Tweaking.com Support Forums
Main Forum => General Computer Support => Topic started by: backtolife on July 20, 2014, 12:10:20 pm
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First, let me tell you that I previously posted this issue in the HP Support Forums but did not receive any information that would help me resolve the problem.
I am attempting to restore the computer's Operating System and Applications after a hard drive replacement. HP indicated they did not have the Restore Disks so they were purchased from a company that advertises that it sells the same disks originally sold by HP.
When using the restore disks, the restoration process appeared to occur as it should but, upon first reboot, after use of the restore disks is complete, I end up at a screen giving me the option of starting Windows normally, or in one of the safe mode choices. When choosing to start Windows normally, the boot process just loops. When safe mode is selected, I get a message that the installation process is not complete and asks that Windows be reinstalled. I contacted the company I purchased the Restore Disks from and they were unable to provide any assistance.
I can report that there is a very brief BSOD after the Windows XP start up screen appears with the message "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer". The BSOD is so brief that I had to film the start up process on the monitor and then play it back to actually see the message and read what it said. A review of multiple videos I've taken of the start up process does not reveal an error code. I believe it may be because video sent to the monitor disappears before the error code can be revealed. The BSOD occurs and is gone in the blink of an eye.
I can tell you that I reset the BIOS to factory settings after I had the problem. Didn't seem to help doing that.
I did try unplugging one stick of RAM and tried the restore again (didn't change anything) then I put both sticks back in and ran Memtest86+ and it found no problems with the RAM. The machine had a XFX HD-465X-ZPF2 Radeon HD4650 1GB AGP 8X Video Card installed and I tried the restore process with and without the card with the same result. I also tried the install with a different hard drive (SATA) with the same result. I also tried the restore process with a CRT monitor instead of a LCD monitor with the same result.
I did try and was successful installing Windows XP from a Microsoft Disk on the same computer and the same hard drive. Aside from the hard drive (which is the same model as was originally installed on the computer) all other hardware remains the same.
It appears to me that the files on the Recovery Disks have been transferred to the hard drive as they should but, when the second part of the Windows installation is supposed to occur (after the first reboot, with files already copied to the hard drive), it does not continue the install.
I think the BSOD occurs because the Windows install process did not finish. I believe the solution is to find the cause of why Windows does not continue to install itself after the first reboot. If I actually knew what the steps of the process are after first reboot, I'd probably be in a lot better position to figure out what's wrong.
I did try the things suggested in the following links that seem to be along the same lines as the problem I am having:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00024476&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=71747&rule=91...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320279
I was unsuccessful following these procedures but it may be my lack of experience was the cause.
I am hopeful that someone here has the expertise to guide me through the repair process. Thanks.
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The blue screen could be caused by a bad driver. If the restore disks you got where not the ones for that model then it might be loading the wrong drivers. I never use the restore disks, I always install from a normal xp cd to avoid all the preinstalled crap.
First lets find out what the blue screen says. When the computer boots and you hit F8 to get to the xp boot menu you will see safe mode and others. Down the list you will see the disable automatic restart. Do that one, then when it blue screens it will stay and not reboot and you can see what the error message is.
If it is the 0x0000007B then that means a inaccessible boot device, which is normally always driver related.
Shane
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Thanks for responding Shane.
Was able to disable automatic restart. Here's the error message:
STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF75EC750, 0xF78B7430, 0xF78B712C)
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OK good, did it show a file name under it by chance?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330182
Shane
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Sorry, no file name with the error message.
Before we continue, I need to add some information to the mix. I received another set of recovery disks from another vendor this morning. They had a much better set of instructions with them. After reading the instructions, I took the time to review the hardware that originally came with the machine. It came with a 160GB IDE hard drive, 512 MB of RAM on one stick (PC 3200 DDR-SDRAM). It had a HP PS/2 Multimedia keyboard, a HP PS/2 Scroller Mouse, and a LightScribe IDE DVD and a LightScribe IDE CD. In comparison, the current HD is a 500GB IDE drive (it is not an "advanced format" drive), the computer has 2 sticks of 1GB RAM (I removed one of them before attempting the most recent restore), the computer no longer has its original keyboard or mouse, and, while it still has a DVD writer and CD, they are not the original drives.
Not sure if this changes everything about troubleshooting the issue... btw, the new set of recovery disks do the same thing as the first set...
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The hard drive and memory doesn't require any different drivers, so those wouldn't cause any problems. Only thing to check is a memory test to make sure ram is good and a bad sector check on the drive. If both are good then those are not the problem.
Could be motherboard, but I dont trust the restore cds that come with those systems. It might be a better idea to get your hands on a xp cd with sp3 on it and install fresh instead and see how it goes.
You can also see how the system does with a different OS. Ubuntu will allow you to run it right from the cd without installing it, give it a try and see if it has any trouble as well.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download
It is either a hardware problem or those recovery cds are crap lol
Shane
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As described previously, I did do a Windows XP install on this machine with a Microsoft XP disk and was able to install it successfully. I also did the RAM and HD tests to insure they were both good.
There are no recovery disks available other than the ones I've ordered and received. I'm hopeful you have some other suggestions as to where to look next. I presume there is information somewhere about what Windows XP does when the install reboots for the first time.
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Just for info - Memtest86+ or any memory test should be done on just one stick at a time, but if you have alternated when removing one stick and nothing has changed, then the sticks should be good.
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Those recovery disks do a lot more than just reinstall windows, they put the system back to the way it was when it was at the factory, same software, drivers and all, which means all of it is very very out of date by now. When it restores it it puts all the files on the system from a clone image. Windows isn't installed but instead restored from a backup image. Which again if that backup image wasn't exactly for this system then it will have the wrong drivers loaded into it, which is why you are getting the blue screen. Then they have windows setup in what is known as sysprep mode. Where after you install everything in windows the way you want and have all the programs and drivers done you run sysprep and then make a clone image. Window windows loads the next time it is like finishing the last part of the setup again to finalize the system. (At least thats how they have been done for a long time, I havent kept up on the recovery options and if they have changed much over the years)
The best thing to do is a fresh install like you did with a normal xp cd. Then you can go to the mfg page for the system and download the drivers they have for it.
Since you did a normal install once before, is there a reason you want to use the outdated recovery cds?
Shane
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I borrowed this computer from someone and ended up screwing it up. I'm hopeful to get the apps back that came with the machine and I can deal with updating Windows once I can get it to run.
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What happened to the old HDD and why did you have the computer ?
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Long story. A friend of mine died. His wife wanted family pictures from the computer and a variety of other hard drives associated with the computer. I pulled the pictures off the hard drive in the computer and the other hard drives. It appeared that some of the hard drives had complete backups of the entire system. I decided to copy the contents of the other hard drives to the hard drive in the computer. During one of those operations something happened to Windows. I started out with a HAL file error, tried to fix it, and ended up with a partition problem. It appears that all files remain intact on the original hard drive, it just doesn't boot to Windows XP anymore.
On an entirely different note, I discovered the following discussion last night and I think it may contain the solution to the problem. The HP a1000 series computers came with both Intel and AMD processors. All the restore disk outlets sell the same recovery disk set for the entire a1000 family of computers. The problem involves a registry value called Intelppm. It may be that the restore disks I am using are set for using an Intel processor, my a1012x uses a AMD processor.
Here's the link: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/36cbcda3-0bba-47d1-a630-0b22336dedbd/winxp-sp3-bsod-0x0000007e-0xc0000005-0xbaa58756-0xbacc342c-0xbacc3128?forum=itproxpsp
I tried using the procedure found in this link below to change the value of Intelppm/start (instead of SystemSetupInProgress) but it didn't change the computer's behavior. I believe this was because I didn't have a clue what I was doing...
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00024476&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=71747&rule=915
I believe I need some way of changing the value of Intelppm that will remain after I exit and reboot.
Then again, I could be entirely wrong...
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Shane may have a fix for that but if you can boot up into Recovery on the original HDD, then perhaps a repair install may be an easier option given that you have a XP CD ? http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm
You could also see if a Kaspersky Rescue disk would repair things for you on that HDD http://support.kaspersky.co.uk/4162
There's also Hiren's Boot CD which has a Mini Windows XP to repair/recover a dead OS (so it says) http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
I fumbled my way through a Kaspersky disk recently but have never used Hiren's but with your current problems, it's probably time to look for another solution to using the OEM disks on the new HDD.
Shane may be able to give you some advice on using those disks.
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Did you do a bad sector check on the original drive yet? Reason I ask is it is odd that it would just have those partition problems out of no where.
And if you can, clone the original drive to the new drive and then we can use the new drive to try and fix xp and get it backup and running without messing with the old drive :wink:
Shane
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OK, I'm game for that as long as it isn't a destructive process. I'd like to retain the stuff on the drive.
I have checked the original hard drive and running the extended check in DLGDIAG (Western Digital) reports that all is good. I'm thinking that negates the need clone the drive. I can still clone it if you can tell me how to do it.
I have the original machine (HP a1012x) which has no OS at the moment and a Windows 7 based machine with a IDE/USB capability.
I installed the original drive back into the HP this morning. The result was:
On black screen, at the very top, left hand side of the screen, is the word Error!
I await your direction. Thanks.
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Wonder if this Repair disk with its auto repair would get you past that https://neosmart.net/blog/2012/windows-xp-system-repair-and-recovery-cds-available/
Edit - Sorry, thought this was a freebie.
The Kaspersky or Hiren's disk should be able to help, which are free.
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We want to clone the disk as a cover our butts option.
That way since we will be trying to get things work with it on the new drive, if we mess up or do something wrong the old drive is still as is and we can always clone and try again. The data is to important to lose for the wife. As a matter a fact make a backup of that data as well. That old drive will die someday and the includes all the files with it.
There are a lot of cloning programs out there, I myself use norton ghost, isnt free and is literally the ONLY symantec product I use lol
There are some free ones out there as well but since i havent used them I am not sure which one to have you use.
Normally what you would do is have the 2 drives hooked in the same system, boot off a cd or usb drive that has the cloneing software and then clone the old drive to the new.
If for any reason you cant have both drives hooked up at once you have the clone software save the clone to a image file, save it to an external or something then hook up the new drive and clone from the image file.
But no matter what I dont want to touch anything on that old drive. And the recovery disks you got are not going to work, so if you dont want to do a fresh install and then move all the files over then the only option is to try and get the old Windows working.
I still think a fresh install is best. This way all the crap programs are gone, any possible infections and the system starts new. There is free software for everything she would need, backup, cd burning, office (Libre Office) and all kinds of other stuff (I could actually give you the list of the free software I install on my customers machines with a new install), then we copy all her files from her profile over and she has all her pictures back. So please consider that option. It is the easiest and cleanest way.
Shane
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Thanks Shane & Boggin. Since it sounds like I could use the HP machine with Ghost (it can take both hard drives and boot from a CD) can you tell me what version of Ghost I'd want to get? eBay shows Ghost 2000 all the way to Ghost 15.
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The newer version of ghost handle the windows vista, 7 and 8 boot loaders where almost all the other version have handled xp just fine since xp came out in 2001. So any version of ghost should work.
Shane
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Shane, I was thinking, I should probably ask you what other programs we're going to use just in case I need to look for others...
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Here is a list, I havent used them but at least there are some lol
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-cloning-software.htm
Shane
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actually I meant programs besides the cloning program... I just bought Ghost 10 on eBay... I'll let you know when I've cloned the drive.
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Once you've cloned the HDD, perhaps one of those rescue disks could get you back in.
For me, I'd prefer an OEM machine to come back the way it was and then if there were any other problems, HP Diagnostics (in this instance) or the factory reset would return it to pristine, providing the HDD is still serviceable.
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actually I meant programs besides the cloning program...
Oh, did you mean the list of free programs I put on a customers machine?
(All Free)
7-Zip (Takes care of zip files and any other compressed files)
Acrobat Reader (Pdf Reader, some people like foxit reader, for me I stick with adobe because of customers who require it)
Microsoft Security Essentials (Pure, Simple, File only antivirus. Normally all that is needed, all the other stuff is just bloat)
F-Backup (Simple file copy backup program for users to use, this is their free version, Backup4All is their pay for version)
CDBurner-XP (Burn cd, dvd and music cds.)
CleanMem (My own tool, this is the free version, keeps memory under control and the use of the page file less, which is where the perfomance increase comes from, also keeps firefox and such under control with memory)
Firefox (My perfered browser. Chrome is good as well, stay aways from IE)
Adobe Flash (Flash for websites that use it)
Hashtab (Adds a tab to the proerties of any file allowing you to see the md5 and other hash info. very helpful when needed)
VSO Image Resizer (Easy picture resizing tool for users, they can right click on a photo and resize it, since pictures off a camer are freaking huge and take up space)
ImgBurn (Burn iso images if needed)
Libre Office (Free office suite, handles all the MS office files as well)
Thunderbird (Email client, same makers of firefox, I use it instead of outlook)
Paint.Net (Picture editing)
Picasa (An extra for users who like it, being able to catalog your photos by face is very nice in this)
Shane
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I'm not sure if I'm destined to ever clone a drive. I got Ghost 10 today, tried to load it on the Win 7 machine but it isn't compatible. I then went to the XP machine, loaded XP onto a SATA drive, then loaded Ghost onto that drive. I also hooked up the original IDE drive and the matching new IDE drive. When I look at the machine through Explorer, this is what I see.
C: HP_PAVILION This is data partition on the SATA drive
D: HP_RECOVERY This is the recovery partition on the SATA drive
E: 500GB HARD DRIVE 1 This is the original IDE HD data partition (with Win XP that won't boot and data)
F: HP_PAVILION This is the new IDE HD data partition (with Win XP that won't boot)
G: HP_RECOVERY I believe this is the original IDE HD recovery partition
H: HP_RECOVERY I believe this is the new IDE HD recovery partition
Ghost only reports seeing the following drives:
C:
D:
F:
G:
Not sure what's up with that. Any ideas? Thanks.
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What you want to do is make a ghost boot disk instead. I never use the ghost gui in Windows, I hate it. Instead I use their dos one (Or Windows PE now) and use it. It does the whole drives, doesnt report drive letters because it is doing the entire dirve, partitions and all :-)
Shane
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Thanks Shane. Since I last posted I gave up on Ghost and downloaded HDD Raw Copy Tool from http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-Raw-Copy-Tool/
Its in the process of copying the hard drive. I'll let you know when it finishes.
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OK, it looks like I now have two identical drives. Booting from either has the same result. In the upper left hand corner appears the word Error!
I'm ready to begin the repair.
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OK, it looks like I now have two identical drives. Booting from either has the same result. In the upper left hand corner appears the word Error!
I'm ready to begin the repair.
Cloning isn't going to restore the computer - it's just a fall back to retain the status quo should something go wrong during the clean install.
I had intended to offer my condolences on the death of your friend but was focusing on the problem at hand - but can you check with your friend's widow to see if your friend had created any system images as if/when the clean install is successful, you will be able to restore with that and as you have two HDDs, the original will always have the original personal files on.
I think you should still see if you can reincarnate the original HDD with either the Kaspersky or Hirens Boot disks prior to trying the clean install given the problems you've had so far.
Are you able to be selective in what you can restore from that cloning program or is it like Windows system image where it is all or nothing ?
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Cloning isn't going to restore the computer - it's just a fall back to retain the status quo should something go wrong during the clean install.
Yes, he knows that. Thats why I had him do the clone so that we wouldn't touch the old drive and would try to get the system up and running on the clone instead. That way we hit any snag we still have the old drive with the data as it is.
OK now that you have the new cloned drive in the system, is there any way for you to take a picture of the error you see with your phone and post it?
If the error comes up before you see anything about windows loading then I wonder if it might just be a bad master boot record. If so one quickway to try and fix that is to boot off a normal windows xp cd. When the setup comes up you choose to repair the xp and there it should take you to the recovery console.
Once in the recovery console type in
fixmbr
And have it repair the master boot record, then reboot and see if it helps at all. :wink:
Shane
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Sorry for the picture quality. The word says Error! The message come up after the typical BIOS boot information. There is no sign of Windows before the message.
Shane, I believe I've gone though the fixmbr process previously without success. I most certainly can try it again and report the results.
Boggin, I appreciate your continued interest and your help and thank you for your condolences about my friend. This man was my supervisor at one time and I am pleased that that relationship turned into a sincere and wonderful friendship. Though I received a number of hard drives (in addition to the installed drive) I would be hard pressed to make enough sense of them to determine if I could manage to restore the computer from them.
I'll report again after I run fixmbr.
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OK, I'm presented with the following getting to the recovery console:
1. E:\MiniNT
2. C:\Windows
Which Windows installation...
Which one should I choose?
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2. C:\Windows is the windows folder.
Not sure what the minint one is, never seen that.
Shane
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Shane, I believe MiniNT is the recovery partition...
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Ah, still have it do the repair for the c:\windows only
Shane
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OK, attempting to run fixmbr results in the following warning:
** CAUTION **
This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record.
FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed.
This could cause all the partitions on the current hard disk to become inaccessible.
If you hare not having problems accessing your drive do not continue.
Are you sure you want to write a new MBR?
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Yes. The boot record is corrupt and thats why you see the "Error"
go ahead and have it fix it. This is why we did the clone, just in case we do something that makes things worse lol
Shane
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After answering yes, received the message:
The new master boot record has been successfully written.
After reboot, the message at the top left hand side of the screen is:
Invalid partition table
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OK, looks like they might of had something really different on that system Go back into the recovery console and do these commands next
First make sure C: is the windows drive
so type in
CD C:\
Then when the prompt is at C: do
DIR
it will list the files, see if you see the windows folder and the others that should be there.
If they are then run these
FIXBOOT C:
BOOTCFG /rebuild
Shane
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OK. Running fixboot c: resulted in the message "The new bootsector was successfully written"
Running bootcfg /rebuild resulted in the message:
Error: Failed to successfully scan disks for Windows installations. The error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would prevent Bootdfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to detect any disk errors.
Note: This operation must complete successfully in order for the /add or /rebuild commands to be utilized.
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And did the DIR pull up the folders on the C: drive?
Shane
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Yes... Windows folder and the rest.
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OK, well we at least now know the problem. The MBR on the drive is simply corrupt. I had seen a virus infect the MBR and the ONLY way to remove it was by deleting the partition and recreating it. Nothing would get rid of it other than that. So that shows you how deep the MBR can be and trying to repair it may not be doing the trick.
I wonder if I had you get Ubuntu and install it on that drive, if it would do the dual boot option.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
Basically I am just looking for a way to completely rebuild the boot record.
Been a long day, I am off for the night. Will be back tomorrow :-)
Night!
Shane
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Thanks for the help today Shane. Have a good night.
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I found that the Kaspersky Rescue disk can initiate a chkdsk /f after it has scanned C:
This scan took about 9hrs on this machine and after I clicked on the Shutdown option on completion, went away and came back to find a chkdsk /f running which fixed my problem of a black screen, although the black screen only had a big white cursor arrow on it and not the Error alert message - but it's worth a shot.
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Hi Boggin. Since my last post I ran chkdsk /f twice from the recovery console. This is something I've done prior to now but I thought it worth another shot. The first time I ran it it reported that it had fixed an error, the second time I ran it there were no reported repairs. After completing chkdsk the second time I reran fixboot c: and bootcfg /rebuild. bootdfg again reported that it had failed to successfully scan the disk for Windows installations.
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When you ran the chkdsk /f from the Recovery Console did you enter the cmd as chkdsk c: /f so it would know which partition to check ?
Came across this Fred Langa article on the bootcfg cmd which has a slightly different take on it which may/not help http://www.informationweek.com/langa-letter-xps-little-known-rebuild-command/d/d-id/1042217?
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Download the ubuntu iso and burn the image to a disk and then try this, boot off the ubuntu cd and when it asks if you want to install or try, choose try. ubuntu will run off the cd and then try these commands to fix the boot loader on the drive.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestoreUbuntu/XP/Vista/7Bootloader
Shane
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Boggin: Yes, I did use the drive designation and I also ran the disk checking function within XP. I did read the article you referenced in your post. Thanks.
Shane: I did download the ubuntu iso, booted off the ubuntu cd, and chose try. I messed around a little with the desktop choices and noticed that, shortly thereafter, any window that opened was scrambled. I'm assuming that's a video driver issue. Anyway, a reboot with the iso resolves the problem, at least for a time.
I'm lost doing anything more. The document in the link you provided refers to rebuilding the GRUB bootload (which I don't believe I have), how to fully fix the Windows bootloader using a Windows disk (which is what we've already tried), doing something with Vista or 7 or 8 (which I don't have), how to partially fix the Windows bootloader via the boot repair graphical tool (which seems to require you to boot from a completely different iso) or via command lines (which look Greek to me). I don't know where you'd type the command lines. I also haven't seen any sign of linux type information (like dev/sda) while using at least this version of Ubuntu. What I seem to have is a graphical desktop with icons on the left side allowing you to open windows to see different things.
Anyway, needless to say, you're dealing with a virtually complete newbie using Ubuntu. Can you provide some specific instructions? Thanks.
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Just one more note. I've been playing with the idea of trying to trigger the recovery process from the cloned hard drive. The recovery partition should have the original recovery files that came with the computer on it (not the recovery disks I purchased). I used the Mini XP application on the Hirens disk to access files on the recovery partition, found an application called restore, and double clicked on it. The expect HP restore program started. I'm at the point where I can just click the button and see if it will actually run the restore... shall I go ahead?
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I am not sure on that one, sometimes you can get to the recovery option by hitting the f12 or f9 (Cant remember which it was on HP) to bring up the boot menu. Normally they have a option to recover or test. That would be the place to try the restore from.
Shane
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Just one more note. I've been playing with the idea of trying to trigger the recovery process from the cloned hard drive. The recovery partition should have the original recovery files that came with the computer on it (not the recovery disks I purchased). I used the Mini XP application on the Hirens disk to access files on the recovery partition, found an application called restore, and double clicked on it. The expect HP restore program started. I'm at the point where I can just click the button and see if it will actually run the restore... shall I go ahead?
Have you backed up all of the photos etc that your friend's wife wanted and are able to recover them, as you will lose all of those with a factory reset.
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Have you backed up all of the photos etc that your friend's wife wanted and are able to recover them, as you will lose all of those with a factory reset.
Thats why we cloned the drive. Old drive has all the data and is untouched. With the clone we can do what ever and worse case we clone it again and start over.
Shane
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I can't get to it via the function keys Shane, F10 should but doesn't start the Recovery application. I'm thinking, if it doesn't work, I just need to re-clone the original drive and start again...
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Have you backed up all of the photos etc that your friend's wife wanted and are able to recover them, as you will lose all of those with a factory reset.
Thats why we cloned the drive. Old drive has all the data and is untouched. With the clone we can do what ever and worse case we clone it again and start over.
Shane
I wasn't sure if individual files can be restored from the clone or if it was an all or nothing as the Windows system image is, but as there are two HDDs to play with then I would go for the factory reset - the idea was to get back into Windows somehow.
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Might have to. Before you do that go ahead and try like you planned, but I think that recovery partition is able to be booted off of. And see if you can bring up the boot menu from the bios instead and see if it has the recovery option.
Shane
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I think I'm back to where I started this odyssey. Running the restore application as detailed previously resulted in the machine going through the motion of restoring (though it did not start by re-writing the recovery partition). At reboot, the following message appeared:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please reinstall a copy of the above file.
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OK, the computer is back. Here's the reference I used to fix the HAL.dll message:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm
I skipped down to #4 and followed the link...
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/repairbootini.htm
The bootcfg /rebuild worked fine. Restarted the computer and it went through the remainder of the Windows setup. Windows starts and runs and the original applications are back as well.
Shane, there was no recovery option in the bios.
Anyway, Boggin & Shane, I'm sorry I wasn't able to fix this by using disk tools but I guess sometimes its more productive to go with a hunch. I'm glad that the recovery partition was intact on the original hard drive. I appreciate the time and information you provided to help me fix this.
BTW, I've ordered a motherboard with an Intel processor to see if those recovery disks I bought will work with it. You may recall I indicated that this series of HP computers came with both AMD & Intel processors. I thought the reason why I couldn't get the recovery disks to work was because the sellers offered only a single set of recovery disks for this series and I think originally HP provided two sets, one for machines with an AMD processor, the other for Intel processors, based on the model computer you had. I'll let you know the outcome.
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Well, the Hiren's disk must have fixed something unless it was one of the chkdsks you ran because previously you only had a black screen with Error on it - but glad you've managed to restore it.
Edit - the OEM disks I have for my Toshiba also have AMD and Intel drivers on it and while once it started to install Intel but changed to AMD during a factory reset, as it's supposed to detect what you have installed - so that may not be it.
Now that you have the computer back up and running, clone it again and retry the XP disks on that or clone the other HDD with the new clone and try it on that one.
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Good to hear you got it working :-)
What made this situation different is the fact that you where trying to keep the system as it was for her. Where as normally we would have just blown away the install and installed a nice fresh copy.
But when you are trying to keep things the way they are for a user it becomes a lot harder, and so we have to find and try what ever we can to get it going.
Which looks like we did. When a system gets broken like that there is normally no direct goto fix as we dont know what was actually broken. All we can do is try the fixes we known, look for new ones, and handle it as it comes. By being able to make a clone image allowed you to do that freely without worrying about the data.
Now that it is fixed and up and running, get her setup on a proper backup to an external drive! lol
Shane
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So... here's the story. The HP a1000 series computer came in twenty different models with a variety of processors. Those processors came from AMD and Intel. Three different motherboards were used. I found that the recovery disks I purchased (that were supposed to work on any of those 20 models) did not work on my machine (a1012x). I surmised that it was because the disks I received were intended for Intel based machines. To try to prove my point I purchased the same Intel-based motherboard that HP put in its Celeron based a1000 models and attempted to load the recovery disks that would not load on my AMD based machine. Well, the recovery disks worked fine on the Intel-based motherboard with only one caveat. I got a "Code Purple" warning just before Windows started. I did a little web research to find a workaround and after that, the machine worked fine.
I guess the bottom line is, if you have a HP a1007w, a1012x, a1017c, or a a1022n, you may find that your HP 5070-0329 Recovery Disks will not work.
Thanks again for the advice and help.
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No problem and I hope she will be happy with the machine :-)
Shane