HP Pavilion and system recovery prob

**jakkwb** · July 28th, 2004, 02:54 PM

Hi folks,

I have here a HP Pavilion XT973. System would hang on boot for the customer, so they brought it to me. I could not get it to boot anyway either, so I restored it with the restore partition built into the machine. I did the destructive one - it wiped the drive and reinstalled everything.

Well, it is still hanging on boot. It hangs trying to boot into safe mode, or even safe mode command prompt. The recovery goes fine, no problems.

The hard drive checks out (ran WD lifeguard on it)

Any suggestions?

It is naturally out of HP warranty.

A

**Shard92** · July 28th, 2004, 03:25 PM

first off is the restore partition hidden? If not maybe, pull the drive and scan for a virus. Scan the memory? power supply? You have a tough one.... check the motherboard for leaking capacitors?

**jakkwb** · July 28th, 2004, 04:08 PM

Thanks for the posts. The motherboard caps look good - none are raised or leaking.

I did virus scan it before I re-formatted it. I only found 2 of the W32.annoying.worm virus (in the restore folder, but not in the recovery partition)

As best I can tell, the recovery partition is hidden.

I replaced the RAM with known good, it still does the same thing.

Thanks for the post,

A

**NooNoo** · July 29th, 2004, 07:11 AM

XP? You tried booting to safe mode and watching where it stops? Tried fdisk /mbr fixboot fixmbr? Changed the ide cable?

**techs** · July 29th, 2004, 09:31 AM

Does the machine have any new hardware? Have you disabled all the onboard devices like sound, usb, com ports?

**jakkwb** · August 8th, 2004, 08:35 PM

Here is an update on this system (still in need of help):

I talked with HP abou this. They said to restore it with the restore partition. Well, that did not work. It still hangs as mentioned above. So, the next thing they told me was to blank the HD and use the restore CD set. So, I tried that. It tells me that "error! PC system not supported". I got the part number from a HP sales person, and I have confirmed it is the right part number.

So, next they tell me to have the system re-tattooed. I understand I need to re-tattoo this PC so the restore CD set will recognize it. I have the tattoo program (ASPtattoo V7.3). I have a few questions about the setup of this.

When I try the option "read and display the DMI values from BIOS" (which is supposed to show all values to be entered in the tattoo data fields - this info comes straight from the BIOS) the program gives me this line twice:

bad command or filename

I have re-made this floppy several times, just in case it was some kind of media error, but it gives me this every time.

So, I need these values before I can proceed, and don't know where else to get them:

Hardware features BOM
Motherboard

This board is the Asus CUW-AM board. It is supposedly the "tortuga" board, but that model name is not in the listing for motherboards in the Tattoo program.

Here are some misc facts about this situation:

System is as purchased. No new hardware has been added.
I have the restore CD set, but they do not work, for some reason.
All components check out and pass diagnostics.
Booting in safe mode it hangs on the file AMDAGP

Can anyone shed some light on this? Any HP gerus out there? Much appreciated.

**futuretech** · August 8th, 2004, 11:31 PM

There are quite a few people with the same issue some have fixed it by setting PNP in the BIOS to disabled.

**jakkwb** · August 9th, 2004, 09:35 AM

There is no setting in this BIOS to turn off plug-and-play.

Safe mode stops on the file AMDAGP.sys. The PC locks up tight at this point.

**NooNoo** · August 9th, 2004, 10:08 AM

Tried chkdisk /r from the recovery console yet?

**jakkwb** · August 9th, 2004, 03:33 PM

yah, I tried that too. It found some errors and corrected them, but still locking up at amdagp.sys

thanks,

A

**crumbs** · August 9th, 2004, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by jakkwb

Hi folks,

I have here a HP Pavilion XT973. System would hang on boot for the customer, so they brought it to me. I could not get it to boot anyway either, so I restored it with the restore partition built into the machine. I did the destructive one - it wiped the drive and reinstalled everything.

Well, it is still hanging on boot. It hangs trying to boot into safe mode, or even safe mode command prompt. The recovery goes fine, no problems.

The hard drive checks out (ran WD lifeguard on it)

Any suggestions?

It is naturally out of HP warranty.

A

Take it you zero filled the drive, this does not wipe all viruses; if you can find a copy of zap-wipe run both. then try to use the HP install disk.. also possible that customer added ram, check and use one stick to intall.

**techs** · August 9th, 2004, 08:43 PM

It could be the bios is bad.

**natcom** · August 9th, 2004, 10:27 PM

Hi there that file is the driver for ur Ethernet card i think, take it out and then try starting the system !!!! if the Ethernet is integrated try disabling it then reboot i hope it helps