Restore Failure

I am trying to fix my friends Pavilion 532w desktop. She got some viruses that really messed her up. Well we got the viruses off and the malware for the most part but it was really doing badly...did a restore to an earlier point back before she stated having noticeable problems...still was hanging up and freezing... so we did the restore using the F10 on boot up...this uses the hidden restore files... well it was okay BUT the files needed to connect to the internet through anykind of connection were not there and I would download on another computer and put on a disk but it would just say something else was needed...this kept on till it just said error loading... so we finally did a complete restore..or tried to where it does a quick format and reinstalls all the original files from the hidden partition... well it could not load some of the applications...after it installed the OS (XP home) it would start saying cannot open **** file of **** and I would have to hit okay... this went on for 3 seperate applications before it just froze up...cannot get past 41% install... I have restarted it and tried the install again...same thing... have tried 3 times... if I try to start the windows from this point of recovery..it says a windows file is missing or corrupted and to reload or reinstall that one... we do not have recovery disks and she didnt' make any when she should have... so WHAT CAN I DO short of installing Windows 2000 which is the only one I have that I can use.. I do not have a copy of Windows XP home.. and I doubt if her OEM number would work with my XP Pro or XP Media... can anyone offer some help?:cry

 

It sounds to me like either the hard drive is failing, the restore partition's files are corrupt, or you may have a possible RAM problem. Download and run a bootable RAM diagnostic. MemTest86+ or Microsoft Memory Diagnostic are both bootable. Memtest is an .iso image you can burn to CD and then boot to it; the MS diag gives you the option of creating a bootable floppy or an .iso image to create a bootable CD. Both are free and available in the Memory section here at Major Geeks. If the RAM tests OK (be sure to run several passes of the RAM diags; it will take some time, and use the extended test), then download and run a hard drive diagnostic from your hard drive maker's web site. A full HD diag can also take some time, so be patient Post your results and we'll go from there... GOOD LUCK!

hopperdave2000

 

The HP recovery is renowned for being unreliable. Try asking HP to at least supply a restore Cd under fitness for purpose consumer legislation, I hear it is pretty good in the States. Of course HP might cough up out of the goodness of there..... goes another pig flying past my window.

Studio T

 

The link to the official HP support:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/contacthp?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bph07538&dlc=en

When you solve the problem and restore/install the new OS, don't forget to backup the system drive using any third-party software for safety

 

the memory passed just dandy( 13 full runs)...going to pop the cover in the a.m. and check for the hard drive type and look for utility...but from past experience I don't think it is the hard drive...I think the virus she had just did a real nasty number on her puter... the recovery disk is about $13 so that is not bad...but she may opt for me putting Win 2000 on it...I have emailed her and waiting her reply as to what she wants to do... anyway... off to bed then up to another day of fun and frolic with the puter... Hey pigs do fly...If you put them in a catapult!

 

I'll look forward to the carrier pig(eon) bringing me a note that you have suceeded. Go for it.

Studio T

 

As Woody on TOYSTORY said...."WE DID IT, WE DID IT, YEAH YEAH YEAH".. amid much jumping around... it has a Seagate Hard drive in. On their website they offer a program called Sea Tools for Dos. I ran it on the HP and it found 67 problems and repaired them all... this was two runs on the long scan. then I completely erased the hard drive and ran the long scan again...Clean and all nice and healthy now. I had to order the restore discs...only HP in only a week's time had stopped carrying the restore dics for this particular model...but their tech support directed me to a site that now DOES sell their restore dics... cost me $31 dollars and this included the priority shipping... any way... they downloaded unto the clean machine like a charm... did a total restore and it was like factory settings once again. used my high speed and downloaded the SP1 and SP2 and all the updates...it is currently downloading the final 14 files that are left available ... have put a registry repair program on it and AdAware, A squared, Avast and a PC firewall... so pretty soon I will call her and say COME AND GET IT!!!.. I am very happy to have gotten this "fun" job done. Now I can concentrate on the umpteen dozen or so other computers stacked in my spare room that need "something" done to them... I'LL BE BACK!!!
Thanks people...you are the greatest!:wave ....

 

Well there's a nice start to a new week. Well done.
Think about the age of the hard drive. If the errors were of the sort that Windows check disk couldn't fix then the drive is beginning to show its age and will become increasingly unreliable.
So keep backups up tight and do regular diskclean/ checkdisk /defrag.

I'm sure you and the stack of computers will be very happy.

Studio T