Please help me!

[Cyndi]

Hi
I have reformated my computer before with no problem but this time when I tried to do it, it won't let me! I have a Hewlett Packard Desktop 6636, Windows 98. I put in my format cd, I can hear the computer working and it seems to work fine until I get to the part where I enter 'recover' then the computer freezes and I can't hear it working anymore. I don't know what to do. It works fine with the application recovery cd but not with the the system recovery cd. Thanks so much for any help, Cyndi

 

[Angel Eyez]

Well, I'm not a computer expert, but maybe if you try reseting your computer, and then try the procedure again. That's what did the trick for my computer....I hope this helps you out!
Take Care, Be Careful, and God Bless!!!!

 

[Cyndi]

How do you reset? I have tried restarting, I think I have tried everything! Thank you and God bless
Cyndi

 

[doofus125]

What is the reason you are running the restore? I've found that with the HP's that errors on the hard drive and hard drive failure will cause the HP restore to hang. You should make a bootable 3 1/2" floppy (control panel, add/remove programs, startup disk tab) and then boot with it, run scandisk (just type: scandisk c: ) and see if there are any problems and repair them, if there isn't any problems then I would suggest using Fdisk to delete the hard drive partitions and then recreate them, remember to set the 1st partition as active......if you need directions on this I will look up a link to help you.....

 

[Durelen]

Hi
I have reformated my computer before with no problem but this time when I tried to do it, it won't let me! I have a Hewlett Packard Desktop 6636, Windows 98. I put in my format cd, I can hear the computer working and it seems to work fine until I get to the part where I enter 'recover' then the computer freezes and I can't hear it working anymore. I don't know what to do. It works fine with the application recovery cd but not with the the system recovery cd. Thanks so much for any help, Cyndi

Did it get through the reformat process? If you start the computer will windows boot? or did the CD manage to wipe everything on the hard drive?

If Windows is gone this would be a good time to use the rescue boot disk (on floppy) and see what is left on the hard drive if anything. Just put the floppy in the drive and start the computer. Once your computer boots you may need to use the command line and change to the C directory and see if anything is there. Anything there?

You should not need to format the hard drive to use a recovery disk. I don’t really mess with recovery disks unless I make them my self but I’m not sure how HP sets up their recovery systems.

You should not need to run any of the tools on the floppy (like fdisk) if you are using a CD from HP that is designed to format the hard drive. Some hard drives require special formatting programs to actually format the hard drive correctly. If they supplied a special CD for formatting the hard drive then this may be such a hard drive that needs a special CD to format it.

If you can get into the system then run scandisk and check for any errors. If your format CD did it’s job it would have taken care of all the errors in the first place so I’m not so sure you have errors at this point (if it formatted).

You can have a number of problems at this point:
1 your CD is dirty
2 your CD is scratched
3 your CD-ROM drive is dirty (lens)
4 your hard drive is damaged (maybe reason for recovery in the first place?)

You may want to go the HP website and use their knowledge base and try to reference your particular problem if you have not done so already.

 

[Cyndi]

My computer started freezing and then I noticed that I could not change my desktop theme, there was nothing in that file. Last time that happened, I just reformated and then everything was fine. I have done the scandisk and defrag. I have also checked for viruses and everything seems fine.
Thank you all for all the help.
Cyndi

 

[Stryper]

easiest solution. buy a new one.

 

[SirNivek]

You're either going to need to find a local guru or buy a new one. Chances are you're facing some type of hardware failure (likely hard drive) and we're not going to be able to diagnose that, much less repair it, from a forum.

 

[Stryper]

buy a new one.

 

[Durelen]

Yeah it’s a good time to buy if you have such an old computer. If it’s a Win98 preinstall system it must be pretty old (4+ years). Computer prices are kind now and you could get yourself a computer with a nice 64bit CPU if you want to spend the cash. You could even get a wall-mart computer for $200 that would make your old computer seem no better than a toaster.

$199.98 @ Wall-mart(link)
Assembled Country of Origin: USA
You just add modem (if you use one) monitor (that you have) and floppy disk (Can take it off your old system)

 

[doofus125]

Yeah it’s a good time to buy if you have such an old computer. If it’s a Win98 preinstall system it must be pretty old (4+ years). Computer prices are kind now and you could get yourself a computer with a nice 64bit CPU if you want to spend the cash. You could even get a wall-mart computer for $200 that would make your old computer seem no better than a toaster.

$199.98 @ Wall-mart(link)
You just add modem (if you use one) monitor (that you have) and floppy disk (Can take it off your old system)

I believe this one or a similar system was mentioned in another thread, but by the time you add to this low end system you might as well spend the $499 and get a Dell........

 

[Durelen]

I believe this one or a similar system was mentioned in another thread, but by the time you add to this low end system you might as well spend the $499 and get a Dell........

That wasn’t the point though (re-read the post). Not everyone can afford $500 to get a new computer on their budget. She may even wind up paying $200 just to fix the one she has. This computer would out perform the current system by far. Please don’t start up with your attitude again.

 

[doofus125]

That wasn’t the point though (re-read the post). Not everyone can afford $500 to get a new computer on their budget. She may even wind up paying $200 just to fix the one she has. This computer would out perform the current system by far. Please don’t start up with your attitude again.

My attitude???? Every post I make in here you start on me.

Anyways, I've seen the $200 systems and they just don't last more than a year, two at most and they die.....she would be better off to start saveing money to buy the $500 system.....$5 a week, $10 a week into a jar or something, it won't take long if she saves her change......

 

[SirNivek]

doofus125 is quite right. In computers you're going to get what you pay for. Cheap machines have more problems and don't last as long, they aren't usually the value they're made out to be. If you know a geek they can make you a good machine for $250-300 otherwise you'll be spending more on a decent retail PC.

 

[Jesus-is-the-best]

I believe this one or a similar system was mentioned in another thread, but by the time you add to this low end system you might as well spend the $499 and get a Dell........

Yes those dells are very nice and reliable...I am 13 and I just spent 1200 bucks on a dell laptop and its very nice...but I have a friend that just bought a 499 dell and they love it...I think that the one with 120ram needs to have 256 for running big stuff these days.

 

[doofus125]

Yes those dells are very nice and reliable...I am 13 and I just spent 1200 bucks on a dell laptop and its very nice...but I have a friend that just bought a 499 dell and they love it...I think that the one with 120ram needs to have 256 for running big stuff these days.

I agree on the minimum of 256mb on the new systems.....I have a $499 Dell, but I also made a couple of small upgrades to it when I got it (memory, extra hard drive).....but I love my Dell