Name brand PC Recovery problems solved

[VitalStatistic]

Hi all.

I googled looking for solutions to problems recovering a Compaq Presario computer and found a link here, so I thought I would post a possible solution I have stumbled across.

Make sure the system you are recovering has been restored to FACTORY SPECS. That means removing anything that wasn't in it when it was new.

I just tried to restore a Compaq Presario SR1915AN with a new hard drive in it from a new set of HP supplied recovery disks. I got one error after another, with problems copying files to the hard drive. I got as far as a reported 13% of the installation before I was forced to stop.

It reported problems copying Driver.CAB and Base_04.INP. I managed to get Driver.Cab installed by putting in a recovery disk from a different set, but no way could I get Base_04.INP to work.

After suggestions from HP that the Motherboard wasn't plugged in (WTF???) I tried dismantling the machine and reseating the CPU that I had previously removed in cleaning, and reseating the undisturbed DVD IDE cable and the HDD IDE cable.

I also removed the extra 256MB of RAM that the customer had installed to take the system from the factory supplied 256 up to 512. I then re-ran the recovery process with absolutely no problems.

I believe there was no problem with the seating of the cables or CPU. I believe the main problem with the system was that the recovery process baulked when it discovered more RAM than HP had installed, and would not continue.

I know next time I have to recover an HP/Compaq or other brand OEM system, I will be ensuring that the system is COMPLETELY back to FACTORY SPEC.

 

[kimsland]

I take it that the extra 256Meg of Ram did not originally come from HP
I'm not sure if that's relevant or not, but even same rating Ram (but different manufacture) has been known to cause issues (ie best to use exactly the same Ram cards always)

I was discussing a similar matter earlier on here: Windows will not boot with more than 2gb of ram (although the emphasis in that thread was the 2Gig max, before installing Windows, and strangeness of having increased ram in a system)

Either way, thanks for your post, it was interesting to note this issue (and likely cause)
Many times during a Setup fault, I have advised members to remove extra Ram cards and try again. It may be that the originally recorded Ram (under re-imaging) may be the answer (on some computers that may have Setup problems) Sadly you would need to test this issue on 10 similar, same spec, computers to really confirm. Or contact HP technical support, or possibly their tech forum, to ask of others experiences.

 

[VitalStatistic]

Funnily enough, none of the RAM was HP labelled. Normally HP puts stickers on everything in a machine, this one had two different sticks of RAM in it, and neither had the HP label.

 

[kimsland]

Just in case, I'm not suggesting that others should only purchase HP ram for HP products
Now I know that you know this as well, but I had to reply, cause others may reply with what a load of rot or something.

This is all about experience only. Rule of thumb, if setup doesn't work go back to bare minimum (even remove addon Video cards, if onboard exists hey that can be a memory issue as well )