[aslinc]

I have a HP Pavilion 553x with a IDE 40Gb HDD. It originally had XP Home OS on it brand new. I had the bright idea to install Windows 7 on it and didn't realize it took nearly half of my HDD. Well, I decided to re-install XP with the XP disk and it yeaped back that I could do that. "NT will not allow". That's the error I received. So I then through trial and error I tried to reformatting the HDD. Well, it wouldn't allow me to do that either. So I got the bright idea to get a HDD enclosure to put the HD in to USB it to my other machine. Did that, and then I was able to re-format the HD. I re-formattted the HD to "NTFS" and it's type is "Primary". I stuck it back in the machine and loaded the original XP boot disk and it goes through a few bio checks and other checks for about 4 mins and then has up a the top "Starting up Window" Ofcoarse I did change boot order to DVD drive. Once it gets off "Starting up Windows" it shows 1 partition and then shut down. It's done this 10 times or better. Does anyone know what I should have done different in this process or what will it take to correct it?

I have run a disk check and all the sectors came back okay. I did this using EASEUS Partition Master software.

[Megabite]

Is that a full XP disc or a recovery disc?

[aslinc]

Full XP Disk...Couldn't find my recovery Disk

It does ask if I want to a third party push F6 or recovery F2. Ofcoarse I didn't answer and it started on the XP Disk and then to the Partition Screen but before I can choose the Partition it shuts down.

???

[Megabite]

The PC completely shuts down?

[aslinc]

Yes, I have to push the power button to get it back on. I'm still looking for my recovery cd. Is that what I need instead of the full xp disk?

[Megabite]

Not sure why the PC completely shuts down.....how old is the Powersupply?

[aslinc]

The same age as the cpu..never been changed before but I haven't had any problems as far as I know with the PS. I have a new one in the box but that never crossed my mine simply because 4 hours ago I was using the machine and it as fine. I just needed to revert it back to XP.

[aslinc]

I'm sorry, atleast 8 years....

[Megabite]

Well for the PC to shutdown can be overheated CPU or the Powersupply failing.

[flavallee]

If you have a legal bootable full version Windows XP disc and have the CD/DVD drive set first in the boot order in the BIOS, you shouldn't be have any problems with doing a hard drive format and clean reinstall of Windows XP in that 40 GB IDE hard drive.

You're either doing something wrong or there's a problem with the Windows XP disc.

You boot from the Windows XP disc.

You press any key when the Press any key to boot from CD command appears.

You agree to the EULA and allow the setup process to begin.

You delete all current partitions.

You create a new C partition.

You format that new C partition in the NTFS file system.
(Note: DON'T select the quick option)

You install Windows XP in C:\WINDOWS.

The entire process will involve 2 restarts.

Do NOT press any key when the above command appears during each restart, or else the setup process will start all over again.

Once the computer settles down from the second restart, you can remove the Windows XP disc.

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[flavallee]

Here is the support site for the HP Pavilion 553x desktop.

It comes with an Intel Pentium IV 2.00 GHz processor and 256 MB of DDR RAM and Intel 845 integrated graphics and a 40 GB hard drive.

It came with the original release of Windows XP Home Edition, so I'm guessing it was manufactured on or about 2002.

Unless you maxed it out with 2 GB of RAM and upgraded to a NVIDIA video card that supports Windows 7, it was a waste of time upgrading it from Windows XP to Windows 7.

As long as you don't load the computer with a lot of personal data(games, music, videos, etc.), a 40 GB hard drive has sufficient free space to run Windows 7.

I've upgraded a few older desktops to Windows 7, so I'm speaking from experience.

It appears that you may still be able to purchase the recovery disc kit for it from here.

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[aslinc]

Thanks so much for the input. I failed to say that I wiped the HD in the process of formatting. I wiped it clean and then formatted it. Re-partitioned it afterward. Im not sure if that makes any difference or not. Thanks for the link to the recovery CD. I'll look in one more area at the office and if not found I'll order new one.

Thanks

[flavallee]

I don't know why you would want to partition that small 40 GB hard drive.

Create a single C partition and allocate the entire hard drive to it.

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Personally, I would reinstall Windows XP and max out the RAM in it.

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[aslinc]

That's why me experience level is set to "beginner". I really didn't know if for some reason it needed to be. So I did it. But thank you for letting me know. I think I'm going to take your advise on the Windows7 option. I'll get some more Ram today and Re-install my Windows7. Do you think it would work for me to get another (bigger) IDE HD?

[flavallee]

As long as you keep it in a single C partition and don't load and save a bunch of personal data in it, you should be fine with 40 GB.

Windows 7 and it's associated programs and extras should consume about half of it.

It has an Intel 845 chipset, so it should support 2 GB of RAM.

If it winds up supporting only 1 GB of RAM, stick with Windows XP because it'll run like a turtle with Windows 7.

The Intel 845 integrated graphics doesn't support Windows 7, so you need a PCI video card that does.

A NVIDIA GeForce 6200 or GeForce 8400 GS PCI video card worked fine for me.

I still think you should stick with Windows XP.

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