[parfman3000]

I re-installed windows xp on my hp pavilion 431.uk and i had a few problems so i had to put in C:\windows2 as opposed to C:\windows even though i took the full format option. The problem i have is every i time i reboot or restart, after the blue hp screen i get a black screen with a broken white bar across the bottom that progresses very slowly and after about 20 mins i eventually get the win logon screen, once i am logged on the pc runs normally. What can i do to improve this boot speed

[floppybootstomp]

I don't know anything about HP machines but can you not boot from your XP CD and format both partitions during setup?

Then install XP to freshly formatted primary partition.

Unless you got one of those 'restore' CD's from HP and not a full version of Win XP.

In which case I have not a clue, I never used one of those.

[muckshifter]

The "broken white line" is actually normal ... what is not normal is you seeing it.

HP should stick to making Printers, NOT PCs ...

If you’re the owner of an HP PC purchased over the past few years, you may just be in line for a free Windows XP recovery CD, based on the settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought against HP over, of all things, hidden recovery partitions and missing Windows XP directories. The main allegations in the case, which was settled without HP admitting any wrongdoing, were that HP included undisclosed recovery partitions on PC hard drives, and didn’t include the “ValueAdd” and “Support” folders that are included on standalone copies of XP. To be honest, we’re still shaking our heads over this one; OEM copies of software are often different from retail copies, and HP certainly isn’t the only PC company that has stuffed a hard drive with extraneous files, hidden partition or no. Somehow, we think that with all that’s going on at HP lately, it was just easier for them to settle this and send out a bunch of CDs than to let it drag on.

Go get yours ...

... HP are, if not careful, heading for the scrapheap ... 1400 people have been layed-off ... Hmmm, are HP going under?