COmpany wiped laptop, boot record AA55 not found

[cinders]

I have obtained two laptops from my company. For security they completely wiped them. They are HP/Compaq nc6000.

When I turn it on I get non-system disc or disc error. I then put in the XP pro CD which came direct from MSDN as a developer subscription, so I know it is good. Restart and the system inspects the hardware config and says (4 times!) "boot record signature AA55 not found". It then proceeds to enter setup and loads all kinds of drivers and controllers such as floppy, adaptec, qlogic, RAID, a whole bunch of stuff, it goes black again for a secong, flashes upt he HP logo and starts all over again and again. I ran the HDD self tests and they all came up fine.

It does this on both laptops I have, so I think it has to do with when they wiped them. Question is did they mess up the BIOS or the hard drive and how do I fix it? There is no floppy drive. According to the serial number and the laptop I currently have, it was using XP Professional, so that is what I was loading on.

I know the problem is the AA55 error, but don't know how to fix it.

I called 2 places and they were useless. One wants me to reformat the hard drive, but that never shows up as an option. I can push F10 and get into "setup", where I have choices of file-which gives me system info, securitypasswords-all blank, tools-HDD self test and battery, and advanced-boot options and device options.

DO I need BIOS fixed (HOW?) or a new hard drive? I think I can do th hard drive myself for under $100. MOre than that is not worth it for this old of a machine. It will be a spare for the kids to use and myself on occasion (usually use desktop)

THANKS!

 

[TriplexDread]

Cindy you need to try and enter the BIOS and tell the system to boot from the cd-rom. Make sure your system disk is in drive when it starts to boot

It should ask or give the option then to boot from cd drive press enter and setup should start

 

[floppybootstomp]

That error message indicates the mbr (master boot record) is corrupted or missing. The mbr forms part of Windows and is that part of the operating system that starts Windows.

So that would make sense if the hard disks(s) were wiped. It would also make sense if the company you bought the machines from hadn't properly erased all of Windows and merely wiped the mbr. That's a possibility as HP/Compaq machines have strange setups compared to normal machines.

It's as TD said, you need to enter the bios when you start the machine, usually by pressing the 'Del' or F2 keys. Once into the bios, navigate to the boot options and make the CD drive the main boot device. Save your changes, put the XP CD in the drive and restart.

Windows should then go into the installation process. When you reach the part where you can format the drive, choose NTFS, normal format (not quick format).

 

[TriplexDread]

Oh depending on the size of the hard drive it can take quite a while for the format to complete so be patient

 

[cinders]

tried boot from CD

I set it to boot from Cd. It has multi-boot enabled with multi first, and hard rive second.
Then it entered some kind of setup thing where it is a black screen with a little counter that is counting up , like it is checking something, it says the number--which it show counting up, with the letters "KB OK", it ends up at 1048576 KB OK, it then goes and shows the error about AA55 and then I get a blue screen that says windows setup.

This time I hit F2 for windows recovery and got a message to put in the disk labeled Windows automated system recovery disk into the floppy drive. I have no such disk, and no floppy drive. so I Escaped to cancel and it went back to the blue screen where down the bottom, in a white area it says setup is loading files, and then flashes the files as they are loading. They include controllers, Drivers, port drivers, video driver, keyboard, adaptors or various kinds, ScSI, Fat file system is near the ends, then it says somethinga bout stating windows, then BACK to the black screen where it is counting KB's!!!! I hit a key while it was counting and it went back tot he blue screen where it says WIndows Setup at the top left, and Setup is loading files at the bottom. Same files it just loaded!

One time when I told it to eject while it was loading these files, it asked to replace the XP Pro disk, or escape to cancel, so it knows what disk it had, it just isn't loading on properly, must be the partitions or that error I mentioned above.

The numbers must be the RAM being checked, because the other computer has less RAM and the numbers went only into 500,000's.

I'm almost ready to quit! I know that error is probably my problem, but I don't understand what to do when I read the google results.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[TriplexDread]

Does it do this on both machines?

 

[cinders]

can't format

Just read some more replies...it never gets to a point where I can format the drive. I have it set to boot from CD. It just does that setup stuff listed previously, but never stops to let me do anything. It gets to a point where it says windows is starting (it is so fast, I think it says that) then it starts all over again!

If I start it without a disk in the DVD tray, it gives me the non-system disk error, and does not respond to any keystrokes.

Boot options:

It says quick boot--disable
multiboot-enable
boot order:
notebook multibay-first
notebook hard drive-second

It seems to know the XP pro disk is there, just doesn't load it properly.

 

[cinders]

Does it do this on both machines?

Yes, it does the same problems: error is the same and it loads but never completes..

Can't remember if it does it over and over on both...I decided to concentrate on this one as it has more RAM

 

[TriplexDread]

There is a solution to it. I htink the easiest way would be to remove both drives put each one in turn into a external usb caddy and plug into your desktop PC

Delete each partition and format then return both drives to their machines ready for installation

That is the easy way imo.

Of cours you will need to splash out on an exteranal 2.5 usb caddy

something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149278

 

[floppybootstomp]

Aye, I think that's a good idea but this could be tried.

The hard disk in each machine has two partitions on it, one would be the partition where your normal version of Windows goes, the other is probably something HP/Compaq have created with recovery software for Windows.

I think the conflict is that the machine is trying to install XP from the disk but then reading the recovery partition and trying to boot from an operating system that is no longer there.

Somehow you need to completely wipe the hard disk, erase both partitions and then create one big partition.

For that you're going to need some software on a CD that boots. I actually have a floppy disk with a program on that could do that (Paragon Disk manager V5.0) but your machine doesn't have a floppy drive.

It's possible the 'Ultimate Boot CD' may have software on it to help you, it's a free downloadable ISO that you can burn a CD with and which boots. It contains lots of free software programs, probably one of which will do what you need to do to your disk(s).

Google 'Ultimate Boot CD' and try it, although it is a little complex to burn, you have to merge it with a Win XP CD, but if you follow the instructions, there should be no probs.

The figure you see is a memory check and indicates you have 1Gb of memory. Those machines are probably also quite old, at least five years old I'd guess.

Selecting Win Recovery Disk won't work, you need to have created a CD from the previous operating system installation.

The other method is as TD has suggested, remove hard disk from machine, mount in caddy and partition erase/format from another machine via it's usb port.

There is no easy solution to this I'm afraid, it's a common trait amongst Compaq/HP/Dell/etc machines to make them behave not like normal machines.

 

[cinders]

I will see if a friend can help me make that CD. I downloaded an iso file of windows xp w/service pack 3 (from microsoft-legitimate copy), but it doesn't do anything, don't know if that was my error or the files I downloaded. My official copy at least attempts to load up.

How hard is it to remove the hard drive? I have a little black door that flaps open and there is a silver tab that seems to be to pull out something with. It's the area that #14 in the diagram seems to point to, unless that arrow in poinitng underneath.. http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11794_na/11794_na.HTML

BIG QUESTION! If I an unable to either remove it and fix it with my desktop machine, or download the program suggested, would REPLACING the hard drive work? Is this problem in the hard drive, or in a part of the machine that would not be bixed by a new drive. I see that drives are under $100, and this one is old so a replacement might not be a bad idea if it fixes it.

If I can get it out, but am too unskilled to repartition it myself, is this something the "Geeksquad" (hate to even consider them) should be able to quickly do for me?

THANK YOU SO MUCH for trying to help!

 

[cinders]

just realized this is a uk site! I'm in the states. The GeekSquad I mentioned is BestBuy's computer techs. Do they have that there? Any suggestions as to whether I should post to a US site? Probably doesn't matter as good ole Microsoft is worldwide! (hope you'll still help me now that I confess I'm a US gal....)

 

[floppybootstomp]

USA/UK makes no difference.

And I did kinda figure where you from when you gave prices in dollars

Bestbuy is a budget store. Their technical backup is not good.
I know this as I am a member of a couple of USA forums.

And to answer an earlier question, I can't be 100% sure but I reckon a new hard disk would probably solve your problems.

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/index.html

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/nero5.html

Read the above links in order and you will seei t is easy to get and burn the Ultimate Boot CD. Most of the the hdd tools are fairly easy to use and one of them should be able to help you.

If not try Parted Magic,here is the home page. This is nice and easy to use, I like it.

http://partedmagic.com/

Here is a link to tutorials on how to burn and use Parted magic.

http://wiki.partedmagic.com/index.php/Programs

These are the tools you will probably need. They are included in Parted magic.

GParted -partition editor that uses libparted

install-mbr -installs and configures a Master Boot Record manager

 

[cinders]

My brother is a Mac guy, but he told me this "I have a Firewire enclosure; not sure if it would fit a laptop
drive. You can either borrow it or bring the drives here for me to
wipe them on my machine if you don't have Firewire."

Anybody have an idea what a Firewire enclosure is and if it would fit my laptop hard drive. If so, can he use his Mac to wipe my drive, or does it need stuff done to it that only a windows machine can do? If this was a Mac he'd have me up and running by now. He's not fond of Windows and doesn't like to think about them too much. You know how those Mac people are! (no offense to any Mac people on here!)

 

[Anon_F]

Macs & Windows based PC's are completely different Operating Systems.
Deleting using a Mac PC may not make the HDD function properly?

 

[Abarbarian]

Download and burn Parted Magic and then you can use it as a Live CD.

 

[muckshifter]

Well actually Feckit, Macs can format a HD for Windows, however, most PC, including Cindy Bednarik's laptop do not have a "firewire" port ... will have to use USB

Not sure if it will functional as desired anyway as the Mac will only use FAT32 & ideally XP would be better of with NTFS ... yes, I know you can convert one to the other, but ...

All are long winded approaches ... all one needs is another PC ... remove the laptop drive, if it has the standard IDE socket you's OK to go, if not, you'll need one of these to make the connection in your PC ... I wouldn't bother with a "caddy" as most laptop HDs use/need that cable for PC use.

I agree with FBS, however, all you will loose is money by going to the "Geeksquad" you never know, you could have your lappie back in 10mins ... may even work.


Bottom line here is ...

if the lappie wont boot to CDRom drive, and all you'll need is the XP CD, then you'll need to take the HD out and use a PC to format the drive.






PS. we here at PCR will talk to anyone anywhere in the world ... no contact has been made to anyone in our galaxy ... yet.

 

[cinders]

Would this be what I need? (complete) http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-USB-DSC5-3-5-Inch-Converter-Adapter/dp/B000HJ99DI/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b

I looked up the US version of Amazon, they have the one like you posted (that doesn't have the USB.) I think the USB is the way I need to go. I can handle USB.

Would love to find it in a store and not wait for mail order.

 

[muckshifter]

OH, Nice find, could have done with that back in my day ...

Don't think any "store" will have that instock.


Have you taken the HD out of the Laptop, just to see if you need the converter? If it don't need one, then you can use the exisiting IDE cable in your PC.


I take it as read that you are using a PC, not laptop, at this time?