DISK BOOT FAILURE..?

[superbb]

I have an old HP Pavilion 750n.
Friday, I turned it on and burned some iTunes songs to a disc (CD as it doesn't even have a DVD burner). Zero problems.
Saturday up to now, when I boot up, after the blue "HP Invent" screen passes, it goes black with nothing but a flashing "_" in the top left. From there, "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" appears on a black screen.

The only disk I have is an "Unmountable boot Volume Utility" disk from HP. It does nothing but ask me to hit a key to reboot nonstop when its in.

Is there a way to get back on that computer? Or is it officially dead?

Thanks

[PlasticAnnArbor]

well you will need to get hold of a xp ( i am assuming it is xp and not "win 98") install disk from a friend
and run , i think the names are
chkdisk and maybe fixmbr
and next time GET THE INSTALL DISK that they must give you

during boot ( before blue "HP Invent" ) can you hit f8 once or twice every second
to boot into " safe mode"

[The Chairman]

The Hard disk drive is too old...! BOOT FAILURE will happen whatever OS is atemted to be installed...! Basically you need a new computer....!

[azraelle]

The Hard disk drive is too old...! BOOT FAILURE will happen whatever OS is atemted to be installed...! Basically you need a new computer....!

Or a new hard disk drive. Sorry about all the lost data, but hey, life's a bitch sometimes!

[Tina TV]

Is there a way to get back on that computer? Or is it officially dead?

First the computer is far from dead. Installing a new hard drive should get it going again, of course the M$ software lock in may be harder to get around without installation media. Still it would make quite a good linux machine, especially as linux tends to run leaner and faster on old hardware.

Secondly don't despair on your data just yet. Check the internal cabling to the drive. Carefully unplug and replug each connector, one at a time so you don't get confused as to what goes where. Sometime this will clear built up dust or corrosion and allow a drive to "spring back to life".

If this does work, then now is a very good time to backup all the data on the drive because it may not work for long.

Alternatively if this doesn't work find someone who knows what they are doing and try mounting the drive as a read only secondary on another working computer. Possibly use a USB drive caddy to provide a safety barrier between the old drive and the working computer. Often a drive that can't be booted can be viewed this way and you'll be able to copy files off. I've done this a couple of times for friends.

Good luck.

Learn from the mistake, in the future backup your files, or at least get some SMART monitoring tools to give you a possible early warning of failure. On linux the packages are ide-smart or smartmontools, I've no idea on Windows but they must have an equivalent.

[superbb]

Thanks so much for all the replies

I'll tinker a bit with it and see what happens. The only data that will be lost (if it doesn't start up again) is just a bit of music. 99% of everything necessary has already been saved away and/or is upon our new PC. I just hate seeing that old box die

I'll have to start by finding an XP disk.

Thanks again for the responses
Wish me luck!

[Who?]

You could always try coupling the thingy with a top of the range doo-dah sprocket. With an older pc the dectinistor may require de-spagulating so a cherry pompom-opeter should be borrowed from a friend (or someone else)

I had the same problem a few years ago but it worked fine since the flange repository was rectumised.

I hope this helps... good luck superbb

[Fred75]

The Hard disk drive is too old...! BOOT FAILURE will happen whatever OS is atemted to be installed...! Basically you need a new computer....!

Or a new hard disk drive. Sorry about all the lost data, but hey, life's a bitch sometimes!

There are some pretty good $30 shareware programs out there than can recover lost data if the drive is operating.

[superbb]

You could always try coupling the thingy with a top of the range doo-dah sprocket. With an older pc the dectinistor may require de-spagulating so a cherry pompom-opeter should be borrowed from a friend (or someone else)

I had the same problem a few years ago but it worked fine since the flange repository was rectumised.

I hope this helps... good luck superbb

I stole a pompom-opeter from a neighbor (who chased me three blocks - after hiding in a bush for an hour, I thought it was safe enough to return home - I was wrong as she was waiting for me with a spork - the grating sound as she claws at my front door with it is almost soothing now that 6 hours have passed and I've grown so accustomed to it).

PS: I'm having trouble de-spagulating because her pompom-opeter was made backwards. I tried my chulooratorator but may have broken the dectinistor as it was just too big and clumsy.

[Who?]

You could always try coupling the thingy with a top of the range doo-dah sprocket. With an older pc the dectinistor may require de-spagulating so a cherry pompom-opeter should be borrowed from a friend (or someone else)

I had the same problem a few years ago but it worked fine since the flange repository was rectumised.

I hope this helps... good luck superbb

I stole a pompom-opeter from a neighbor (who chased me three blocks - after hiding in a bush for an hour, I thought it was safe enough to return home - I was wrong as she was waiting for me with a spork - the grating sound as she claws at my front door with it is almost soothing now that 6 hours have passed and I've grown so accustomed to it).

PS: I'm having trouble de-spagulating because her pompom-opeter was made backwards. I tried my chulooratorator but may have broken the dectinistor as it was just too big and clumsy.

I'm not sure I understand you???? What is too big and clumsy, your chulooratorator or dectinistor? Cheap dectinistors are always too big - you have to pay more for nanotechnology but it's worth it. If your chulooratorator is too big that can usually be remedied with a decent hammer.

You ignore your neighbour's clawing at your own peril. The same thing happened to me for several months until my front door became worn through and he gained entry to my house. I was forced to return the pompom-opeter immediately, and I was also obliged to pay for his shirt to be dry-cleaned.