• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Vista installation (help?)

M

mulebennett

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Messages
392
So, about two months ago my primary laptop died. It's fairly new, I rarely have computer problems, etc., but my girlfriend was using it one day and told me she got the blue screen of death.

It crashed a ton of times. It's an HP Pavillion, one of the entertainment versions. Anyway, I got HP to send me the installation discs for free since it's still under warranty, but I tried to reformat it because HPs have some Vista backup hidden on my hard drive or something. I'm sorry I can't be more descriptive but it was a while ago and I'm sort of drunk.

Anyway, now I have the discs but I don't know what to do. I need the laptop for personal and work use, and the IT guy at work is a complete flake who keeps saying he'll get around to it but doesn't. How do I boot to my CD-ROM so I can get the ball rolling, since my Vista doesn't boot?

I'll be around if you have any questions or if I omitted a glaring fact, please let me know, I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thanks.
 
Just start the computer. You should see the POST screen (Should be something to do with HP), and you will see some text that will say "Hit thiskey to enter setup." It is usually F2 or the delete key. Then navigate in your bios to change the primary or first boot device to CDROM instead of Hard Disk. Save changes, pop in the cd, and reboot, you should be golden.

Note: An easier way to do this, when you are at the post screen, you may see an option that will just say hit this key to select boot device, which will let you skip changing your bios settings.
 
mulebennett said:
I'm sorry I can't be more descriptive but it was a while ago and I'm sort of drunk.
Click to expand...

Yanno, if you had waited till Jan 1st to say that, I'd have nominated it for "The Best Reason To Hate PCs 2009" :D

I'd say take a day or so, let the booze bleed out the main drain as the saying goes, and approach this from a fresh perspective - and rather untainted or inebriated state - and come back to it then.
 
Thanks Joe, but drunk is the only way to deal with this situation, I think. Or at least, it passes the time while I wait for a response. I'll post back with results when I get back on tomorrow.
 
So you can't figure out how to boot from a CD, so you thought getting drunk would help? Shit, why not have a few more drinks, and then go for a drive to clear your head? :rolleyes:

As others have mentioned, if the laptop isn't booting from the disc, you'll ned to go into the BIOS and change the boot order, or watch for a key to press to bring up a boot menu. Then, you boot from the DVD....problem solved.

If that still doesn't work, you can try booting those discs on another PC to verify that they are bootable...but if they come from HP they should work just fine.

In the future, when you have an OEM system like an HP, use the utility thats pre-installed to make your own restore discs.
 
I wasn't working on it yesterday, drunk, BTW. I was just explaining it drunk. I wasn't going to try to play around with it, but now I don't have to wait around for responses. Win-win, IMO.
 
OK, I tried to run disc 1 of the system recovery. It loaded all the files then gave me the BSOD. Fug. I restarted, entered BIOS and am now running a memory test to see if it's bad RAM and then I'll do a hard drive test as well.
 
Try just taking out one stick and running setup. If it BSOD's, try the other.
 
Hard drive failed the test. Is there a way to salvage it or am I screwed? I'm going to take it to the IT guy and let him know that it failed. Can this be reformatted or do I just need to throw it out? :(
 
I'd use something like BartPE to recover and copy off any data you might need to save. If there is nothing on the drive that needs to be saved, contact HP for a replacement drive right away, since it is under warranty.
 
Update: They're sending me a package, I'm putting the laptop in it and sending it back. When I get the laptop back, it will work, I think. Yayyy.

BTW, I live in an apartment building with a small mailbox. Will they just leave my laptop on my doorstep? For some reason that makes me a little paranoid.
 
Why are they swapping the entire laptop? You should have just asked for a hard drive, and told them what test you used to determine it was failing. They should have offered you the option to give a credit card number, and they would have sent you the drive first.
 
I'm not getting a whole new laptop--just shipping mine back for them to install the new hard drive. I don't have the time/patience/knowledge to do it myself, and it's free either way. I chose this instead of them sending me a drive to install myself.
 
Do you know how to use a screwdriver? If so, you flip the laptop over, remove one or two screws that hold in the hard drive, and replace it. They are most often labeled as well. There's no patience, time, or knowledge involved. It honestly takes less than 60 seconds.
 
The hard drive is pretty easy, because it is accessible without actually taking any of the laptop apart. This goes for most laptops, but probably not all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top