[jogibso1]

Hello-

I am operating XP on an HP Elitebook 8540p. I do not have the original XP system CD to work with.

When restarting I get the windows error screen ("Were sorry for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start property...etc." Then I have the choice of starting windows in safe mode, safe with command prompt, Start windows normally, last known configuration that worked, etc.)

When starting in safe mode it gets hung up at one driver: hpdskflt.sys


As far as I know nothing has changed other than one thing: I installed adobe reader, the computer crashed, and it never came on again (I had been using Foxit PDF reader).

I am attaching screenshots if helpful. Any ideas on repair without the XP disk? Thanks so much!!!

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I am operating XP on an HP Elitebook 8540p. I do not have the original XP system CD to work with.

Why are you running XP on such a really good machine that came with Windows 7 according to HP?

[Wolfeymole]

I am operating XP on an HP Elitebook 8540p. I do not have the original XP system CD to work with.

Why are you running XP on such a really good machine that came with Windows 7 according to HP?

[jogibso1]

My company lives intthe dark ages. It is a work-issued machine, and they have not upgraded software for Windows 7 (among other problems). Silly indeed.

Edited by jogibso1, 28 December 2012 - 09:11 AM.

[Wolfeymole]

Ok then in that case I suggest that you contact your systems administrators or IT department as it really is their problem when it comes to a work based machine.

Please don't think of this as some kind of "cop out" as it were but if you interfere with it then you could be in for a reprimand.

[jogibso1]

Thanks, I think ideally you are correct. However, I've had a similar issue with registry keys before and gotten help to fix it. Unfortunately the IT dept solution solution is "wipe machine and reinstall everything". At the very least I need to retrieve data if possible

[Wolfeymole]

To my mind the registry, aka the windows files, aka the Master Boot Record (MBR) is well and truly mangled and needs either a repair or a full reinstall.

How they go about it is up to them but it sounds like you have some personal files on there, which to be honest, should not be there.

Choosing any other course of action will result in a serious amount of time and expenditure on your part to resolve this which is down to them.

[jogibso1]

I have no personal files; these are work files I shouldve backed up but havent in a week or so. That's what I am trying to salvage.

[Wolfeymole]

As we stand Jog we cannot salvage anything without an operating system disk to repair the system.

It's quite ludicrous for a firm to send you out with a laptop more than capable of running Win 7 with nothing more than scabby XP on it.

Where were you planning to back up to if I may ask?

Edited by Wolfeymole, 28 December 2012 - 09:46 AM.

[jogibso1]

I agree, its ludicrous.

Ive been backing up to an external hard drive and our cloud ("BOX") bi-weekly

[jogibso1]

I have a meeting scheduled for next week with my IT folks. They can take it from here I suppose. Thanks for the discussion

[Wolfeymole]

Your IT dept should have a VLK (Volume License Key) agreement with Microsoft and upgrades in that scenario are peanuts as against a normal everyday user mate.

Please try and get back to us to let us know how you got on.

Edited by Wolfeymole, 28 December 2012 - 10:02 AM.

[123Runner]

@ Wolfemole

Just an FYI on what OS companies put on their work computers. It is up to them and the reasons for staying on a certain OS can be numerous. The company I work for is still on XP. We have too many pieces of equipment we sell and service that we interface with that the change would be astronomical to be sure we can still interface with all them.

Now, you have the email clients, word processing programs, etc that need to interact with all versions across all the platforms.

We still use a DB9 connector. We can use a USB to DB9 on some but not all.

@ jogibso1.
There are only two ways that you can save the data. The 1st is to boot with a linux cd to gain access to the drive and then copy the files to a USB flash drive or CD. The other way (I don't recommend because it is a company computer and they frown on working on them) is to remove the hard drive and place it in an enclosure to gain access as a slave drive.

Using Puppy linux

[Wolfeymole]

With no disrespect 123Runner you are suggesting what Jogibso1's System Administrators should be doing as a matter of course, after all it's what they are paid for would you not agree?

[123Runner]

With no disrespect 123Runner you are suggesting what Jogibso1's System Administrators should be doing as a matter of course, after all it's what they are paid for would you not agree?

I would partly agree with that. The IT departments want to get them up and running quick. They will not spend a lot of time repairing an OS. They will throw another image on it.
They will not spend a lot of time getting data off unless it is quick and dirty. Most of the IT people will only go after data that is in "My Documents".

It is up to the those that have the laptops to back up the data. This is what the op was doing, but missed a few. I commend him for that. I have run in to too many instances where "it is not my laptop, so why should I back it up".

[jogibso1]

This is true, but with so much data changing so quickly and daily, I really should back up daily but don't. It is too time consuming and it is my fault for not wanting to expend the time to keep backups totally up to date. Either way, I am optimistic that data can be salvaged and a reinstall will be the answer. I just wish is weren't XP we will be reinstalling...

Edited by jogibso1, 28 December 2012 - 11:34 AM.