Trying to install XP using recovery disks!, proving to be problematic
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 29

Thread: Trying to install XP using recovery disks!, proving to be problematic

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12

    Trying to install XP using recovery disks!, proving to be problematic

    I inherited an HP pavilion 7905 from my brother without a hard drive; I ordered restore disks from restoredisks.com because hp said they stopped making them for this model. I got the disks, put in a 20 GB hard drive that was bought quite awhile ago but has never been opened until today. I put the hard drive in, put the first recovery CD in and just as the cd-rom starts to spin up it shows a message "Error! PC system not supported. " I have been working on this thing forever, keep in mind I am not all too computer savvy. And so today I called restoredisks.com about it and they said that the problem could be caused by the fact that this hard drive I put in it is smaller than what was originally put in it. Is there any truth to this?

    Also I was trying out this 20 GB hard drive to see if I could install XP on this computer in the first place to see first if this computer works at all so then I might be able to save myself from paying $70 for a hard drive that I can't use. If anyone can help me out here or has any thoughts on the matter that would be awesome. Thanks.

    Here are the stats of the computer.

    Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0.E
    Copyright 1985 - 2001 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
    All Rights Reserved

    Copyright 2001 by Hewlett Packard Company
    Release 3.08
    CPU= AMD Athlon(tm) 1333mhz
    256M System RAM Passed
    256k Cache SRAM Passed
    System BIOS Shadowed
    Video BIOS Shadowed
    UMB upper limit segment address: E61B
    Mouse initialized
    Fixed Disk 0: Maxtor 91024U4
    ATAPI CD-ROM: Hewlett-Packard CD-Writer cd 16f
    ATAPI CD-ROM: Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502

    Here are the stats of the hard drive, I don't know if this information is imortant or not but I just thought I would throw it in there.

    Maxtor
    Model: 52049H3
    HDA: 13A
    PCBA: 05A
    Unique: 11A
    Code: JAC61HUO
    Cylinders: 16383
    Heads: 16
    Sectors 63
    Jumper: j50
    Master/single: On
    Slave: off
    7200 PRM
    Last edited by JuicyDbase; January 24th, 2007 at 03:29 PM.

  2. #2
    Registered User Ferrit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Vancouver Island The Real Canada
    Posts
    4,952
    There is no reason why you cant just install XP on that hardrive at all
    If the XP cd is a genuine one just boot from it and the rest is all straightforward.
    That by the way is your best choice i think
    The reason it is is because i think when you get that error,
    Error! PC system not supported
    That is because the restore disk isnt for that system. I highly doubt that the problem is just the wrong harddrive
    Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3
    AMD FX 8350 4ghz OCTO-Core
    Windows 8.1 PRO 64
    Adata 256 gig SSD
    Kingston HyperX 1600 16 Gigs
    Sapphire R9 280 2gig
    Enermax Liberty Modular 620
    www.northernaurora.net
    http://www.northernaurora.net/page/chat.html

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12
    Yeah, I am really getting miffed about this little hole in the wall restoredisks.com company that hp suggested, the main reason being now is that I looked at the file size of every disk to see if all of XP is on there and not just a little part where as the rest would be on a hidden partition on the computer when it was first sold. And they range from 300mb to 630 mb, and one did not have anything on it at all. Is there any way at all that I might be able to see if this computer works in the state that it is in, because I would love to go and buy a new hard drive or even do that and say screw restoredisk.com and buy XP boxed new. But to me that is a lot of money to be spending if the computer does not work in the first place.

  4. #4
    Registered User street1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    In The Backyard With PeckerWood.My Pet Bird.LOL
    Posts
    1,594
    Set the hard disk jumper as CS or Single. Connect the drive using the Master connector on the primary IDE cable.This is what the HP BIOS likes the setting
    to be for a single hard drive.
    "We Must Have Toliver Gravy!"Said The Bloody
    Little Yellow Lumbermen To The Forum King.

  5. #5
    Registered User slgrieb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    4,103
    I'm with Ferrit on the restore issue. Don't think you have the correct restore set, but if the machine has, say, a non-HP replacement motherboard in it, even the correct restore CDs won't run. For the cost of a new drive and retail XP, you're darn close to replacing the machine with a much nicer new machine.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12
    For the cost of a new drive and retail XP, you're darn close to replacing the machine with a much nicer new machine.
    Like what, if I built my own? Because it seems like a descent brand name pc would be at least $400. Maybe I could take the graphics card from this old computer because it was a pretty good update I think, maybe just swap out the mother board and processor and keep the rest of the old? This is quite a side bar but I am really trying to get the best deal hear. Any thoughts on the best possible deal/way to go? Although it would be nice to have a luxurious pc, I am no high tech gamer who needs a pc to haul you know what.
    Last edited by JuicyDbase; January 24th, 2007 at 07:20 PM.

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    478
    Check the order number of the recovery cd's and ensure the part number is listed as 5066-0364

    Which would be for the Pavillion 7905 (D7210G)

    http://www.myrecoverycds.com/hp700.html

    About half way down the page the 7905 came with quite a few different Processors the one with a AMD 1333 was according to the HP site the model D7210G

  8. #8
    Driver Terrier NooNoo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    31,824
    If the motherboard is not original, it won't work.

    The HP restore cds that I have seen come in two flavours - one with the XP cd as a real operating system cd, and one that is just a full restore image.

    To find out, put each cd in a computer and explore them - the real xp cd will have the directory i386. If it does, we can work from there.
    Never, ever approach a computer saying or even thinking "I will just do this quickly."

  9. #9
    Registered User street1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    In The Backyard With PeckerWood.My Pet Bird.LOL
    Posts
    1,594
    So,what did your brother do with the original hard drive?Good Morning!
    NooNoo.
    Last edited by street1; January 25th, 2007 at 06:43 AM.
    "We Must Have Toliver Gravy!"Said The Bloody
    Little Yellow Lumbermen To The Forum King.

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12
    Futuretech - There are no order numbers on the cd's. I really don't feel like buying another set of recovery cd's from someone else because If I were to pay another $35 I could almost buy XP boxed new for that amount, also my brother did not have any cd keys or anything like that to give me with the computer. Am I going to need these because with the restore discs that I used on the computer I am on now, I did not need any.

    NooNoo - The motherboard is the original. And yes, I looked on the first disc and it had a folder titled " i386 "

    street1 - I actually just e-mailed him asking the exact details of what went wrong and he still has not written me back, so I am beginning to wonder if he does not have the courage to tell me that something major is wrong :-/ j/k maybe kinda sorta. I do believe that he said his hard drive crashed or something and so it is probably in a land fill now in a million tiny pieces. And so he gave it to me because he didn't want to waste his patience and time with it, so he just bought a new one and gave me this one for free without a hard drive, pretty good deal I say because if it works it should only cost $70 or $160 with XP to get a decent computer up and running. Also, I tried setting the drive to master and cable select but had the same results, I didn't see anything about a "single" configuration on the jumpers in the manual of the hard drive though.
    Last edited by JuicyDbase; January 25th, 2007 at 05:45 PM.

  11. #11
    Driver Terrier NooNoo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    31,824
    Quote Originally Posted by JuicyDbase

    NooNoo - The motherboard is the original. And yes, I looked on the first disc and it had a folder titled " i386 "
    Then you have a copy of windows. Next experiment, put that cd with the i386 folder in the cd drive, and go into bios/setup and set your machine to boot from cdrom. See if that cd will boot and start the setup. If not, do you have a floppy drive?
    Never, ever approach a computer saying or even thinking "I will just do this quickly."

  12. #12
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12
    VERY FRUSTRATING NEWS. When I turn it on to try and experiment on it, now the computer is not sending any video signal to the monitor!, as it goes from a green light to an amber light.

    I also spoke to my brother on the phone where he could not avoid notifying me of the issues with this thing (ha). He said that one day he turned it on and all that would come up was a blue HP logo and he believes his hard drive crashed ALSO. He was going to take it into best buy to get fixed but it was $90 so he asked some people about it and they said it was either the mother board or the power supply.

    Question - Could a bad power supply really affect a computer like this, I mean it turns on, so it should be good right?

    Note - Last time I turned it on and was messing around with it I set it to boot from cd-rom or floppy (pretty sure it was left on CD-rom), and so now when I turn it on, not only does it not send a video signal to the monitor, but the cd-rom and floppy drive show no activity at all of even reading a disc or floppy.

    So the fact that it has turned on and was able to navigate through the BIOS leads me to believe that the power supply is fine. And the fact that the cd-rom and floppy drives do not show any activity at all to even read the discs or floppys leads me to believe that it is the mother board.

    Please let me know your guys thoughts. I also think those restore disks are bogus, and if I am going to have to replace the mother board, these do not apply and I will force myself a refund.

  13. #13
    Registered User Ferrit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Vancouver Island The Real Canada
    Posts
    4,952
    A dodgy power supply can do a lot of very bad things
    Reboot the computer
    Cause the components to burn out from under supplying electrical power
    Start and stop randomly
    etc
    etc
    Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3
    AMD FX 8350 4ghz OCTO-Core
    Windows 8.1 PRO 64
    Adata 256 gig SSD
    Kingston HyperX 1600 16 Gigs
    Sapphire R9 280 2gig
    Enermax Liberty Modular 620
    www.northernaurora.net
    http://www.northernaurora.net/page/chat.html

  14. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12
    I had no idea, are there intelligent circuits/programming in power supplies?

    I am wondering if it is safe to swap out the power supply with one from a pretty old computer to see if this is the problem. Do all power supplies have the same output on all the same types of wires?

  15. #15
    Driver Terrier NooNoo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    31,824
    Only if you pay for it!! No, in a computer like this, you just replace them. You will need to get a similar or higher wattage. Post the details on the back or side of the power supply, one of us will find you a link to a suitable replacement.

    It could also be your video card died. Does the machine give off any beeps at all?
    This particular model came in all sorts of flavours. You need to ascertain whether it has onboard video or not. If it has onboard video, the monitor cable will connect in the upper half of the case. If not, it will connect in the lower half of the case.
    how to replace the video card Have a look at those instructions and open the case... do you have an agp slot as shown there? Is there a card in it already? Is the monitor connected to it?
    Never, ever approach a computer saying or even thinking "I will just do this quickly."

Similar Threads

  1. DOWNLOAD: AutoPatcher XP 5.0 March 2005
    By TechZ in forum Other Software Applications
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: September 3rd, 2005, 11:45 AM
  2. Replies: 2
    Last Post: August 13th, 2004, 03:24 PM
  3. Replies: 0
    Last Post: August 9th, 2004, 03:36 PM
  4. XP pro won't install
    By shuq666 in forum Windows XP
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: March 18th, 2004, 10:28 PM
  5. xp recovery console
    By Shard92 in forum Tech-To-Tech
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: August 27th, 2003, 07:25 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •