HP Pavilion TOTAL crash

[miss_cookie]

Hi all,
I have spent 3 days browsing the threads and have not found anythin
related to my problem.
One day while working on the computer an error popped up "spoole
service unavailable" then the computer froze. I rebooted and got
blue screen that was too fast to read then a black screen with
blinking curser.
I have an OEM HP Pavilion 304w with XP Home Edition preinstalled. A
HP does not provide any way of recovery, I called and purchased the
recovery cd's.
Got all sorts of errors while trying to run the recovery.
After several e-mails back and forth between HP they finally told m
that I should take my computer to a repair shop.
They had me do all sorts of weird things to this poor computer
including disconnecting the hard drive and restarting then connectin
the hard drive again.
I downloaded and had to use the 6 floppy boot discs for XP then
reboot hitting f1 to change the boot to cd-rom. Then I put the firs
recovery cd in and hit f10 to restart.
It goes through all 8 cd's then goes to recovery.
During the copying files at 16% error windows start popping up th
first with the message
Problem in extracting process: WINDOWS\I386\SOUND24_ could not b
opened
Please note that when I purchased this computer it had no sound devic
installed. As per HP I went to NVIDIA and downloaded a audio driver.
The windows go on and on, I lost track at 1000 files that I clicked o
on.
After several hours and only at 18% and the error message reading
WINDOWS\I386\spdlang_sy
I finally stopped and shut it down.
My brother in law did something that I realize was wrong, but.....h
took his XP Home cd he got with his computer and ran it in my computer
XP was installed and is fully functional (of course I won't use i
because it is registered to his computer) He did it to prove a point.
HP told me that XP was able to install from these recovery cd's. M
brother in law says that using the recovery cd's does not give me th
XP Home edition but just lets me get back into my system to find it.
HP told me that even though XP was installed on my comuter when
bought it doesn't mean it's still there. They also told me that the
would "recycle" my computer and sell me a new one.

Any solutions or help would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!!!

Suz

 

[Guest]

Since your Brother In Law installed XP successfully - there's a problem with
the HP stuff. Which puts the ball back in their court. But, don't expect
too much out of them!

Search the HP CD's for a directory named i386 - that's where the majority of
the XP setup files are located. And then try and run setup from there. Be
advised that HP uses a bunch of proprietary parts in their systems - so
you're pretty much stuck going to them for complex solutions.

Another solution is to purchase a copy of XP and install it on your HP
computer.

There's lot's of other ways to do this, but they all depend on an intimate
knowledge of your computer and operating system (in other words, this could
take a long while!)

 

[Chas]

Hi all,
I have spent 3 days browsing the threads and have not found anything
related to my problem.
One day while working on the computer an error popped up "spooler
service unavailable" then the computer froze. I rebooted and got a
blue screen that was too fast to read then a black screen with a
blinking curser.
I have an OEM HP Pavilion 304w with XP Home Edition preinstalled. As
HP does not provide any way of recovery, I called and purchased the 8
recovery cd's.
Got all sorts of errors while trying to run the recovery.
After several e-mails back and forth between HP they finally told me
that I should take my computer to a repair shop.
They had me do all sorts of weird things to this poor computer,
including disconnecting the hard drive and restarting then connecting
the hard drive again.
I downloaded and had to use the 6 floppy boot discs for XP then I
reboot hitting f1 to change the boot to cd-rom. Then I put the first
recovery cd in and hit f10 to restart.
It goes through all 8 cd's then goes to recovery.
During the copying files at 16% error windows start popping up the
first with the message
Problem in extracting process: WINDOWS\I386\SOUND24_ could not be
opened
Please note that when I purchased this computer it had no sound device
installed. As per HP I went to NVIDIA and downloaded a audio driver.
The windows go on and on, I lost track at 1000 files that I clicked ok
on.
After several hours and only at 18% and the error message reading:
WINDOWS\I386\spdlang_sy
I finally stopped and shut it down.
My brother in law did something that I realize was wrong, but.....he
took his XP Home cd he got with his computer and ran it in my computer.
XP was installed and is fully functional (of course I won't use it
because it is registered to his computer) He did it to prove a point.
HP told me that XP was able to install from these recovery cd's. My
brother in law says that using the recovery cd's does not give me the
XP Home edition but just lets me get back into my system to find it.
HP told me that even though XP was installed on my comuter when I
bought it doesn't mean it's still there. They also told me that they
would "recycle" my computer and sell me a new one.

Any solutions or help would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!!!

Suzy

See Here
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=296562&os=228&lang=en&cc=uk&docname=bph07144

Buy a Genuine Copy of XP. Less hassle than recovery CD's as you now know.
Chas

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Suzy

Your best bet is to get your own version of XP.. I see little point in
relying on HP for anything meaningful.. you will have to get proprietary
drivers from the HP site if you take this route, but overall, you will be
better off..

I accept that it will cost you, but that is the price for buying an HP
system.. they choose not to supply decent recovery media for whatever
reason, and the vendor chooses not to make customers aware of the pitfalls..
the only interest is money..

The next question relates to which version is best..

OEM XP is a cheaper option but leaves you dead in the water if you decide to
buy another computer in the future.. the version is marketed such that
system builders can install XP to get the new customer started, and to add
value to a system, that is to say it is 'ready to run from the box'..

Full retail versions are more expensive, but they are more flexible, and you
get support directly from Microsoft.. for instance, in the event that you
lose or damage the CD, Microsoft will replace it.. also, you can do clean or
repair installs more easily, and not have to use the sometimes arcane
procedures required with proprietary recovery CD's..

A minor detail is that you can also dump the hidden recovery partitions, and
also not have to install all of the HP bundled crap that they are so fond to
supply..

As it stands, with a working example of XP presently installed, buying the
full version would allow you to do a repair install using your very own key
code..