Hi Sorry to hear you have a problem.
First of all if you want to get your files back download "mimi pe" using Bit Torrent. then burn the ISO file to a CD then boot into your computer using mini pe then transfer your files to a Flash USB drive.

If you don't want to do that like you say in your message we will continue with your problem.

Is the restore disc or discs you have from HP a full restore disc or does it extract the information from a hidden partition on the hard drive.
Have you been in touch with tech support to ask their advvice.

I have had this problem before and to get over it I had to format the hard drive and re-install windows with the restore disc it simply would not install until i'd formated the hard drive.

Be aware that some hard drives are what they call tattoed I'm not totally sure what this means but I think it's someting to do with the hidden partition, but you need to find out if yours is tattooed, I think if you are restoring from external cd's you wont have to worry about tattooing but please check.

Looking at your model on HP site the comuter would give you the option to create a set of Master Discs I assume you did not do that as you asked HP for a set of restore discs.

Anyway once you have checked about tattooing. I would go the reformating the hard drive.
Let me know how you get on.
Kindest regards Tony B.
The Dream is always better than the Reality
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Thanks for the info. I assume that the disks are full restore disks since it gives me plenty of warnings that all information will be lost. When I start the process I choose to "Format" and then a "Full Recovery".
How do I check on whether the hd is tatooed or not?
What is the best way to re-format the harddrive at this point?

Hi There As you have a full set of Restore CDs I don't think it will be a problem. If you are worried go to the HP site and check, but as I said I don't think it is a problem as from what I understand tattooing is a problem when restoring from a hidden partition and in your case you are restoring from CDs.
When you format your hard drive do a Full Format not a quick format.
I have to go out now so if you problem is not resolved I will try to help you tomorrow.
Kindest Regards Tony B. The Dream is always better than the Reality
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I appreciate you help. I don't know how to do a Full Format. I do not get the advanced options menu. When I boot with the cd it offers me to do a re-format which is what I choose, but it does what I descibed before - go through 8 cds, then get stuck with error messages. Do I enter DOS mode somehow? If so, how do I get there?
thanks
Rick

Hi There
I have been reading your User manual and before we go any further I need to know if you have followed the manual's exact Restore directions listed below. The reason I am asking this is that your hard drive has a hidden partition which should of restored your system to it Factory state, so with this in mind I am thinking you probably have a hardware problem. Sorry to ask this but did you follow the instructions below exactly. If not try them again.
Remove all printer leads and other add on cards you might of installed and also any memory you've installed.
INSTRUCTIONS TAKEN FROM THE MANUAL
1 Turn off the PC. If necessary, press and hold
the On button until the PC turns off.
2 Disconnect all peripheral devices from the PC
except the monitor, the keyboard, and the
mouse.
3 Press the On button to turn the PC on.
4 During the startup, do the following to enter
the System Recovery program:
When the blue screen with the HP Invent logo
appears, press the F10 key on the keyboard.
(You have only a few seconds to press the F10
key before the normal startup process
continues.)
5 The PC starts the recovery; wait for the
onscreen instructions to display, and then
follow those instructions.
6 Complete the PC startup, and finish the
registration process. Then reconnect all
peripheral devices.

Once you have confirmed this has been done to the manual we will go on from there.
Kindest Regards Tony B.
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Yes I did. I also talked to Tech Support who walked me through some other steps after that. Then they recommended the Restore Disks.

Hi There I think we should start looking at the hardware.
Download Memtest86 install it on a floppy or burn it to CD and reboot with it and run it at least til its done 7 full passes.
Let me know what happens. link below

http://download.cnet.com/Memtest86/3000-2086_4-10524193.html­


Regards Tony B. The Dream is always better than the Reality
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I downloaded the Memtest86 file to a disk and it looks like it works fine on the laptop. When I start up the PC I get the followign error:
"NTLDR is missing". Mt understanding is that this may be caused when the PC is trying unsuccessfully to boot from a certain drive. I went into setup to change the boot priority to the CD ROM, but it did not make adifference (I tried the DVD and CD drives). I don't have floppy drive on my laptop so I can't save it to a floppy. Getting lost here..
thanks, Rick

Hi Rick
Not going to well is it.
You are correct
When your computer starts, the BIOS attempts to find the primary hard drive's active partition to read the first sector for the MBR (Master Boot Record), it uses that info to load the rest of the OS.

For Windows NT4/2k/XP the NTLDR (New Technology Loader) takes it from there.

When you get the "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" what's most likely going on is the BIOS either didn't look for the right drive, didn't find the right partition, it wasn't active, didn't find the MBR, or the MBR didn't list NTLDR in the right place, the location of NTLDR changed, or you are looking at a hardware failure situation.
With the Media Pc not allowing you to boot from the CD to run the memory test worries me as this could be a M Board problem. What I don't understand is it allows you to load the Restore CD's even though it stops somewhere in the installation!!!. You could try setting your BIOS to default settings and then altering it to boot from CD and see what that does.

I don't suppose you have a spare hard drive available so we could eliminate that, as this is the next culprit that is under suspicion.
Another check you could try is that if you have more than one stick of memory in your PC you could try to take one out and if that did not work you could substitute it with the one you took out but in reality I'm not too confident that this will sort you problem out.

Another way is to check your Hard Drive but that would need you to download Hirens boot disc and you would need to be able to boot from the CD.

Let me know if you are going to try any of these and let me know the outcome.
Kindest Regards Tony B.
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I set the BIOS to default and the changed the boot priority to DVD drive, which is where I loaded the Restore disks. Now after it restarts I get a black screen with a blinking cursor.

Is this with a CD in the CD drive or without. If with the memory test what happens when you put your restore disk in.
Regards Tony
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Sorry you have already answered my question.
Go to bit torrent and download Mini Pe burn it to disc its a Live CD so if it boots in with that it will give us a better indication of what is going on.
Regards Tony The Dream is always better than the Reality
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Try the memory disc checker again see what happens.
Tony The Dream is always better than the Reality
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The memory disk checker is what I tried last, and it is still stuck on the black screen.
Which one of the minipe downloads? Looks like there are 9 different options

I downloded MiniPE.v2k5.09.03-XT_2oo8.o8.20.rar, did a re-boot, same thing. Black screen with a blinking cursor, then it jumps one line but still only shows a blinking cursor.

Hi
It looks like we are getting to the end of the line. If your PC wont boot with a stand alone disc then without substituting parts i.e. memory, psu, graphics cards etc then we are not going to get much further.
I think the final thing you can do to try and get this PC at least booting from a live CD is.

1. Remove all PCI card from inside your PC and external printer cables. Apart from the Graphics Card.
1a Remove Graphics Card and clean the contacts as below.
2. Remove the memory and use a rubber to clean the contacts re-install to or three times to get a good contact. Use only one memory module
3. Unplug the cables from your Mboard and re-plug them in making sure a good conection.
4. If not already Only have one CD rom or DVD drive connected
5. Unplug the IDE cable and power supply from you hard drive. You do not need a hard drive to boot from a Live CD like Memtest or Mimi PE

This should give you the best chance of starting. If not I would be leaning to a problem with the Mboard.
But if possible I would still look to change some items if I could borrow from a friend.

Let me know how you get on.
Unfortunately I'm not that hopefull.
Kindest Regards Tony B.





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Thanks for taking time to help me in this matter. I will start unplugging hardware, maybe I get lucky and something good happens for a change.
Rick