore safe. If in any doubt  
at all, use a reputable professional.

On 30-Jun-08, at 2:45 PM, Paul Schreiber wrote:

> Quick answer: the virus was/is in the *battery-backed* RAM in the  
> date/time IC (used to be a seperate IC, now it's integrated in the  
> system chipset).
>
> I had this exact same issue ~ 10 years ago, I thought I was insane  
> (yank the drive, yank all the RAM out, it STILL THERE!) Then, I  
> removed the battery, shoerted the battery leads to the board and  
> POOF! No more virus.
>
> Most folks don't realize that there is *unused* RAM in these ICs (I  
> think the original one was made by Motorola, then Dallas  
> Semiconductor) like 512 bytes but that's all you need!
>
> Paul S.
> been there, done that, got a tee shirt