Another guy needing computer help.

[[email protected]]

Both kids have their own laptop. HP Notebook 2000-299.
My sons was acting weird. Slow, busy icon constantly flashing, strange bar across bottom of screen.

I saw some unknown programs were added that day. I decided to do a restore. It ran for approx 3 hrs and never completed. I shut it down manually.

Turn it back on and I get 2 options. Startup repair or normal. I hit repair. Windows starts loading. I get a blue background but it looks distorted. Cursor is distorted. A black box pops up. Says couldn't perform screening, couldn't find 2 hdds on this system.

Shut it down. Remove battery. Hit power button. Turn it on. Same story.

I grabbed laptop #2 and burned system restor dvd's from HP for this model. Turn it on. Go into bios. Run some checks. Hdd quick check passed. Hdd full check passed. Didn't check memory.

Go back into bios. Select boot option to CD drive. Save changes. Manual restart and it does the same all over. Same message.

Shut it down. Opened it up and removed hard drive. Put it back in. Same thing again.

Am I doing something wrong that would cause the restore discs to no work or, is the hard drive junk? Are there actually 2 hard drives?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2

 

[DMAN999]

Here are the specs for that Laptop:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c03074596
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=4063&product=5166284&sw_lang=
There is only 1 Hard drive unless someone added a 2nd HDD.
Try starting it in Safe Mode:
Press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you'll need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer.

If it does start in safe mode run a full anti-virus scan OR if it won't start in safe mode,
download and burn this to CD and boot from it to run a full system scan:
http://professional.avira-update.com/package/rs_avira/unix/int/rescue-system.iso

After that try using the HP restore disks again and see what happens.
If you still get a Blue screen Post the Exact message from the blue screen so we can determine what is causing the problem.

 

[gamorg02]

how bad is the distortion? if the display is artifcating at all it could be the mobo as it appears the gpu is onboard.

 

[Tex85]

Instead of system restore discs have you tried a fresh boot from a regular OS install disc? You should be able to reinstall from scratch without error from a regular OS disc. If that gives you problems then you likely have a hardware fault of some sort. At that point there are quite a few boot from USB/CD tools to track down the culprit, it all depends on how far you want to dig in. If the issue ties into an on-board component / bad motherboard you will be better off scrapping the laptop since something with better specifications can be acquired for <$300.

If you do not have an OS installation disc let me know what version of Windows the computer is licensed for and I can get you a .iso that you can burn to DVD or setup a bootable USB in order to try installing from scratch.

As a last resort you can always take it in to a local service shop (however purchasing a new laptop would probably be more cost effective in the long run) or you could ship it to me and I could bring it back to life at no charge (assuming the hardware is sound) on a fresh OS load + any additional requisite software.

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the tips guys. And thanks for the gracious offer Tex.

I've tried the F8 thing. No dice. Once it goes to windows, the .cmd prompt opens and give the same error. Couldn't perform the screening because couldn't detect 2 hdds in the system.

The display problem wasn't bad. It was a 1' bar, the width of the screen, at the very bottom. Everything in this area had a green hue to it.

I have no access to OS discs. The only thing I have is the system recovery discs that you can burn when you first purchase the unit.

If it can't be fixed, its not a huge loss. This was a cheap toy for my son to browse with and do homework. We were looking at tablets for the kids but these were much cheaper and kept them happy for 2 years.

Is there a way to boot the disc from the .cmd prompt? When i try to type in there, it does nothing.

 

[Tex85]

What OS is it Mike? Win 7 Home, Win 7 Pro? Vista? XP?

I can get you a disk image, I just need to know which version of Windows. Once you download the image you can burn that to a disk and try a fresh installation.

If that process errors out then you can point the finger at a hardware problem and since it is a low end laptop my recommendation would be replacement at the point. I think trying a fresh install would be the best and final option at this point since it seems other avenues have been exhausted.

 

[DMAN999]

I'm with tex,
Try a clean install with a new copy of the OS.
Official Windows 7 ISOs can be downloaded legally for free from Digital River (the Microsoft official online distributor partner):
http://techdows.com/2011/07/downloa...h-sp1-iso-official-direct-download-links.html
If you use Win 7 (or Vista which sucks BTW) pick the one of these and then Burn it to DVD with ImgBurn at 4x speed on a good quality DVD (like Verbatim).
ImgBurn is free:
http://download.imgburn.com/SetupImgBurn_2.5.8.0.exe

If you are using XP you can download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25129
And Burn it to CD with ImgBurn at 4x speed.

Then Boot from the DVD (or CD for XP) and choose to format the HDD and install the OS.

 

[[email protected]]

Its win 7. Not sure how to tell home vs. Pro. Its a cheap unit so id guess home.

I will try making one of those discs. If I turn it on, get into bios, select boot from disc option, it should start working?

 

[DMAN999]

^ Yes put the DVD into the DVD Drive and then enter the BIOS and make the DVD Drive the first Boot device and save and exit.
Then it will boot from the DVD into the Win 7 Installation screens.
Make sure to choose Custom Installation and then format the Hard Drive.

To check which edition of Win 7 you have you need to click on the Start button then Right click on Computer and choose Properties, it will be shown at the top of the window that opens.
PS
The Specs for that PC say it has Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
So you will need this ISO:
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24209.iso

 

[[email protected]]

Cool. I will have to try this. Thanks!

 

[[email protected]]

Dennis gave me some info in baby steps to help me along. Right now, the computer is loading windows 7 ISO off a dvd. So far, it has restarted 3 times or so and seems to be repeating the same process over and over. Not sure if that is right?

At what point do I go into bios and change the boot sequence back to normal?

IF windows loads, should I use the recovery discs once its loaded or, will I be done once it loads?

 

[Tex85]

Does it look like it is in a loop (ie: repeating the same thing on screen each time prior to reboot) or does it appear to be advancing? Normal install starts with format then loading of Windows files to the disk followed by a reboot. At that point the graphical interface changes to be a bit more polished while the Windows files are being extracted and installed. Depending in the ISO there could be another reboot near the end of this phase after service pack / update installations. Then you will have to set locale and username settings. At this point the installer will prepare the desktop interface and in a little bit of time finishing booting into your regular windows desktop.

If that is not what is happening you are likely having an installation failure due to a hardware fault, this can create an infinite loop in the install process. On that hardware the install should not take more than an hour unless the ISO used is slip-streamed with all the latest updates. Even then anything greater than 2 hours would be quite abnormal.

After the install completes you can change the bios settings. If you have the option of using a boot menu instead (usually a hot key listed on screen during the POST phase allowing you to select a one time boot device) that would be better that way it will automatically switch to the hard drive. However if that is not an option the time to change it is after it completes copying the windows install files to the disk, booting from the hard drive at that point will allow the installer to continue.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[[email protected]]

After every restart everything seems the same. I see no sign of advancement.
A box appears that says install windows. I choose language,click install, have to accept user agreement, install type, where its going to be saved. Then it goes thru a list that says installing windows. This takes awhile then repeats

 

[DMAN999]

Once it copies ALL the files to the Hard Drive and starts installing Win 7, take the DVD out of the drive so it will Boot from the Hard drive.
That should allow the installation to continue.
Also Make Sure that there are NO USB devices plugged in when you are Installing Win 7.
The installation loop cause by USB deivces being plugged in is a problem that happens on a lot of HPs laptops.

PS
This guide tells you how to reset the BIOS Options back to the Default settings, do that after Win 7 is fully Installed and working.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c00364979

PS
Do NOT use the recovery DVDs after Win 7 is up and running, they just add a bunch of Bloatware from HP and will make the PC run worse than with just Win 7 installed.

Also did you Burn that DVD with ImgBurn at 4x speed like I said too, a DVD burnt at higher speeds will usually not work properly for installing an OS.

And did you follow these steps for a Custom Install with formatting ???
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/installing-reinstalling-windows#1TC=windows-7


PSS
If it keeps looping back to the Win 7 Install screen.
You should turn off the laptop and wait at least 5 seconds then reboot and repeatedly hit the F2 key to enter the system Diagnostics screen and check the hard drive and memory to be sure they are functioning properly.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...foCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=5166284

 

[[email protected]]

Good news! I'm typing this email from the problem computer. It is up and running again.

Installing the Win7 ISO was not working for me. I burned the disc at 4x and used the software that Dennis recommended. As noted, it was making no progress at all. I had nothing plugged into the computer other than the power cord. The computer restarted at least 5 times and I waited a couple hrs but it seemed to not do anything but start from scratch everytime.

I was about to give up but decided to try the recovery discs. It took some time but, it was evident progress was being made so, I stuck with it. Once it all loaded, it automatically did updates and setup my internet security so, it seems like it should be good to go.

Thanks for putting up with my questions and giving me some help. My son will be very happy tomorrow AM when he finds out its working again!

The screen problem did not go away but, it's not a big deal, just a 1" bar of discoloration at the bottom. I'm guessing it must be physically damaged.

 

[DMAN999]

^ I'm glad to hear you got it back up and running.
And yes the discoloration at the bottom of the screen does sound like it was damaged (probably banged around or had something spilled on it).

 

[Bill Seward]

Computers suck, but thanks to them for making this site possible. Ive got a DVD with XP pirate for getting older machines back running. Most of the time the owner doesn't care what OS is installed, as long as it works. Use MUBlinder to allow updates.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

My work computer (a Dell laptop) crashed a while back.
Didn't get the blue screen of death, it wouldn't get past the black screen. (I don't know crap about computers by the way)

They just mailed me a new one.

Learned my lesson well (and the hard way) few years ago and back up my documents folder to an external hard drive every day before shutting down so lost substation test documentation was minimized to one day max.

If its super important I email it to myself so its out there on our server too.