Laptop Bootup Problems
Hello, my HP pavilion ze1000 series lap top won't boot up ever since I did a system go back. I set the system go back to the first day which the computer was used. When I try to turn it on it attempts to boot up into windows but nothing happens.
I tried starting it in safemode, and a black screen appeared which said safe mode on top and bottom and that was it. Nothing else happened.
I have very limited computer knowledge. Help greatly appreciated.
I tried starting it in safemode, and a black screen appeared which said safe mode on top and bottom and that was it. Nothing else happened.
I have very limited computer knowledge. Help greatly appreciated.
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What caused you to want to roll back the system? Were you having problems? If so, describe them in as much detail as you can.
What are the four restore discs you have labeled? Are they floppies or CD's?
Does the computer have a floppy disk drive installed?
Sorry for all the questions. HP's site is miserable, as you have probably already found. The only downloads I could find were for Sound & Video and I couldn't even locate a full user manual...
The four restore disks say on them "hp notebook pc f5398-12002c Pavilion system recovery" . They are CD's.
Yes there is a floppy disk drive installed. Its external.
Check what I said above first. If none of that works we can try making a bootable floppy to gain access to the CDROM drive.
Did HP include any floppy discs with the restore bundle?
Do you by chance have a "regular" (i.e. Microsoft, not HP) copy of WinXP handy? I wouldn't use it to install anything at this point, but I'd suggest that you try booting from it and see if you get the same cdrom error. What we're trying to do is eliminate the possibility that it could be a problem with the drive itself.
then
No bootable cd in ATAPI cd rom
then media test failure
Send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you a file which will make a bootable floppy with cdrom drivers included. Once you have the disk made, boot from it. This will allow you to see the contents of your four Restore CD's. At that point we will know two things:
1) That your cdrom drive is working properly
2) Which of your restore CD's ought to be the bootable one
I don't want to sound discouraging, but while looking for possible solutions to your problem I have found a number of instances where HP's restore discs were less than helpful. Have you ever used them successfully in the past on this machine?
it now says
" windows 98 has detected the drive c does not contain a valid FAT or FAT 32 partition. There may be several reasons
1. the drive may need to be partitioned. (it lists commands now to do that)
2. some viruses could cause your c drive not to register
3. You may be using 3rd party disk partitioning software.
The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive C "
what should I do next??
At that point you should be able to explore the CD's and see if the data on them is visible. You'll need to type in the letter of the cdrom drive like this:
x:\ (x meaning the letter the drive is assigned.) Then hit ENTER.
Then type dir and hit ENTER.
What you're looking for is a program ending in .exe . If you're lucky you'll find something like Setup.exe or restore.exe. Since there is practically no information regarding using the restore CD's at HP's web site it could be named anything...
thats flashing.
I typed dir "enter" in and it gives me the directory of A.
I think the CDROM drive is not working properly because when I load it with just a cd it says it says
checking boot cd rom
media test failure check cable
and then it goes to the screen which says
we apologize for the inconvenience but windows did not blah blah.. and gives me the options of how to start it.
I don't care if I loose any imformation on the computer. I just want format it and start all over. If my cdrom drive is out what would I have to do?
Device Name : OEMCD001
Transfer Mode : (whatever)
Number of Drives : 1
Or do you see "No drive found"?
If it finds the drive properly the stuff above will eventually be followed by a line telling you what drive letter has been assigned to the cdrom drive.
If it's not finding the drive, it could be due to a number of things, including:
1) The drive in the laptop is so proprietary that the boot floppy doesn't have a generic driver for it.
2) The drive is bad
3) The drive is disabled or not configured properly in the BIOS
Give as much detail as possible about what happens on the screen while the computer is booting from the floppy disk.
Device Name: MSCD001
Transfer Mode I/0
Number of drives 1
Then it says microsoft RAM drive version 3.06 Virtual Disk C
disk size 2,045k
something 512
2 sectors
directory entrys 64
then it gives me a bunch of things and goes to a screen saying
1. The drive may need to be partitioned. To create a partition on the drive run FDISK from the MS-DOS command prompt.
2. You may be using third party disk partitioning software. If you are using this type of software, remove the Emergency boot disk and restart your computer. Then, follow the on screen instructions to start your computer from a floppy disk.
3. Some viruses also cause you drive C to not register. You can use a virus scanning program to check your computer for viruses.
The diagnostic tools were successfuly loaded to drive C.
MSCDEX version 2.25
copyright Microsoft corp. 1986-1995
Drive D= Driver MSCD001 unit 0
to get help, type help and press enter
A:\>
A:\>
Boot from the floppy.
Once you get to the A:\ prompt, type in D:\ and hit ENTER
Make sure one of you HP CD's is in the drive. I'd start with Disc 1
Then type in dir and hit ENTER
You should now see the contents of the disc in the cdrom drive.
Look for files ending in .exe and list what you find.
If you can't see all of the contents of the disc, or they scroll by so fast that you can't see the ones at the top let us know that, too.
The Win98 Boot Disk is finding your drive. What we are trying to determine now is if the drive itself is working properly and if the discs from HP are in a readable condition. Cross your fingers.
it says CDR101: Not ready reading drive D
Abort, Retry, Fail?
I tried pressing R for retry and the same message appeared
I should have thought of this long ago, but you should see if the HP CD's are readable in another computer.
If none of the discs work in your laptop drive and they all work in a different computer, the answer is that the cdrom drive in the laptop is either bad or is dusty. You could try blowing it out with compressed air.
"CDR: Not ready reading drive D
Abort, Retry, Fail?"
It has the type of cd rom drive which pops out so it can be viewed lense and all. Everything looks find on it..i don't understand
Also if it matter or not, the disks say in small print
HP notebook pc f5398-12002A Pavilion
for distribution only with an HP notebook, this cd contains a backup copy of all software originally installed and can only be used with an hp notebook. Refer to the HP notebook startup guide for instructions on its use. Support for these products is provided by Hewlett Packard
It also said
"Fail on INT 24"
I'm sure that HP would be glad to sell you a replacement, unless you're lucky enough that the machine is still under warranty. If not, be prepared for it to be somewhat more expensive than a standard desktop drive.
If it turns out that you have no warranty and the cost is prohibitive, a USB drive would be an alternative. It's one more thing to lug around, though.
There is always the chance that something else inside the laptop is causing the drive not to work, though the fact that the floppy boot disk sees the drive just fine leads me to believe that this is not likely.
Wish it was better news. :sad2:
If I were to purchase an external CDROM drive, and plug it in to a USB port, would it then load the CDs and allow me to format? I don't care if I loose all the previous data contained on my hard drive. I just want to get it up and running before school starts...tomorrow! lol
Thank you very much for you time and help. Very much appreciated
An external USB cdrom ought to get you going.