[speterson99]

Well this has me stumped. I am here in Iraq and I managed to dowload some updates from Microsoft. Before I went to sleep I clicked on install updates. The same day, KBR decided to do generator maintenance, oops, well the battery died, and when I woke up I was faced with the HP logo screen and a frozen computer. So I resarted the computer and it froze at the HP logo. I emailed HP and they said reflash the BIOS which isn't possible now. So I emailed them again, they said purchase the restore disks.

Here is what I have done. In order to access BIOS you have to take the CMOS battery out and put back in after 5min. Then you can access the BIOS screen. I ran memory test (passed) and hard drive test (passed), exited BIOS, and the computer froze at the HP logo again. I had to remove the CMOS battery again. I tried to go to system restore from the partition (F11). It appears corrupted, I can't run windows in any mode of operation. All of my data files are good, cause I tested them drive on my friends computer, no problems.

The having to remove the CMOS battery everytime has me concerned. Windows updates failing to load completely also has me concerned.

Help

[TheSystemWizard]

Wait.. Why are you having to remove the CMOS battery to enter the BIOS?
Isn't it just a case of pressing F1 or F2 or etc.

And too me it sounds like the operating system won't boot.
You could try booting from your original windows install disk to access the several recovery options. Maybe try the start-up repair or system restore.

[ViprXX]

Ya, you shouldn't have to be pulling the cmos battery before you startup your pc. Anyways have you tried starting your pc up in safe mode? If not, to start your pc up in safe mode all you do is turn your pc on and right after the first black screen with a bunch of text on it appears just start pressing the F8 key. if you get it right, it will ask you how you want to startup you computer, just use the arrow key to navigate to the safe mode option and press enter. Once in safe mode, click the start button then All Programs then Accessories then System Tools and on that drop down menu choose System Restore and just follow the directions. And if that doesn't work, follow the same directions to boot to safe mode then goto the control panel then add/remove programs and try to remove the last update that you installed before the proplem started.

Hope this helps a little

[speterson99]

The only way to access any options such as F10, F8, F1, ect is to remove the CMOS. Leaving the CMOS battery in I get when I power up, the leds come on, the cd rom searches for a disk, then the HP Logo screen comes up with the options for F10(setup) F11(restore) F1(view system info), ect. If I press any of these options the system hangs and goes no further. By removing the CMOS battery I can access all these options; however, the OS appears so corrupt I can't get to the restore, or safe mode, or any mode. I can access BIOS the exact same way, have to remove CMOS battery. Leaving it in then resetting the computer is not an option.

I know the OS is shot and need to order repair disks from HP. The bigger question "Does that sound like it is just the OS or could it be the motherboard too, because of the CMOS battery deal?"

[speterson99]

Thanks for the advice so far.

[TheSystemWizard]

Too be honest i'm not sure what's going on with your CMOS thing.
But once you've ordered your repair disks from HP and repaired your OS this shouldn't be TOO much of a problem because you won't really be needing to access the BIOS that often.

[rainforest123]

s :
Hello & welcome to the tech guy forum.

Your problem is NOT, > 99% certainty. The OS hasn't started to load at the HP splash screen. If you can't even reach the HP recovery partition, the OS is NOT the problem.

Run ram & HDD diags. Perhaps HP has a system diag. Which diags did you run? I like memtest, but even he has a disclaimer that not all problems are detected [ false negatives ]. No test is 100% accurate.

"The bigger question "Does that sound like it is just the OS or could it be the motherboard too, because of the CMOS battery deal?""
Were this my computer, I would ask HP.

RF123

[speterson99]

I got 2 different answers from the same company. The reason I came here is HP has told me to re-flash BIOS via a link they sent me. That doesn't do me much good since I can't even access the internet with the computer. I was told via online chat that a re-install would fix the entire problem.

From BIOS I was able to run a hard drive test (passed) and a RAM test (Passed). The computer just went out of warranty 2 months ago. The motherboard was replaced in March already. This is getting costly if I have to replace the the mother board out of warranty.

Thanks for the advice.

[rainforest123]

s :
Why do you need to go online to flash the bios?

Which memory / ram test did you run?

Which HDD test did you run?
Please provide HDD manufacturer, model name, model #.

Please provide your computer brand, model name, model #.

Please provide your computer expertise level.

RF123

[speterson99]

I was told by HP I got a bad download from Microsoft, and probably corrupted BIOS or the O/S.

The memeory and HDD test were ran from Phoenix BIOS.

I have an HP pavillion DV9700, DV9817cl laptop.

The hard drive is a Fujitsu, MHY2160B4.

My level of expertice is about average. I ski both green and blue but tend to avoid diamonds in comparrsion.

[rainforest123]

Why do you need to go online to flash the bios

Your manual. http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01295898.pdf
Do you refer to the mem & HDD diags on page 109?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...691962&os=2093

You might want to click on "report" and ask a moderator to transfer this thread to the hardware forum.

Have you heard of Ultimate Boot CD [ UBCD ]?
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

You can boot to it, to access files on your hard drive.
In theory, you could copy the file to a flash drive, boot your computer to the UBCD, run the BIOS flash program. You might need to copy the file to your lappy's HDD. UBCD will allow you access to your HDD's files.

[speterson99]

Thanks, I will have to give it a try. I was able to run the diags in accordance with the manual and they passed. I am downloading the program, I will let you know how it works.

[rainforest123]

s :
Keep us posted.

RF123

[speterson99]

Hey Rainforest123,

Good idea with that UBCD disk. I took forever to download the program and find someone willing to burn the image for me. Gov't computers won't allow it. So ran the diags for the memory and it failed 5/5 tests.

I was able to get windows running after trial and error and waiting forever for it to load (discovered this by accident). I ran the windows memory diagnostic and it said "There are hardware problems consult your manufacture". The test ran then froze at 99% completion.

At first, I thought the video card was bad, but it turns out I had to remove all my startup programs (including anti-virus), and reducing the screen resolution to the lowest setting. I saw lots of hard faults for memory when everything was running at full capicity and it would load up then shutoff (like it just got overloaded). I was lucky if it would run for 5 min. Eventually after removing programs it would run for 30min, then an hour. I can now keep it on all day without it shutting off. Still have the CMOS battery removal issue. Could this be a fail safe to protect the computer?

The installed Ram was 1GB and the other was 2GB. Each was made by a diffrent company in a diffrent country. I read mis-matching RAM sizes is a bad idea. I bought this computer from a discount store.

My HP DV9817cl and Gateway NX570x (1GB) have identical RAM specs {ddr2-667mhz-pc25300-200pin}. Should I try and swap them out?

[Chris A]

Hmm at boot your computer runs through the memory could be faulting out there.. since you have two sticks take one out if no better try the other one. then see if you can borrow a stick to trial..