[coro71]

Hi geeks... I guess I messed up with my computer.
I have a Pavilion a1350n and went to HP´s website to see if there was any driver update. I selected A8AE-LE Motherboard BIOS Update » sp35096.exe thinking that it would do good to my pc.

Now, after installing and re-starting all I get is the message "Error Loading OS" ... I tried to re-start using F10 system restore but I get the same message. I do not have any floppy or cd-rom to start the computer....... What can I do?

Thanks

This is what hp says about it:

Description

A8AE-LE Motherboard BIOS Update resolves issue with AC97 SSID and SVID not being restored after S3 resume when Operating System is upgraded to Windows Vista.


Fixes

Resolves issue with AC97 SSID and SVID not being restored after S3 resume when Operating System is upgraded to Windows Vista.
Resolves issue with "S3" item-"Enabled/Disabled" displaying incorrectly in Spanish.



Now, did I loose the Xp operating system? do I need to re-install it? .. Is it ok to order recovery cd from HP?

Thanks

Edited by coro71, 08 December 2007 - 05:39 PM.

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Go into BIOS Setup (F1, F2, F10, Del, whatever key gets you there). Press the Fn key that will load BIOS defaults, then save the change and reboot, see if that helps.

[Ztruker]

Go into BIOS Setup (F1, F2, F10, Del, whatever key gets you there). Press the Fn key that will load BIOS defaults, then save the change and reboot, see if that helps.

[coro71]

Hi Rich, no, it did not work.... still getting same message¨"Error loading OS"....... Do you think if I order a recovery disk from HP will help solve the problem? or it has nothing to do with this?. Thanks.

[Ztruker]

Sounds like the BIOS update either failed or is causing a problem. Not sure how to fix this unless you can find an older level (like the one that was on the computer before you applied the update).

The recovery CD will be needed if you can't use the recovery partition on the hard drive any more.

Try running the following commands, booting after each one to see if it resolves the problem.

chkdsk c: /p
fixboot
fixmbr

To do this you need to boot the Recovery Console. Since you don't have a Windows XP CD you can download a bootable ISO image of the Recovery Console from here (still available as of 12/08/2007):

http://www.mharding....recovery_cd.iso
http://www.thecomput...om/files/rc.iso


Note: You create a CD from the iso image, you don't burn the iso image to cd. If you don't have burner software that supports iso images, you can install <a target=_blank href=http://www.deepburner.com/>DeepBurner</a>.

If you don't have a CD burner you can download the 6 diskette boot set from here:

http://support.micro...kb/310994/en-us

[coro71]

Thanks Rich, my problem is that right noe thw computer I´m comunicating with is an old laptop that does not have a cd burner and the computer with the problem does not have a diskette drive... so I believe i will have to order the recovery cd to get into the command prompt.. right? .. Rich, can I perform a Bios re-set?.. I think I read it somewhere that taking out the battery from the motherboard.. and doing something else.... will that help?

Regards,

[123Runner]

Removing the battery is to reset the cmos and not the bios. They are 2 different things. HOWEVER, while searching for an answer, some people have removed the battery, waited a while, then reinstalled and have been successful. It wouldn't hurt.

The battery is similar to a watch battery. Turn power off and unplug from the wall. Carefully remove the battery. I would leave it out for at least 15 minutes. Reinsert and try.

Some other suggestions were to send the comp back to the manufacturer for repair, purchase another bios chip from the manufacturer, buy a new board.
Lets wait on these and keep looking.

[coro71]

Rich, I was able to create a recovery cd... I performed thr chkdsk and thr fixboot... and nothing happened... I did not try the fixmbr.. i got a message that i should only do it if the hd is not accesible... that it will create new partitions.. etc... should I proceed?

[123Runner]

Couple sites for reading

http://<span style='...strong></span>/

YOUR BOARD

Something to try

[Ztruker]

I don't know if "fixmbr" will do anything for you or not. It should be safe unless you have multiple partitions on the drive, then it may cause problems, though not always.

Sounds like the best thing you can do right now is mount the drive in another computer as slave, then save your personal data. That way if anything happens while trying to fix this problem or if you have to use the Recovery CD you are ordering you will be able to restore your data.

Might be a good idea to download the drive utility from the drive manufacturers web site and run it to see if there is anything physically wrong with the drive.

[coro71]

Thanks Rich & 123.. I did the CMOS reset as described in your link you sent 123 ... grr but nothing happened.. same error... maybe I should have read a little nore before doing that BIOS update..:¡ What does a Bios do? .. late to aks that question... Is there a way to reset an return to previous Bios version?.. will the recovery CD will bring also the Original Bios the computer came with? .. thanks again

[Ztruker]

You need to try to find the previous BIOS version on the manufacturers web site. Best bet is to contact them and ask where you can get (and ell them why you want it).

No, the recovery CD will not have any BIOS updates included. It's strictly for XP and installed applications.

[123Runner]

Well, I have really dug into this. There might be a way to get it going. It requires work from you.
I have got unclear directions on the best way. There are conflicts.
Since the comp is DOA, anything thats tried could help.
Listed below are things I have found. Unfortunately the A8AE-LE (motherboard manufacturer)/AmberineM-GL6E (HP_Compaq name) is not found on the Asus site??????? STRANGE

Asus has different programs used to flash, and they use a floppy.

Suggestions from different sites/ users.

On my board,you enter EZ-Flash by hitting ALT-F2 while on the first POST page, so
you could try that, too. If it's on your board, I imagine that Asus
would set up access to it using the same key sequence.

FLASH PROGRAMS
AFUDOS.EXE
AFLASH.EXE

AWDFLASH.EXE

You will need the previous bios file also. I found a reference to a 3.10 and a 3.13

[coro71]

Thanks to all, I was able to get the old bios v 3.14 and a link for the Award flash for DOS. Also, thinking of just restoring the whole system, I purchased a USB to SATA adapter to hook the HD into a spare computer and do a back-up.... but oh surprise the only thing I could see was FAT32 partition no NTFS ... now it got worse huh?... I see there is the market several partition recovery programs.. which one is the best? and also not that expensive?

[The Skeptic]

I am not sure I understood: Is the computer bootable now (disregard the backup for the moment)?