[Selena Nichols]

HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower
Pentium D 3.40GHz
Windows XP Professional SP 3

When I turn on my computer is cycles through:

HP Screen
Press F11 for Recover countdown screen
Choose OS to Start screen
Windows XP screen

and then repeats itself. On the Windows XP screen the loading bar at the bottom goes from left to right only once before the cycle begins again.

I have the HP Recovery and OS CDs which came with the computer, however I cannot get the computer to boot from either. I went into the computer Setup and made sure the CD-ROM was first in Boot sequence, would not boot either disc. I went back to Setup and made the CD-ROM the ONLY drive to boot from, the computer would no boot either disc.

I want to ask for help now before starting any steps I have seen in other topics as I do not want to try a fix that is not applicable to my situation. Any direction you all could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Selena

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See if it will boot to BIOS usually F2 probably indicated on first post screen.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 09 November 2010 - 10:47 AM.

[Macboatmaster]

See if it will boot to BIOS usually F2 probably indicated on first post screen.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 09 November 2010 - 10:47 AM.

[Selena Nichols]

See if it will boot to BIOS usually F2 probably indicated on first post screen.

I don't know what "boot to BIOS means". I can get into the computer's Setup menu by pushing F10 at the HP Screen.

[Selena Nichols]

UPDATE

While in my computer's Setup I checked my System Configuration and saw that my CD-ROM drive was not listed, but my DVD Drive was. I have placed my HP Recovery disc into the DVD Drive and it seems to be going through its magic. I will post shortly if I am able to get everything up and running again.

Thanks!

Selena

[Macboatmaster]

Yes that is the BIOS setup, where you altered it to boot from CD.
I am not familiar with the layout of that particular BIOS setup.
Is there only the ONE optical drive. ie: one drive where you insert a DVD/CD.
If there are two, use the other one, making that the boot device.
Check that the HDD (not in the boot priority screen) is shown and set it to auto.

How vital is it for you to recover your personal data.
I am not thinking of a reinstallation, I just need to know if you have personal data you wish to ensure is safe.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 09 November 2010 - 11:20 AM.

[Selena Nichols]

Yes, the vitality of my data just stopped me in my tracks! I have too many documents and photos to wipe my machine completely, as the HP Recovery disc wants to do at this point. Is there a way to save my files even though I can't get into Windows and then re-install the OS?

[Macboatmaster]

The easiest way is to take out the hard drive and slave it to another computer, preferably in an enclosure or if you do have an enclosure
you can if you know how to do it set it as slave in the other computer. You can then if the HDD is at least mechanically working access your data

If not you can use this. Please do not hesitate to post back with any query before you start



There are a number of ways of recovering your data. One is below and probably one of the best.
Puppy Linux
See this link and http://ftp.nluug.nl/...fulldrivers.iso
Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd using this http://www.snapfiles...dlburncdcc.html

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start
make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....
• Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.
Make sure the cd you burned is in the cd drive before clicking Y and then your system will reboot. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..
after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to
your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will
mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...
now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...
your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive.. and download to another computer.
Ensure the other computer can read them...
now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..
Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption.

POSTED with acknowledgement to Happyrock and the other authors of this information


NOTE only save your personal data. If your computer has been infected and you save other material you may then transfer the infected files back to the newly installed operating system. If that is how you eventually have to proceed.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 09 November 2010 - 12:20 PM.