[joiya]

Hey guys, new to the forums and I already have computer issues to ask for help on ^^;. I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so feel free to move me if not. I have a Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2 laptop, 2005. It's an HP Pavilion dv9000t I believe. Anyway, it had been getting slow for a while, and after mentioning this to a friend, he said he would help speed it up. Unfortunately, he did not mention he would be uninstalling my computer's OS so that it became an empty shell. He ended up finding and installing a Windows XP Professional SP3 that was bare bones and returning it to me, including a CD of the OS. A few days ago, something glitched on the laptop and serrated lines appeared on the start up window and scrolling down web pages would be jerky and slow. I decided to order [because I couldn't find mine] a new set of super recovery CDs from HPandCompaq, after trying my friend's OS CD and finding out that it required a product key to continue. After using the recovery discs, my laptop won't load past the loading screen, and will simply go to black. If I take out the battery, AC power, and press the On button, I can get to safe mode, but so far that's all I've been able to do. And after trying to self test the hard drives, my secondary hard drive failed the test.

Is there any other information you need? Hopefully this is in the right place - thanks again guys for reading this.

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Hey guys, new to the forums and I already have computer issues to ask for help on ^^;. I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so feel free to move me if not. I have a Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2 laptop, 2005. It's an HP Pavilion dv9000t I believe. Anyway, it had been getting slow for a while, and after mentioning this to a friend, he said he would help speed it up. Unfortunately, he did not mention he would be uninstalling my computer's OS so that it became an empty shell. He ended up finding and installing a Windows XP Professional SP3 that was bare bones and returning it to me, including a CD of the OS. A few days ago, something glitched on the laptop and serrated lines appeared on the start up window and scrolling down web pages would be jerky and slow. I decided to order [because I couldn't find mine] a new set of super recovery CDs from HPandCompaq, after trying my friend's OS CD and finding out that it required a product key to continue. After using the recovery discs, my laptop won't load past the loading screen, and will simply go to black. If I take out the battery, AC power, and press the On button, I can get to safe mode, but so far that's all I've been able to do. And after trying to self test the hard drives, my secondary hard drive failed the test.

Is there any other information you need? Hopefully this is in the right place - thanks again guys for reading this.

if you have access to open up your laptop's harddisk cover lid on the back, then you might have a proper solution.

open the cover and unscrew the hdd from there. then remove the hdd and wait for some time. fit it back again with the bootable recovery discs inside. maybe, this solution works out.

if this directly doesnt work then reply to the post with the problem status.

[sujit-agarwal]

Hey guys, new to the forums and I already have computer issues to ask for help on ^^;. I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so feel free to move me if not. I have a Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2 laptop, 2005. It's an HP Pavilion dv9000t I believe. Anyway, it had been getting slow for a while, and after mentioning this to a friend, he said he would help speed it up. Unfortunately, he did not mention he would be uninstalling my computer's OS so that it became an empty shell. He ended up finding and installing a Windows XP Professional SP3 that was bare bones and returning it to me, including a CD of the OS. A few days ago, something glitched on the laptop and serrated lines appeared on the start up window and scrolling down web pages would be jerky and slow. I decided to order [because I couldn't find mine] a new set of super recovery CDs from HPandCompaq, after trying my friend's OS CD and finding out that it required a product key to continue. After using the recovery discs, my laptop won't load past the loading screen, and will simply go to black. If I take out the battery, AC power, and press the On button, I can get to safe mode, but so far that's all I've been able to do. And after trying to self test the hard drives, my secondary hard drive failed the test.

Is there any other information you need? Hopefully this is in the right place - thanks again guys for reading this.

if you have access to open up your laptop's harddisk cover lid on the back, then you might have a proper solution.

open the cover and unscrew the hdd from there. then remove the hdd and wait for some time. fit it back again with the bootable recovery discs inside. maybe, this solution works out.

if this directly doesnt work then reply to the post with the problem status.

[joiya]

I wasn't sure which HDD you meant, so I unscrewed and took out both and left it out overnight. After I put everything back in this morning, I started the laptop up again and there was no change.

[phillpower2]

Hi joiya

he did not mention he would be uninstalling my computer's OS so that it became an empty shell.

Sorry to say this but you may have been better off purchasing a product key for your XP disk rather than the recovery CDs, the XP disk is legitimate I hope.
Your best hope is starting in safe mode and installing the system drivers, can you download the drivers to another computer and then burn them to disk, other than that can you return the recovery disk/s and then purchase an XP product key.
Basically your friend has deleted the recovery partition so Im not sure the purchased disk/s are good for anything.
All drivers available from http://h10025.www1.h...product=1842189 Install the chipset drivers first.
Good luck and let us know how you get on or if you require assistance.

[Macboatmaster]

And after trying to self test the hard drives, my secondary hard drive failed the test.

The first matter you need to resolve, and after due attention to phillpower2`s post is the above.
If that hard drive failed a drive fitness test then booting the computer with that in is going to cause all sorts of problems.
A manufacturers or generic drive fitness test is different from a chkdsk of the file system in windows.
The first indicates the drive has failed and needs replacement.
The second the windows chkdsk if run on the file system inidicates the file structure is bad and has nothing to do with the actual state of the drive, that is idicated by the chkdsk /r instruction which checks for bad sectors.
A drive can still spin, but will fail a drive fitness test, as the head cannot read the disc as it moves across the platters - the disc.

After what appears to be a rather disasterous attempt by your friend to cure a slow running problem, you may as has been stated have ended up with no recovery partition.

Again, after considering the post by phillpower2 you need to go to your friend and ask him if that XP installation he put on your computer is legimate and CAN BE legimately used. By that I mean IS THE PRODUCT KEY available for use. Witrh more or less certainity I can tell you that if it is already in use on another computer it is not available for use on this one. (That is not always the case - but usually so)

If his reply indicates that it is a copy of a copy then in that respect this site Geeks to Go cannot assist further with any matters connected with the installation, repair etc of THAT XP system that your friend
has installed.


Your further options are as described OR you may legally borrow a installation CD for the originally installed operating system. ie: So if you have a friend/family member that has an HP computer with XP and has their XP CD from HP, ask them if you can borrow it.
Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2
and use the product key on the laptop base.

[joiya]

Hi joiya

he did not mention he would be uninstalling my computer's OS so that it became an empty shell.

Sorry to say this but you may have been better off purchasing a product key for your XP disk rather than the recovery CDs, the XP disk is legitimate I hope.
Your best hope is starting in safe mode and installing the system drivers, can you download the drivers to another computer and then burn them to disk, other than that can you return the recovery disk/s and then purchase an XP product key.
Basically your friend has deleted the recovery partition so Im not sure the purchased disk/s are good for anything.
All drivers available from http://h10025.www1.h...product=1842189 Install the chipset drivers first.
Good luck and let us know how you get on or if you require assistance.

Thank you for the warm welcome

Unfortunately, I don't think the XP disk from my friend was legitimate. It was after I realized this that I tried to buy legitimate recovery disks to reinstall the original OS [I hope that's the correct term - I originally had Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2 and he installed Windows XP Professional SP3] I'm pretty confused about what happened with the laptop and apologize in advance for any confusion on your part. I bought the recovery disks from a website called hpandcompaq.com, which I found through the official hp website. So hopefully, those are legitimate at least. I'm going to try downloading every driver I find on the hp website through your link, and report back on the progress.

[joiya]

And after trying to self test the hard drives, my secondary hard drive failed the test.

The first matter you need to resolve, and after due attention to phillpower2`s post is the above.
If that hard drive failed a drive fitness test then booting the computer with that in is going to cause all sorts of problems.
A manufacturers or generic drive fitness test is different from a chkdsk of the file system in windows.
The first indicates the drive has failed and needs replacement.
The second the windows chkdsk if run on the file system inidicates the file structure is bad and has nothing to do with the actual state of the drive, that is idicated by the chkdsk /r instruction which checks for bad sectors.
A drive can still spin, but will fail a drive fitness test, as the head cannot read the disc as it moves across the platters - the disc.

After what appears to be a rather disasterous attempt by your friend to cure a slow running problem, you may as has been stated have ended up with no recovery partition.

Again, after considering the post by phillpower2 you need to go to your friend and ask him if that XP installation he put on your computer is legimate and CAN BE legimately used. By that I mean IS THE PRODUCT KEY available for use. Witrh more or less certainity I can tell you that if it is already in use on another computer it is not available for use on this one. (That is not always the case - but usually so)

If his reply indicates that it is a copy of a copy then in that respect this site Geeks to Go cannot assist further with any matters connected with the installation, repair etc of THAT XP system that your friend
has installed.


Your further options are as described OR you may legally borrow a installation CD for the originally installed operating system. ie: So if you have a friend/family member that has an HP computer with XP and has their XP CD from HP, ask them if you can borrow it.
Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2
and use the product key on the laptop base.

Thank you for the detailed response

As I replied above, I think the CD is not legitimate. Because of that, I want to return my laptop to its original state through legitimate programs. I definitely do not want to ask you guys on the forums for help with something that is not legal, and I do want to stay away from illegal programs and downloads. Unfortunately, there was a falling out with the friend who helped me and his fiancee, who introduced me to him. I don't have a way to contact the friend who helped me any longer. There's a long, drama filled story behind that, but that doesn't need to be aired on these lovely forums. I will call the company I bought the 'super recovery discs' from, and ask if I can return them and buy installation disks instead. My laptop is definitely legitimate, down to the Microsoft Authenticity sticker on the bottom of it.

I will take phillpower2's advice and try downloading drivers through safe mode, and will let you all know on the morrow on my progress.

Thank you all again for your help with my laptop

[joiya]

Okay, I downloaded drivers from hp's website and installed them into my laptop during safemode. I shut it down, waited a few minutes, and booted it back up. It went to the loading screen and did not continue to boot up. I have no idea what to do at this point - I am going to call and talk to the company I bought the recovery discs from, and see what they have to say.