HP computer will not boot from hard drive

[DoctorP62]

I'm David AKA DoctorP62. I came to this site because I have a tech support question that I don't know the answer to. But the board will only let me post in this forum. So I'll ask my question here.
I have a Compaq Presario SR1617CL, with an AMD Sempron 3200+ processor on a ASUS A8AE-LE motherboard. It had 512 KB of memory. My BIOS is Phoenix award bios Core v6.00 PG Revision3.08 09/13/2005. The computer came with Windows XP home installed on a 160 GB hard drive with 2 partitions (C: OS and D: Restore). It did not come with any restore disks. When booting it says press f1 for setup press f10 for restore.I blew out the OS, and tried to restore with the restore partition, but it didn’t work. So I increased the memory to 3.25 GB and installed Windows 7 Ultimate. Everything worked fine. I was running out of disk space, so I formatted the restore partition, and used it for my page file. After I did this, I started getting an error during boot, but if I pressed any key, the computer would boot. I ran out of disk space, and bought a 320 GB hard drive. Installed the new drive, installed Windows 7 Ultimate on it, and used the original 160 GB drive for user files (still leaving 2 partitions). Still had the boot error, but press any key and boot would continue. I tried to backup my system using Acronis True Image home, but got an error when trying to image the 160 GB drive (the one that came with the computer). So I copied all the data to another drive, deleted both partitions (the user data, and the old restore partition), reformatted the drive, and made 1 partition. I rebooted the computer; it did the POST, and then froze with strange symbols in the upper right of the screen. I put the Windows 7 Ultimate DVD in, and booted from it, and tried to repair Windows, but it said there was no problem with Windows. I removed the DVD and rebooted, it did the POST, and froze with the same strange symbols in the upper right corner of the screen.
I am a disabled veteran, with very little money, but I could pay someone $20 (Via PayPal), if they can E-mail me a bootable ISO image, to fix this problem.

 

[Mark56]

First question is, did you install all the chipset drivers for the motherboard?

The boot error might be happening because the old drive still has the original boot sector on it.

As an experiment, disconnect the old drive and then boot and tell me exactly what happens.

We all work for free on this site and your Windows 7 disc is all that is needed to do any repairs to the PC.

 

[DoctorP62]

No change.

I removed the original drive completely, and it still does the same thing, no change.

 

[Mark56]

OK, this guide below will do a full setup and repair on the boot sector. I believe the boot sector on your Windows 7 install has corrupted. This guide may be a bit extreme but it covers all possibilities. Before you do this make sure the CD drive is set to 1st in the boot order and leave the old drive disconnected. When complete the Win7 drive should boot, if not report back and tell me exactly what you see on screen. If successfull then you can put the old drive back in but make sure it is set in the boot order to be after the Win7 drive. In Disc Manager delete the partitions and run a format on the whole drive. Then you can repartition it.

1.Put the Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start your computer.
2.Press any key if you are prompted to boot from the DVD.
3.Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next.
4.At the next screen click on Repair your computer (do not click on Install now).
5.Next screen select Use Recovery Tools at the top of the box. (Ignore the message about the operating system not being listed. If it is listed select it). Click on Next.
6.In the System Recovery Options box, click Command Prompt and a box will open.
----------------------------------------------

Then follow this to get the disk set to active. Each command you type at the diskpart prompt will receive confirmation.

7. At the prompt type diskpart Hit Enter and wait for DISKPART > to appear.

8. Then type list disk Hit Enter (It will show a list of the disks, 0 through to how many disks are installed).

9. Now type select disk # (the '#' represents the number of the disk e.g. you would type select disk 3 to edit disk number 3) Hit Enter

10. Now type list partition Hit Enter

11. Select which partition to use by typing select partition # (you need to select the partition that the operating system you are trying to repair is installed on, again replace the # with the appropriate number).

12. Now type active Hit Enter (typing inactive will reverse the setting)

13. Now type exit Hit Enter then type exit again to close the command prompt.


Then remove the windows disc and click on Restart at the bottom of the System Recovery Options box.

If it still fails to boot you will have to go back and repeat instructions 1 through to 6 and click on Startup Repair under System Recovery Options and let it run. This time around you should see the operating system listed at step 5.

The Startup Repair routine may need to be run a few times before it completes the repair so leave the disc in and follow the prompts. Do not hit any key when prompted to boot from the CD, it will automatically go back to the Startup Repair routine. It should finally boot back up to the desktop but after the fourth attempt move on to the next stage.


Go back again through the instructions 1 to 6 and select the Command Prompt. Then follow this next stage, type each command as follows, hitting Enter after each line.

Bootrec.exe /FixMbr

Bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

After this third command you will get a message that would give the impression there is no Windows installed, don't worry, it always displays the installed OS as '0'. As long as it says "Operation Completed Successfully" then all is well.

Next, type exit and hit Enter to close the box and click on Restart.

That should do the trick! However if you still can't start Windows, then follow step 1 to 6 again and type this command.

Bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
Type exit to close the box and click on Restart.

Make sure you type all the command lines exactly as written including any spaces between characters, all can be typed in lower case.

 

[DoctorP62]

Successful Failure

Went through diskpart, everything completed successfully, still have same problem.
Did all commands for bootrec.exe, completed successfully, still have same problem
did bootsect.exe, completed successfully, still have same problem.

 

[DoctorP62]

Successful Failure

Went through diskpart, everything completed successfully, still have same problem.
Ran Startup Repair, it said no problem with windows. still have same problem.
Did all commands for bootrec.exe, completed successfully, still have same problem
did bootsect.exe, completed successfully, still have same problem.

 

[Mark56]

OK, I would now suspect a hardware problem. Try booting up on one memory stick at a time.

 

[DoctorP62]

No change.

I removed all memory, and tried to boot with each of the 1 GB sticks, no boot. Tried the 256K stick, no boot. Tried the matched set of 1 GB sticks, no boot.

 

[Mark56]

Well, I hate to say it but after trying what has been done I suspect your motherboard has a fault and that can only be proved by replacing it. Those odd symbols appearing on screen when it freezes made me think that might be a possibility right from the start.

These are the final steps that I would take.

Do a full format and clean install of Windows 7 on the new drive, leaving the old drive disconnected.

If you are using a graphics card and the motherboard has on board graphics, remove the card and use the onboard connection. If you are using onboard graphics try using a graphics card instead.

Remove the CMOS battery to reset the Bios to default, then replace the battery.

Create a bootable disc to flash the Bios.http://www.biosflash.com/e/bios-boot-cd.htm

Test the system with another PSU.

After that then it can only be the motherboard or may be the CPU. There is no way I now of to test the CPU, when the system won't boot, other than fitting it in another working PC that is compatible with your processor.

 

[DoctorP62]

Bios

I think it could be a BIOS problem, After I formatted the restore partition on the original drive, I started getting a boot error. After I deleted the restore partition, the computer will not boot. I think the HP BIOS is looking for the restore partition, and when it doesn't find it, it hangs. Do you know where I can find a non-HP BIOS compatible with my Motherboard?. I've read about a version 3.15, but that is for multi core processors. I have a single processor, but my CPU socket will accept a dual core 64 bit processor, and my motherboard supports this. (I had planned to upgrade later, I don't have the money now, to buy processor, heat sink, and fan). Do you think the 3.15 version would work with a single processor?

 

[Mark56]

The Bios first looks for the master boot record on each drive in turn as they are listed in the boot order. The restore partition would not be bootable so it will ignore that. If the Bios fails to see a master boot recod it should show an error saying "No bootable device found" or similar.

You will get the most up to date version of your Bios from the HP site. The Bios will support any processor that your motherboard supports.