[ohhbob]

Corrupt Bios?

 

When we returned from a trip our  HP 581-137c tower wouldn't boot up.  It was normally left on, but shut down for the extended time.

• Multiple tries to restore & repair with the install Win10 ISO didn't work and just stalled.
• We thought the drive might be shot as it did seem erratic before this problem so we tried to start over with a new drive and install the OS from scratch.  Now the errors are '...Can't install to an MBR partition table.  On EFI systems can only install to GPT disks.'
• So we tried to convert to GPT, and the installer did launch, but then stalls with an 0x80070017 error.  This seems to say it's because of an anti virus program, but with a new drive there isn't any?

This was a password protected system, so it seems to me this security is somehow preventing us from fixing it.  I even tried to install a lesser version - Win7 - and upgrade, but it didn't load the mouse or keyboard drivers during the install, so I can't do anything and complete the install.

 

So after trying multiple drives, and different OS's, the only thing left seems to be the motherboard might be the culprit?  In swapping out all the drives we tried, we noticed the Sata cables were very loose, so we replaced them, but did they short and corrupt the BIOS?

 

Any insight is appreciated.

 

Thanks...

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What was the original version of Windows on this PC.

 

Have you tried the HP diagnostics on the PC.

 

The below has me concerned;

 

Multiple tries to restore & repair with the install Win10 ISO didn't work and just stalled.

 

 

 

This was a password protected system, so it seems to me this security is somehow preventing us from fixing it.  I even tried to install a lesser version - Win7 -

 

 

A Windows password will not prevent you from reinstalling Windows of any version but a BIOS password will.

 

What is the password that you mention, BIOS or Windows

[phillpower2]

What was the original version of Windows on this PC.

 

Have you tried the HP diagnostics on the PC.

 

The below has me concerned;

 

Multiple tries to restore & repair with the install Win10 ISO didn't work and just stalled.

 

 

 

This was a password protected system, so it seems to me this security is somehow preventing us from fixing it.  I even tried to install a lesser version - Win7 -

 

 

A Windows password will not prevent you from reinstalling Windows of any version but a BIOS password will.

 

What is the password that you mention, BIOS or Windows

[ohhbob]

Hi Phillpower,

▪The original OS is Win10 and the password was a Windows password.

▪Yes,  the HP diagnostics, system restore and Windows restore/repair all did the same thing - ie. Just stalled and did not complete. Here's screenshot of the HP diagnostics log file

.

2 things I noticed - in line 6 in mentions McAfee something failure, but we didn't have McAfee - so is this just OEM installed crapware messing things up? Another thing was the CTO panic error at the bottom. Why would this appear?

 

We did manage to find out the original hard drive is locked, so that could explain why the restores didn't work? But why won't a new drive work?

Here's a screenshot of  trying to install a new drive with the GPT partition table error ,

and finally a screenshot of trying to install Win7

 

Thanks for the help...

 

Bob

 

 

[phillpower2]

The HP diagnostics tests the hardware and not Windows.

 

Put the original HDD back in then see Running HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI tests when Windows doesn't start

 

The above will at least tell you if the original HDD has failed.

 

The other issues that you are having are most likely related to secure boot which is known to cause issues when booting from a USB device, on a PC that has a DVD drive it is easier to burn the ISO to a DVD disk

 

NB: McAfee could well be on the original HDD as HP love to foist trial versions of AVs etc on people.

[ohhbob]

We did what you suggested and came up with Long & Short DST errors with a 24 character error code, but the Optimized DST passed.  If I recall that's what we had when we first came across this problem, and the solution is pay for HP's support to find out what this code means since the system is out of warranty.  According to their website, that would just tell me what I think I already know, that the drive needs replacing.

 

That's when we thought we could just install a new drive (Ok, used, but it's been reformatted) and we came across the other issues I mentioned.

 

I still have a feeling the motherboard and/or the SATA cable were shorting, but we've since replaced the cables.  That's the only thing that makes sense as to what could have caused this and why the fresh install (from a DVD) isn't working?  The next thing is to replace is the board itself.  I'm not sure where to go from here but does that sound like a reasonable action if it's relatively cheap?

 

FYI...this is my son's old gaming computer and I suppose it was ridden pretty hard.  He's since upgraded to a new system, but I figured I'd help him try to salvage this thing if nothing else as a learning experience for him.

 

I do thank you again for your help...

Edited by ohhbob, 13 January 2022 - 01:02 PM.

[phillpower2]

Have you tried connecting the SATA cable to any other SATA ports on the MB.

 

Is there a Fast Boot option in the BIOS, if yes, make sure that it is disabled.

 

What is the boot option set as in the BIOS, is it UEFI or Legacy, if UEFI, change it to Legacy and see if you can format the HDD to NTFS.

 

Something else that you can try is booting from a Linux distro, see canned info below;

 

Please note that not all BIOS screens look or are set out the same;

 

=================== 

***Required Hardware*** 

CD Burner (CDRW) Drive, 

Blank CD, 

Extra Storage Device (USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive)  

=================== 

 

1. Save these files to your Desktop/Burn Your Live CD:

• Download Latest Puppy Linux ISO (i.e.: lupu-528.iso) 

  Download

  https://distro.ibibl...-slacko-7.0/64/

   

  [color="#000

  080"]BurnCDCC ISO Burning Software[/color] 

   

  [color="#FF0000"]There are instructions on how to boot from flash drive with puppy here; http://www.pendrivel...e-from-windows/[/color] 

   

   

• Open BurnCDCC with Windows Explorer 

• Extract All files to a location you can remember 

• Double Click BurnCDCC 

• Click Browse and navigate to the Puppy Linux ISO file you just downloaded 

• Open/Double Click that file 

  [color="#FF0000"]IMPORTANT:[/color] Adjust the speed bar to CD: 4x DVD: 1x 

• Click Start  

• Your CD Burner Tray will open automatically 

• Insert a blank CD and close the tray 

• Click OK 

Puppy Linux Live CD will now be created 

 

2. Set your boot priority in the BIOS to CD-ROM first, Hard Drive Second 

•  

• Start the computer/press the power button 

• Immediately start tapping the appropriate key to enter the BIOS, aka "Setup" 

  (Usually shown during the "Dell" screen, or "Gateway" Screen) 

• Once in the BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Options change boot priority to: 

  CD-ROM 1st, Hard Drive 2nd 

• Open your ROM drive and insert the disk 

• Press F10 to save and exit 

• Agree with "Y" to continue 

• Your computer will restart and boot from the Puppy Linux Live CD 

   

   

 

 

 

3.  Recover Your Data 

• Once Puppy Linux has loaded, it is actually running in your computer's Memory (RAM).  You will see a fully functioning Graphical User Interface similar to what you normally call "your computer".  Internet access may or may not be available depending on your machine, so it is recommended you print these instructions before beginning.  Also, double clicking is not needed in Puppy.  To expand, or open folders/icons, just click once.  Puppy is very light on resources, so you will quickly notice it is much speedier than you are used to.  This is normal.  Ready?  Let's get started. 

   

  3a. Mount Drives 

• Click the Mount Icon located at the top left of your desktop.  

• A Window will open.  By default, the "drive" tab will be forward/highlighted.  Click on Mount for your hard drive. 

• Assuming you only have one hard drive and/or partition, there may be only one selection to mount. 

• USB Flash Drives usually automatically mount upon boot, but click the "usbdrv" tab and make sure it is mounted. 

• If using an external hard drive for the data recovery, do this under the "drive" tab.  Mount it now. 

 

3b. Transfer Files.

•  

• At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon. 

• Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1 

• Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1 

• If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows) 

• From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive's Window. 

 

For The Novice:  The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders for XP is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each individual name of each user, for Vista and above  C:\Users\$USERNAME\[...]. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos. 

 

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. Congratulations! 

 

 

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you, do you still require assistance or is the issue now resolved, an update would be appreciated.

[ohhbob]

I wanted to try a few things including the Linux bit and something I have called UBCD, and we're getting nothing.
Before with a blank drive we could at least get to the Win install screen even though it wouldn't take, but now... Nothin. Just a blue screen that says No bootable drive. Please install os.
So I think maybe the motherboard may be slowly wasting away and now her time has come? Drives and memory are listed in the bios, but they're not communicating with each other. Controller must be gone.

I don't know what else to do other than replace it. Again, Thanks for your help...

[phillpower2]

Can we just stick with Linux for now as I don`t use UBCD.

 

Drives and memory are listed in the bios,

 

 

Can I ask how the HDD is identified in the BIOS, a Seagate HDD for example will be listed something like ST1000DM004 and a Western Digital along the lines of WD10JPLX other brands will have similar identification codes, only when such an ID code is present is a HDD actually detected and an entry simply listed as SATA HDD means that the BIOS will and has looked for a HDD in that particular boot sequence but no HDD was detected. 

 

Have you tried Puppy Linux.

 

Puppy uses the RAM to boot so if done right being that you can get into the BIOS you should be able to load Puppy to its version of a desktop and then attempt to mount any storage devices that are detected.

[ohhbob]

So at this point nothing seems to work.  Linux versions ( Puppy, Suse, Ubuntu ) & anything else trying to boot to CD/DVD just comes up with the same blue screen "Boot Device not Found  Please install an operating system on your hard disk."

 

Yet, in the Bios, the hdd is identified as SATA0, ST1000DM003-1SB102 and the optical drive is id'd as SATA2 hpHLDSDVDRWGUD1N.

 

So what does this mean?  The bios sees the drives so the connections are Ok, but the controller isn't working?  Again, does this point to the motherboard??

[phillpower2]

So what does this mean?  The bios sees the drives so the connections are Ok, but the controller isn't working?  Again, does this point to the motherboard??

 

 

No.

 

You have not worked with me on this and so I can only wish you good luck.

[ohhbob]

I don't understand how I'm not working with you if the Puppy cd is not booting.

 

...And yes, the bios is set to boot from cd

the bios recognizes the cd

but it is not booting.

 

What else is there to do??

Edited by ohhbob, 21 January 2022 - 01:59 PM.

[phillpower2]

Sorry but you seem dead set that the HDD controller is bad even after me explaining that Puppy boots from the RAM not the HDD, you did not provide any feedback to the three questions that were asked in my reply #6 and had to be asked for an update after you went off doing your own thing, the latter not a problem when you let us know first but when you lump the three together it get`s frustrating I`m afraid.

 

Have you tried the Puppy disk on another PC to make sure that it works.

 

Do you know with 100% certainty that the optical drive on the PC works.

 

Have you tried Puppy on a USB thumbdrive.

 

Have you tried swapping the SATA ports around that HDD and optical drives are connected to, this when trying Puppy and not when you did the original HDD tests when you did swap cables.

[JSntgRvr]

Take a look at the enclosed document. If you are able to boot with the Windows 10 iso, you must run Diskpart to clean and convert the hard drive to GPT during the process.

[ohhbob]

Thank you all for the suggestions, but I'm still stuck.  I've tried all different combinations of solutions in methodical order and nothing is working.  I've tried bios/uefi settings, original hdd, new hdd's,& different os's including linux.

 

So in no particular order I've tried combinations of the following:

* The original HDD ( which was Win10 with a user log-in ) with these various settings

* Removing secure boot from the bios

* Restoring factory settings in the bios

* Using UEFI settings

* HP diagnostics on the original hdd - DST failure - error QC0860-90SB0T-XPGQK-60VA03

* Windows Repair on the original hdd - just got hung up

* Linux Puppy - X would never load - both from a disk and thumbdrive

* Windows Clean Install - no matter the drive, errors would occur - both from a disk and thumbdrive

* Blank HDD's formated with MBR - 0x80070017 error

* Blank HDD's formatted to GPT - 0xc000014c error

* I even threw in some old HDD's that had XP & Win7 installed on them and they wouldn't even boot.

 

This last one especially leads me to think this points to some hardware issue and not software, but I'm at a loss...

Edited by ohhbob, 08 February 2022 - 02:13 PM.