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General discussion

messed up Vista / XP dual boot - now laptop wont start!

May 16, 2007 4:08PM PDT

Hi all

I've tried to intall XP alongside Vista on my sister's laptop as she wasnt too thrilled with Vista.

Laptop is a HP DV9000 - AMD Turion 64 X2 which came with Vista pre-installed and no CD's

I followed a guide on the net, that said to shrink C drive and create a new partition for XP. Did that and assigned "B" as the drive letter

Then re-booted with XP CD (32 bit....is this the problem right here?) and attempted to install it on the new partition.

First thing I noticed was that the options for partitions were C: and E: (ie there was no B: drive). I just went along and installed it to E.

After the pre-installation was done, the PC reeboted (as normal) to continue with the XP intallation. Thing is.... a few seconds into the XP installation screen, the PC shuts down cold!

Tried to re-install and later to re-format E partition and re-install, but XP JUST WONT INSTALL!

Worse; I now can't even boot Vista anymore as it goes straight to XP and that stupid installation loop starts all over again....

I just need to be able to boot in Vista so that I can then get rid of the other (faulty) partition(s). My problem is: how do I boot in Vista?

Would also like to know why XP wont install...is it because

1) I named the partition "B" and installed to "E"
2) XP 32bit doesnt work on a 64bit machine? (whats the point of 64 bit then, anyway?)

Thanks a lot !

Discussion is locked

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The DV9000 uses a SATA hard disk.
May 16, 2007 10:54PM PDT

Did you supply the usual SATA drivers during the XP install? If not it will do just as you wrote.

Bob

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SATA
May 16, 2007 11:45PM PDT

No... I read that you had to go to the bios and dissable SATA. As I didnt see anything related to SATA there I assumed it was turned off already.

Could you please point me in the right direction regarding SATA? what do I do now that the PC wont boot?

Thanks a lot

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...
May 16, 2007 11:47PM PDT

I don't duplicate ready web content about installing XP to SATA drives. Try How do I install XP to SATA drives? at google.com

As to what to do now you'll have to use your Restore CD or DVD.

Bob

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I havent got any Vista CDS / DVD
May 17, 2007 3:08AM PDT

It came pre-installed...so I could just ask someone to lend me a copy, right?

I live in Portugal, will it matter if I use a Portuguese Vista cd?

Thanks

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Yes, HP preinstalls Vista. But when I boot them up...
May 17, 2007 3:13AM PDT

They offer to make said CD/DVD so we can restore the system. People who don't do this get to call HP and for a small fee they send you the restore CD.

However since it's toast you might want to press forward with an all XP install. Again I may not duplicate prior discussions about how to install XP on SATA or laptops. You need to recycle the prior discussions.

Bob

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HP recovery disk
May 18, 2007 8:44PM PDT

Hey Bob

My sister has a recovery disk for the laptop which she failed to let me know about!

Anyways, when I boot with the said CD, it eventually displays an error message saying: "This PC is not supported by the System Recovery Disks. You will not be able to continue to recover this system from these discs" the only option then is to click on "OK" and then the system restarts...

Whats the point of these so called "recovery disks" if they dont do their job?

Any other ideas?

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Terrific! Good to read. You got them.
May 19, 2007 1:38AM PDT

Now you have a WARRANTY ISSUE! The product is defective. This issue shouldn't cost you a dime to fix now.

Bob

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Recovery disc
May 19, 2007 1:55AM PDT

It's one of those "self generated" cd's (she created it herself using the HP wizard)... but I guess it should still work. I might do what you suggested ... one small problem though...she went back to the UK and Im in Portugal

Murphy's law, I'll tell ya.

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the blind leading the uniformed
Jun 23, 2007 2:28AM PDT

Crap. Another dead end. It's maddening: All the self appointed experts out there talking authoritatively about things they really don't have a grasp of... Then folks go looking for solutions on the web and find these little snippets of un-information. Why can't these guys ever simply say I don't know... or better yet, abstain from replying.

HP recovery disks saying "This PC is not supported by the System Recovery Disks" means some condition on the pc was tested and failed. What would be useful to know is what conditions is it testing. It it looking for a specific bios config? A certain partition scheme? What exactly is it not finding to make that determination. THAT would be good info. Armed with that I could fix my PC. The author of this article could have fixed his sisters PC. Everyone else who did a google search and got directed to this thread could fix there PCs, but instead it's a just a tease: You have a warranty issue.

My case, I have a HP Pavilion a1730n - Vista Home Premium - which my teenage son decided would be a good candidate for dual booting Linux. Personally I think dual booting anything is a colossal waste of time, but he thought it'd be cool. Unfortunately when Linux asks you "Are you an expert?" on the partitioning screen, it's being sincere. It's not asking whether or not you can program the clock on your VCR, but do you actually have real clue. He said yes and cluelessly blew away the entire disks partition scheme... a few other missteps later the machine would not boot.

So I'm guessing without hard evidence that what the HP Recovery Disk is looking for is a specific partition scheme for the drive including the restore partition which as far as I've been able to grok is 6.25GB. Whether that's accurate or not, I'm not entirely sure but found one guy on another forum elsewhere describing the content of his a1730n "D:" recovery drive. I'm not sure what the precise size is, or format (NTFS?) or location on the disk (first/last/other?) or label. Also I don't know if the recovery disk is looking for something specific on that partition.

If someone out there knows the REAL answer to what the recovery disk does to qualify / disqualify the system and can tell us, I'd be forever in your debt and immediately add you to the list of minor deities that I worship daily.

Many thanks in advance.

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Unsure of why you posted here.
Jun 23, 2007 2:34AM PDT

I know this area all too well. If the self made recovery CD/DVD doesn't work then we move to ordering the CD/DVD from HP. I also can relate to people getting angry that it doesn't work or that the CD/DVD created won't work on other laptops.

Then again I see you jumped into this thread without much information about your issue so I may be all wrong.

Bob

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it's pretty simply really
Jun 23, 2007 4:04AM PDT

What people looking on a technical forum need is the insight of a SME (Subject Matter Expert). If they're searching online, generally it's safe to assume that the typical corporate support options have already been tried or are for one reason or another unsavory.

Typical flow:
1. Encounter problem
2. Contact seller.
3. Contact manufacturer
4. Still stuck, search cnet or elsewhere.

Making suggestions like return on warranty or order another set of disks from manufacturer likely redundant and generally unhelpful.

For me this amounted to the PC made recovery disks, the HP Support site downloaded disks and finally (including the long and painful call to India) the HP shipped iteration of the disks.

All three sets produce the same error.

So, again the plea. Anyone reading this thread who knows what exactly and precisely the HP Recovery Disks look for in determining the validity of the system the restore is being attempted against, please add that information.

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Well...
Jun 23, 2007 4:11AM PDT

1.) Not really the best way to begin a request for help, but your frustration is understood. Hopefully you'll be back up and running soon.

2.) The system recovery discs don't look for a partitioning scheme, but they do look at the motherboard and BIOS in order to determine if the CDs are designed for that model or not. The exact method of performing the check, however, is withheld to reduce the chances of someone circumventing the check.

3.) Dual booting does have its advantages, such as being able to run Windows Vista and Windows 98 on the same PC so you can still use old software that's not usable on the latest OS. Or having one installation set for work and the other for gaming. Unfortunately it doesn't always work out the way you might have hoped.

4.) The recovery partition:
* The size of the recovery partition varies based on the model, version of Vista (Home Premium in your case), and installed updates...6.25GB is about right.
* It's usually formatted under FAT32 whereas the OS partition is NTFS. By default the drive letter is usually D:, but it can be changed by you or installed software.
* The drive is usually protected, denying you direct access so you don't accidentally modify or delete the contents.
* The recovery discs do not look to the recovery partition...they are their own copies of that data and entirely self contained

5.) I would do the following:
* Verify that the recovery discs you're using were burned for that computer and not another make/model.
* Identify what Linux distro your son tried to install...Ubuntu, Knoppix, Linspire, DSL, etc.
* See what else he can tell you about how he proceeded with the installation. Primarily, did he create a second partition first or attempt to install to the same partition as Vista? (Not a good idea!)
* Tell us what comes up when you boot the computer's hard drive, not the system recovery discs.
* Is there anything on the hard drive you haven't backed up/can't afford to lose? The simplest option may be to wipe the drive and start over but if that's not an immediate option be sure to say so.

Let us know.
John

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progress
Jun 23, 2007 4:23AM PDT

Now this is progress. Thank you, Deity John!

> The exact method of performing the check, however, is withheld to reduce the chances of someone circumventing the check.

But I'd like to.. Wink cuz in my case it's clearly confused.

The box has stickers on it with the name/prod#/model#/SN#/etc on it which I used both on the HP support site and during the call with tech support. So I don't know how I can get any surer that I have the right set of disks.

If the the bios and motherboard are the single qualifying factors... I'm not sure what to do - they are original and haven't been changed. Also, I disconnected everything that wasn't originally connected from the box. So it should be unaltered in this regard on check, right?

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Correct, but...
Jun 23, 2007 4:41AM PDT

It's possible that the recovery system is detecting the presence of Linux and refusing to proceed since it can't repair the installation. It really shouldn't do that, instead offering just the destructive recovery option, but then again what fun is life if it's easy? Wink That's why I mentioned wiping the drive...that would immediately resolve this problem but result in the loss of all data on the hard drive. I can guide you through the process of backing it up if you have another computer to work with, or we can attempt to fix the current installation without relying on the recovery discs...its your choice. Just answer the previous questions to the best of your abilities and let us know which way you'd like to go with it.

John

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I'm game..
Jun 23, 2007 5:06AM PDT

What comes up when I try to boot is a flawed Ubuntu install that doesn't boot all the way.

Says:
-----------------------------------------
Grub loading stage1.5.

Grub loading, please wait...
Error 17
-----------------------------------------

There's no data that needs saving on the drive.

As to what else #1son did when installing.. he tried - apparently - to make it so that it would boot to ubuntu only when it had his USB thumb drive in it.. but he's unclear on exactly what he tried to make that happen.. and it clearly didn't work whatever it was. I've installed Debian & Ubuntu many times.. I'm pretty clear on what happened. Ubuntu merrily attempts to dynamically resize the windows partition, but Vista had been placed on the drive in such away that there was unmoveable block at the end of the drive (M$ being evil I'd guess) that prevent this. He went into the expert options and willy-nilly started deleting partitions until he had room to install his OS - having been weened on Windows, he assumed the computer wouldn't let him do anything truly nasty... or something like that Happy

So how do we fix this without the recovery disks? Tell me what to do John and I will do it post haste.

Thanks.

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SATA Drivers For DV9000 With XP...
May 17, 2007 1:35AM PDT

....are at the link below:

HP Pavilion dv9000
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=1842189&lang=en

You'll probably need to purchase a USB floppy drive to install the "Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver" at the F6 prompt or create your own slipstreamed installation disc.

And by the way, if you're using an Intel processor in the DV9000 and depending on the BIOS version, I believe there should be a "Native SATA Support" selection option in the "Advanced" tab in the BIOS. (Many of the AMD processor models don't have such an option.)

Hope this helps.

Grif

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"Native SATA Support" has failed me too many times.
May 17, 2007 2:45AM PDT

I think slipstreaming the drivers works best for me on my hardware. All others I use the USB floppy. Why just my hardware? The time spent making the XP with SATA driver support is so long that I won't do it for nothing but my own.

Bob

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Slipstreamed disk
May 18, 2007 8:48PM PDT

Hey Grif

OK thanks for the suggestion. I will try to create a slimpstreamed disk...

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Typo
May 18, 2007 8:54PM PDT

I tell you what, Ill actually create a SLIPSTREAMED disk instead! Happy

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In order to get Vista to boot again...
May 17, 2007 2:40AM PDT

you NEED to reinstate Vista?s bootloader to the MBR (because Vista doesn't make use of XP's boot.ini)

Here is a link that will guide you through a proper dual boot configuration when Vista was the initial OS.

http://apcstart.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

Do take the time to read through the page (and download EasyBCD which is much simpler than Microsoft's BCD editor) BEFORE performing the steps.

With the SATA drives you will have to have the necessary SATA drivers available for XP to feed the installation when it asks for them.

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me as well :-((
Jun 3, 2007 12:07AM PDT

Hello all,

well, it happen to me as well : Same machine by the way, also (HP DV9000).
I straight away installed XP into the E drive, when it didn?t function (most of the drivers will not work) .
On top of all the exitment, I did not create a recovery CD.

What I did to solve .... I formatted E believing that than the laptop would launch with C , grin , it did not ... and now I am stuck as cyber.

I learn : Will get me the CD from HP and x fingers, that than it will work again

Take care

Pasodellobo

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thread got to deep
Jun 23, 2007 5:38AM PDT

reposting this at top..

I'm game.. - New!
by wolvesdream - 6/23/07 12:06 PM
In reply to: Correct, but... by John.Wilkinson Moderator

What comes up when I try to boot is a flawed Ubuntu install that doesn't boot all the way.

Says:
-----------------------------------------
Grub loading stage1.5.

Grub loading, please wait...
Error 17
-----------------------------------------

There's no data that needs saving on the drive.

As to what else #1son did when installing.. he tried - apparently - to make it so that it would boot to ubuntu only when it had his USB thumb drive in it.. but he's unclear on exactly what he tried to make that happen.. and it clearly didn't work whatever it was. I've installed Debian & Ubuntu many times.. I'm pretty clear on what happened. Ubuntu merrily attempts to dynamically resize the windows partition, but Vista had been placed on the drive in such away that there was unmoveable block at the end of the drive (M$ being evil I'd guess) that prevent this. He went into the expert options and willy-nilly started deleting partitions until he had room to install his OS - having been weened on Windows, he assumed the computer wouldn't let him do anything truly nasty... or something like that Happy

So how do we fix this without the recovery disks? Tell me what to do John and I will do it post haste.

Thanks.

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Since we have no recovery disks (for Windows)
Jun 23, 2007 9:15AM PDT

Then the story is as bad as a flat tire and no lug wrench. To fix this you have to find the lug wrench (restore CDs.) Order them from HP if you want to run Windows.

If you don't need Windows then boot the Ubuntu CD and install it again. It should fix the boot area and get Ubuntu running.

Also did you HIJACK someone else's discussion? Not that it's a bad thing but you can do better by making your OWN discussion.

Bob

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umm, no.
Jun 23, 2007 2:03PM PDT

HIJACKING: Discussion about Red-Tailed Lemurs, someone jumps in and starts talking about day trading.

NOT HIJACKING: Discussion containing particular error from HP Recovery disks, someone jumps in with the same error message and starts asking questions about it.

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Error 17...
Jun 23, 2007 1:31PM PDT

Error 17 means that the partition exists but cannot be loaded, usually due to a corrupted filing system. This article from Dell covers fixing it, but that's certainly not guaranteed. I also wonder if maybe he successfully set it up so Ubuntu can only load if the flash drive is inserted...if he hasn't wiped it already see if inserting it makes a difference. However, since he went all "willy-nilly" on it (love that phrase! Happy ) Windows may have been corrupted or deleted for that matter. Personally, I would just wipe the drive with DBAN and then use the recovery CDs HP sent you to reinstall the OS. Since you have no data to lose that would be the quickest way of obtaining a clean start.

One other suggestion: See if your system BIOS supports the implementation of a password. If so, switching the HD to the primary boot device and applying a password will help ensure Windows will always be there to annoy. Wink

John

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Problem solved
Jun 24, 2007 5:13AM PDT

OK folks... Im impressed with all the contributions to this post! I must say it got quite complex and I thought I'd just format the whole damn thing but I managed to get hold of a VISTA CD, booted up with that and chose "repair". There, couldnt have been simpler.

I think that ALL PC's should come with a CD and that this whole cost cutting of not including original OS cd with computers is a BIG and costly mistake on part of the manufacturers, because they'll just get grief and ultimately look cheap.

Thanks again and my advice is: DONT ATTEMPT TO DUALBOOT VISTA! too much hassle in my oppinion. Either just get used to it or use something else!

Peace