It's an HP desktop, and I can't get it to start up, and it is asking me for the boot CD. I don't have the boot CD anymore, and HP doesn't make it so I can't get it from them. I have tried the Antivirus rescue CD suggested earlier in the only other thread I wrote, and all I could get that to do was run a scan, but not get me into Windows (and it didn't find anything). I didn't know where to post this, because it seems like it's not an OS issue (Windows XP). Any ideas on what I could do or where I should post to to check it out?
I did post it in there too. But I worried that it wouldn't necessarily get picked up by the right people. That was for a completely different issue with a different computer. So I thought it might help to start a new thread
OK, here's the problem in about the clearest terms I can put it: I've got an HP desktop with Windows XP and whenever I boot it up it goes right into a DOS screen that just says "Reboot and Select Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in Selected Boot Device and press any key" I do not have the boot cd, and HP tells me they don't make it anymore so I can't even order it from them. Which is great. The computer also seems to be unresponsive to the keyboard at startup, as I've tried repeatedly tapping F1, F8, and F10 upon startup, and it just takes me to the above-mentioned screen. F1 is for "Setup," and F10 is for "System Restore." Neither work. So the history of this is (not sure if it's relevant): I've had this for 5 years, 4 of which it's been working and I would die if I lost my documents on the hard drive. A little more than a year ago, my internet went out at my apartment, like it often did because I lived in a crappy place. I power-cycled the modem, which according to the instructions of my internet company I was supposed to unplug the computer and modem, let them sit for a bit, plug in the modem and let is set up, then plug in my computer. My computer seemed to work fine as I shut it down, no error messages came up, nothing. When I plugged the computer back in and started it up, I got this message. I also had Norton Antivirus, all updated, and had done a full system scan like a day or two before and it said I was clean. So I have NO idea what happened. I just want to be able to get back into my Windows. If anyone knows of some way I might be able to get in without the boot disc and knowing that F1, F8, and F10 don't work, please let me know. Or if this is completely hopeless, try to break it to me gently.
Could be any number of issues failing mobo failing IDE cable or SATA data cable Power plug to hd etc This is where a second computer would be handy,as you could attach the hdd to it to see if the data can be seen either as a slave drive or in a external housing,this would rule out the hard drive as the cause,if the hdd is an IDE type,the power plug that connects to the hdd can have poor contact especially if the hd gets removed now & then,while side cover of comp is removed, start the comp, gently place finger under white plastic 4 wire connector & add slight upward pressure,if you find it starts as normal then release your finger & the comp stops loading you'll need to use tweazers to close the female contacts of the plug (turn computer off first..lol..),if this has no effect,try attaching the spare power connector if still no go attach the SATA data cable to the slave mobo socket or use the IDE's spare plug,so hdd is now on slave side & see if it boots from the slave channel A fast way of checking mobo,ram,graphic card,dvd rom etc is use a linux OS like ubuntu or what ever live cd,if this boots up & runs it means the hdd,or cabling or possibly the mobo board controller is shot HP computers normally don't have an xp disc instead they use a recovery partition F10 should get you to it,this should be a last resort,if you want data back you'll need repair mode,read on screen instructions carefully,at this stage it sounds like the hdd is'nt being detected,if you use F1 is hdd seen in the BIOS Whoa! F1 no go to get to BIOS,does keyboard test lights work,on start up, the 3 lights or at least one of em should light up (caps light etc),if not i can only assume the mobo is your issue ? using a linux live cd will confirm this You can order the recovery discs from hp for your model You can retrieve data by using another comp either internally or by external USB housing
Whoa buddy! Take it easy! When they call me a "newbie" they mean it haha. Baby steps! I didn't understand pretty much anything you said at first, but I think I've got the majority of it down from context. Please correct me if I'm wrong in my assessment of what you said. So for starters I went in and tried the trick with putting pressure on the power cable (yes, it is an IDE type hard drive). I didn't think this would necessarily be it, because the hard drive has never been removed. Putting pressure on didn't work, and neither did switching to my spare power supply line. This is where you start to lose me. I'm not quite sure what my SATA cable is, but I assume it's the only other cable coming out of the hard drive, the one that looks like it carries data to the motherboard (which I assume you have been abbreviating "mobo"). I also do not know which mobo socket is my slave one. Any easy way to tell? Next, how can I get my hands on a linux OS cd to give that a whirl? And I assume that there are more complicated instructions from there as to determining what exactly is shot... I'm really absolutely positive that F1 and F10 are both nonfunctional. The keyboard lights do come on at power up, showing me the keyboard is recognized. F8 also doesn't work (a tech guy at work suggested that for a previous problem). And HP doesn't make the discs that I need anymore. I wasted nearly an hour of my life fighting with people in India to figure that out. I cannot get the discs from HP. I would assume that the external USB housing is something I can grab at like Best Buy? Finally, how could I possibly check the information from another computer internally, as you put it? Thanks for the ideas; waiting to hear back for more.
OK ignore SATA it's a totally different hdd What model hp you got & were you given a recovery disc when you bought the comp To check the hdd on another computer,take note of the wires used in your's & where they connect to,as you have already seen you also have a spare power connector & a spare IDE ribbon connector. Lets pretend you have now removed your hdd completely,on one side you have the 4 wire connector,next to that there will be what appears to be a small set of pins & possibly a little plastic sleeve that joins two of those pins togeather (use a pen & make drawing of the position it is in if there is one,also take a look on the hdd is there a diagram that shows Master,Slave & Cable Select or is there letters stamped near those pins labeled M,S or CS,),ok now next to those small set of pins you have the wider set where the IDE Ribbon cable goes,you with me so far. Now if you have access to another comp this is where things could get tricky,is that comps hdd the same as yours as in the type of connectors it has,if so your in luck if however the cables on it are red & narrow with black connectors then that is a SATA drive,in which case you need an external housing to put your hdd into as it won't work in that comp without an adaptor,if it is the same as yours you need to do one of two things,the diagram on your hdd if there is one will show you what needs to be done to make your hdd a slave,if in doubt & there is a joiner on those pins then set the joiner to Cable Select or CS,then it's just a matter of attaching the second set of cables to your hdd then booting that comp,remember do not remove the host computers hdd or remove it's cables,just add your hdd to the spare sets of wires it has,reboot comp then reboot again when after the hdd is detected & installed,then get the data you need to a dvd,do not put any data onto the host's drive,put it all to dvd or an external hdd. Actually do a virus & spyware scan if it comes up clean do a disk check,hey it may fix it but i doubt it OK Ubuntu iso,you'll need a cd-rom or cd-rw,you need to download the 1386 version,the link below should be the one all you need do is set your location for download,it's about 600-700mb in size once you have it use imgburn or nero or whatever to burn that iso to rom http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
@scorpNZ, Here is an easy one with some guides that I always offer to the newbies. Download a Linux Live Disk.iso it’s 695MB and will take a little time to download…. HERE! Use this guide to recover files from your downed HDD using the Linux Live disk.. http://lifehacker.com/software/disk-recovery/geek-to-live--rescue-files-with-a-boot-cd-192982.php Download Imgburn to burn your .iso file to a CD-R… http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/Data-CD-DVD-Burning/ImgBurn.shtml Use this guide to burn it.. http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61 Life would be simpler if you had an Image backup of your Boot Drive, Huh? The first 3 rules in computing are 1. backup 2. backup and 3. backup : ( 2oG
Yeah, I've been a little out of pocket for a while.. Lot of problems where I work with a new computer system but it's working out, slowly. : ) How's things been going in your world?
Know exactly what you mean, my wife went to the grocery store the other day, stopped at the drug store on the way home without locking the car and had $300 in groceries stolen out of the glove box... LOL
This is a simple fix, more than likely you have corruption of your windows system files. A simple chkdsk c: /f will fix that. You need a windows installation cd or a bartpe to bootup the computer and run a chkdsk. If you can't have a bootcd, you can remove the hard drive, stick it in an external usb enclosure and run a scandisk (with the boxes to fix errors checked). One clue that you have corruption, is when you start the computer and it tells you "no OS found" or you get errors that " the following file is missing" etc. Also if the hard drive shows up as "unallocated" when read by another computer. All your data is still safe and recoverable. A few corrupted files will make the entire drive look like it's bad. But only 1mb might be bad all the other 100's of GB data is safe. The free "testdisk" program can recover your data if you can't get it to boot. Next time make a backup image of your c: drive with the free "macrium reflect" that program can restore you computer in minutes even if the hard drive has hardware failure. It's good to have since you don't have the windows installation cd.
Hey so that Linux OS CD worked great! Thank you so much 2oldGeek, that was a great guide! So I'm now browsing around and playing with / getting used to this OS. It's a pretty darn functional complete OS and seems to have about everything I would need/use from Windows. So I'm not even sure yet if I'm going to try to recover my Windows or just take the data off and save it elsewhere. I may even just continue to use the computer with this OS, as it seems to be fully functional. Thanks for all the help, everyone!
mt6112a, That version of Linux Knoppix is an older one to go with that guide. There is a link at the first of the guide where you can get the latest version. There are many versions of Linux, here is a guide for Linux Ubuntu which is the most popular version. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-v...ndows-computer/ You can install Linux as your OS or install it to run under Windows, like a program or just run it from the Live CD… Lots of choices.. I will be away at work for a few days but if you have any questions just lay them on me and I will get to you when I can. : ) 2oG
