Help w/HP notebook - Moparchat

midmomopar · #1 08-18-2006, 06:55 PM

Anyone with pc repair experience. I've got an HP pavillion that shuts itself down whlie I'm trying to install XP. I suspect it got a virus when it started having problems, so I tried to format and reinstall and this is what happened. The HD failed the bios test, and a PC store also tested it and said it was bad and replaced it. However I did not want to pay them 3hrs labor to reinstall my software, so when I brought it home to load windows, the same thing is happening. It runs about to the point where setup asks you to create a partition and then shuts down(powers off). Any ideas?

midmomopar · #2 08-19-2006, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RP Racing-#940

Have you tried emailing HP about it?

Yes, and I got a generic response with a link to their troubleshooting site for "what to do if your notebook won't boot" which basically tells me to reinstall the OS. How can the BIOS get fudged? I haven't changed anything in it, and I reset it to factory defaults just in case. What's strange is that it will run a HDD test in BIOS which takes about 35-40 min without shutting down. I'm begining to suspect my CD-ROM drive is bad.

midmomopar · #3 08-19-2006, 06:11 PM

Anyone have a recomendation for a good PC Forum that could help me with this?

1973Swinger · #4 08-19-2006, 07:29 PM

If you reset the BIOS to factory defaults, it may not have detected the right hard drive. Try going into the BIOS and setting the hard drive detection to auto. Does it come up with any blue screen errors before it shuts down? If so, write the code down and let me know what it is, I can look it up and give you a better idea what it might be. Also, just because the hard drive is new, doesnt mean its any good. Computer parts have a higher failure rate than car parts, so I would get a good hardware troubleshooting program, like one that runs off of a floppy disk that will analyze the hard drive, motherboard, BIOS, memory and everything else. It could also be a memory problem. I hghly doubt its a CDROM. If you need a good troubleshooter program, let me know, I have one that I can ZIP and email to you. You will just have to put it on a bootable floppy and run it for a few hours or overnight, it will test things pretty thoroughly.

midmomopar · #5 08-19-2006, 07:46 PM

I didn't reset the BIOS until after it crashed with the new hard drive. I don't see anywhere in BIOS to set autodetect for the hdd. I also don't have floppy, just cd-rom. Could I run this program of yours that way? I certainly appreciate your help, I'm getting tired of these yahoos at my local computer store. No, it does not give any errors before shutting down, it just shuts off.

dust · #6 08-19-2006, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midmomopar

Anyone with pc repair experience. I've got an HP pavillion that shuts itself down whlie I'm trying to install XP. I suspect it got a virus when it started having problems, so I tried to format and reinstall and this is what happened. The HD failed the bios test, and a PC store also tested it and said it was bad and replaced it. However I did not want to pay them 3hrs labor to reinstall my software, so when I brought it home to load windows, the same thing is happening. It runs about to the point where setup asks you to create a partition and then shuts down(powers off). Any ideas?

Why did you not take it back to the repair shop, it's obviously not fixed.

dust · #7 08-19-2006, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midmomopar

It runs about to the point where setup asks you to create a partition and then shuts down(powers off).

Always at the same time?

midmomopar · #8 08-19-2006, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dust

Why did you not take it back to the repair shop, it's obviously not fixed.

I probably will Monday when they're open again if I can't get it fixed myself, but they told me they couldn't be sure it was fixed without trying to reload the OS which they wanted to charge me 3 hours labor to do.

dust · #9 08-19-2006, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midmomopar

I probably will Monday when they're open again if I can't get it fixed myself, but they told me they couldn't be sure it was fixed without trying to reload the OS which they wanted to charge me 3 hours labor to do.

It aint fixed, this is a 're-check'. Tell them to just run a Linux OS off a CD.

midmomopar · #10 08-19-2006, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dust

Always at the same time?

Yes, exactly. And I have tried 2 different copies of XP. Same thing.

dust · #11 08-19-2006, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midmomopar

Yes, exactly. And I have tried 2 different copies of XP. Same thing.

Two different CD's too huh? That elimates alot of possibilties.

Have you tried going into the repair console?

midmomopar · #12 08-19-2006, 08:13 PM

No, that's the screen where it shuts down. "Press enter to setup windows, press r to repair," etc.. Besides there's nothing to repair. It's a blank drive.

dust · #13 08-19-2006, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midmomopar

No, that's the screen where it shuts down. "Press enter to setup windows, press r to repair," etc.. Besides there's nothing to repair. It's a blank drive.

I'm assuming that the Repair console will still boot off the CD but I'm going to check by taking out my harddrive on my laptop and booting to the CD.

dust · #14 08-19-2006, 08:34 PM

With the harddrive completly out, It did not reboot the system. Just sat there with a 'no hardrive message'.

That does little to help with your problem. What I wanted to do is get into a command promt.

dust · #15 08-19-2006, 08:38 PM

If I were you Id

Get a boot floppy disc and boot to that to try to work on the harddrive (format, fdisc, etc.) to try to get it to reboot again.

-or-

(what I would actually do) boot to a CD Linux

-or-

Just wait and take it back to the guys who repaired

midmomopar · #16 08-19-2006, 08:38 PM

I might be on to something here. Picture 033.jpg

This is my old hard drive. I'm assuming this is a jumper? It was not on my new drive, but it is now and XP is loading. Crossing my fingers.

1973Swinger · #17 08-19-2006, 08:50 PM

Well, looks like maybe you got it. You would figure that the repair shop tech would have made sure that the new hard drive had the jumper set if it was needed for that partcular drive. Alot of hacks out there. Hopefully it will have been as simple as that. As far as the troubleshooter program I have, Ive tried putting it on CD, but it doesnt work. You might be able to write an add on script to get it to run, I just dont have the time to screw with that lol. I just use a usb floppy drive when I use it on laptops and PCs with no built in floppy drive. My laptop doesnt have a floppy built in either, kind of annoying, but what are you gonna do? Most computer companies have pretty much stopped including a floppy drive in their laptops and most PCs too unless you specifically order one. It gets really annoying when they dont install them in servers and you have special drivers you have to load durring the OS install from floppy and windows wont allow you to load them from any other media. Good luck with getting everything back up and running!

Dust, just for future reference, trying to boot XP out of the repair console without XP loaded doesnt work, the repair console runs off of the CD, but It will not do anything if there are no OS files loaded on the hard drive.

midmomopar · #18 08-19-2006, 08:54 PM

Hey guys, thanks a lot for your help! I'm on the last step of setup and everything is running great! I sure do appreciate you guys on this board, even when it's a non mopar issue

midmomopar · #19 08-21-2006, 02:31 PM

I was using Zone Alarm as well as Computer Associates AV. I know these aren't the best programs to use, but they're free and not nearly the memory hogs Norton or McAfee are. Yes I agree that 3 hours was gouging especially since it's not like they have to sit there and watch it the entire time, they could be working on something else in between prompts.

1973Swinger · #20 08-21-2006, 04:15 PM

If you want the best virus protection that doesnt hog resources, get a copy of Symantec Corporate Antivirus and run the unmanaged client. It kicks ass and hardly takes up any resources. If you get version 10 or above, it includes antispyware that works very well. As far as a firewall, get a hardware firewall, forget the software ones, they are all resource hogs. I use the Symantec Corporate Antivirus along with Firefox and a hardware firewall, and I NEVER get spyware or viruses, and i download alot of stuff from P2P sites and stuff. I visit alot of hacks and cracks sites also, with no problems.

Groundpounder18 · #21 08-23-2006, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RP Racing-#940

Glad you got it working. BTW charging 3 hrs for installing XP is a freaking joke. 1 to 1.5 maybe. 3 is gouging.

BTW be glad you didnt have the problems I had to fix last night on a guys PC. Whole thing was loaded with viruses, trojans and malware. After fiddling with it for 3 hrs to get it to boot to a useable setup (taskbar and icons wouldnt work most the time and once you got them if you did too many programs (like 2) it would lock). Finally got it to where I could get the XP key off the compiuter (the guy's brother built it and gave it to him but left the XP disc and key at his ex's house 200 miles away). We used another oem xp disc to clear and reload XP. WOrks fine now. I put Zonealarm and avast on it along with a couple spyware removers. Reason for this computer being fubar'd? His brother didnt believe in AV or firewalls and thought he was sparter than virus programs. He had 10GB worth of porn movies hidden on this compter (20GB hdd). Now I gotta go over tonight to explain to him how to make sure this never happens again. I hate it when people dont even ty to prevent viruses.

I take care of problems like this by deleting winblows and installing Linux (my current distro of choice is Ubuntu). Life is sooo much simpler that way.

1973Swinger · #22 08-23-2006, 09:23 PM

Until you try to find software to run on it

Like I said, just use a hardware firewall and Firefox with a good AV and youll be all set.