[mattyguilly]

A used HP Pavilion dv1000 laptop was given to me and in an attempt to reinstall Windows XP Home Edition, I feel I have made matters worse.

I apologize before hand if this subject has already been exhausted by other users, which I'm sure it has, but all the other threads that pertained to this topic ended up being very confusing to me; and fast. So I thought I'd start fresh.

The laptop was given to me without any installation CDs, so I did some research and found that you can reinstall the OS from a file called winnt32.exe in the I386 folder, so with product registration keys at my disposal, I decided to give it a go.

Before doing this, I installed a program called DriverMax to back up all my drivers, as advised to do so in a blog I read somewhere on the web. Upon installation, the program searched for drivers on my computer and then proceeded to place all of them in one folder. I hate to sound dumb, but I should copy these drivers to an external source before attempting to reinstall the OS, right? I'm not exactly sure how it's gonna work after I install the OS, but I'm assuming I can restore all the drivers with the press of an "import" option within the DriverMax program. Is this a good practice? Has anyone used this program before?

After backing up my documents and other important files, I went ahead with the installation. It seemed to be doing what I expected it to, until I failed to realize that my cooling pad wasn't on, resulting in my laptop overheating and shutting down abruptly as I stared at the screen while munching on a delicious Jr. Whopper from Burger King. I nearly choked on my value meal when the screen suddenly went black, but my nerves settled (and so did my lunch) a minute or two after I hit the power button and I was somewhat relieved when my laptop gave me the option to continue with the installation. However, not even 4 minutes into it, I received a message that said a bootvid.dll was missing. What's up with that? Instead of ignoring the message and moving forward, I aborted and tried again, getting the same message. That's when I aborted the installation altogether. What can I do to fix this?

Now I'm stuck with the option to proceed with the installation or run Windows XP every time I turn on or restart my computer. Kinda annoying. On top of that, I think this installation used a lot of the memory in my hard drive. I'm pretty sure I had much more memory to begin with. Is this normal? I was hoping that this could be reversed, but a system restore proved otherwise. So now I have absolutely no idea what to do. I'd appreciate any help that I can get.

I'm not sure what kind of info is needed to help sort out this mess I made, but here are some specs:

Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv1000

Windows XP Home Edition Service Back 3 (build 2600)

1.50 gigahertz Intel Celeron M
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache

504 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

TOSHIBA MK 8025GAS [Hard drive] (80.03 GB)

[Byteman]

Hi,


You don't really need to go through all that when you want to reinstall. The best way to refresh your laptop is a totally new clean install of Windows,and then all the software YOU need or use installed newly. And yes, there can be some bumps in the road.....

Generally, all the drivers you need for anything INSIDE the laptop are installed during the use of the system Recovery disks or Recovery utility> I urge you to get the set of disks, they are still available from HP or from other HP specialty stores andthey are not expensive- ususal cost is either $17 or $27, depends....

UNDERNEATH the machine on a tag/label you will find additional model number ID info...the dv1000 is just the main Family of notebook, you need the exact model number, and then go here:

Go to >> http://www.hp.com/#Support

And input the model information to go to the support area for your model.

You see a "Or automatically detect model" line, you can try that....usually it cannot find the model.
You want to get into the Product Information area...

Here's an example....this is probably NOT your model, it is just for an example!!!

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...submit=Go%20»

Then, still as an EXAMPLE.....go to "How To...."

and in that area you will see System Recovery that will explain about the process and the two ways to run one, and if your system supports it, the two TYPES that you can do, Destructive and Non-Destructive.

With Service Pack 3 on the computer now, you are not going to be able to do a Repair, so you will probably need to run a Full Recovery, and if the from the Partition method or from within Windows method is not available, you have to use a set of disks. (The other way is to install your own legal copy of XP whatever version....and then to install all the drivers and software manually, this can be hard to do if you are unfamiliar with the routine.

Anyway, first get the right model number and go to the support for that model, get the user guide downloaded and read all about that computer. Make good notes or better yet, print out or save the downloadable guides to an external media like CD or USB flash drive etc. You can download drivers this way, as well to have to reinstall.

I've used the HP Recovery disk sets a lot- when it works it works, when it doesn't there is usually a hardware issue involved.

If you post the model number ID I will help you get the Recovery disks located, and you can send for them, takes about a week to arrive in the US. My last set was $17 for a similar HP dv family notebook.

[win2kpro]

The easy thing to do is go here;

http://www.computersurgeons.com/Sear...esults#Results

and get a set of HP recovery media which will bring the machine back to original configuration as delivered.

There are quite a number of sets for the Pavilion DV1000 so apparently there were quite a number of different configurations. I would call this company, so that you can provide any numbers off the machine they may require to make sure you get the correct recovery set.

[Byteman]

From my Reply......

Originally Posted by Byteman

Hi,


You don't really need to go through all that when you want to reinstall. The best way to refresh your laptop is a totally new clean install of Windows,and then all the software YOU need or use installed newly. And yes, there can be some bumps in the road.....

Generally, all the drivers you need for anything INSIDE the laptop are installed during the use of the system Recovery disks or Recovery utility> I urge you to get the set of disks, they are still available from HP or from other HP specialty stores andthey are not expensive- ususal cost is either $17 or $27, depends....

UNDERNEATH the machine on a tag/label you will find additional model number ID info...the dv1000 is just the main Family of notebook, you need the exact model number, etc....

Yes, I gave instructions to find the exact model number info.....isn't that good enough?


HP's set costs $17 while the computersurgeons same set is $27, which is why I advise first going through HP.

You also need to become familiar with the HP support site, in order to work with a reinstall on one of their machines. There may be Updates you need to get for software they provide, and depending on what Service Pack level the computer shipped with (and the disk set contains) you may have to UPdate some of the softwares before loading SP 3.

Get the User Guide before proceeding and go through it.

[GTechWiz]

Why not just use a slipstreamed SP2 XP CD to fresh install XP without the bloat ware that HP sends out?

I'm not trying to be a smarty pants, but I happen to hate HP Software with a malicious passion...

You can use your CD Key to load it, register it at start up and then go get your drivers from HP! You should be able to directly download the drivers for the laptop, they do this in case you swap your OS. (I could be wrong on this.)

Just a suggestion...

[mattyguilly]

Byteman, win2kpro & GTechWiz:

Thank you all a bunch for your info and suggestions!

Byteman, will the recovery disks from HP take care of my missing bootvid.dll problem? And with these disks, do I have to run the winnt32.exe file from within my laptop? If that's the case, do you suggest purchasing a new copy of Windows XP Home Edition altogether or do the recovery disks take care of that as well?

GTechWiz, I'm not familiar with the term "slipstreamed," but the idea of doing a reinstall while avoiding the hassle of possibly unwanted software sounds great. Care to elaborate on how I can make this happen? Does anyone else suggest this?

Wow. Could I sound more computer illiterate?!

Thanks again for all the help!

[techkid]

To help you out, mattygully:

Byteman's suggestion is probably the cheapest option to go for. This will give you a full copy of Windows XP, with the drivers of all the hardware your laptop will have. Unfortunately, you might get a lot of crud from HP as well (I'm not too sure if the Recovery CDs actually have all that, though).

GTechWiz's suggestion is probably the most thorough (and somewhat complex, depending) option. Once again, you will get a full copy of Windows XP, definitely without the crud, but without the drivers as well (it is easy enough to get them, though).

Oh, by the way, the term 'slipstreamed' refers to when your operating system CD (Windows XP in this case) contains updates and upgrades from its original release (drivers, Service Packs etc).

Hope this has helped.

[GTechWiz]

I didn't think for a moment, that, you might not have an original Windows XP Disc, considering most of the computer manufactures will not send you one, I think Gateway is one of those rare companies that actually does (having owned a few gateways)

If you don't have the original shiny (silver coated) XP Disc, then I might recommend you go out and get a Service Pack 3 Disc from the store..
(For multiple good reasons!)

If in the future you have this problem on other computers, you may be able to use your windows XP disc that you bought to fix your problems!

Also, this allows you to gain some knowledge in the process, ie. loading up windows for the first time...

More than all of this, I have an even greater sollution for you dear...

Go get Ubuntu and load this! (if your not a gamer, you may find this even better than windows! GASP!) Did I mention it's 100% free?

You can load Ubuntu up on almost any computer! And It Just Works!
(Thanks to the Linux team for that!)

You can get it here, you will need to burn the ISO to a CD...
(Hopefull you can do this.)

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Give Ubuntu a try, hey, it's free, what do you have to lose?
NOTHING!

Cheers!

[win2kpro]

Byteman, I apologize, I was typing while you were posting, posted then left, didn't refresh, and didn't see your post until this morning.

Certainly if the poster can get the recovery disks from HP, that is where he should purchase them. I've just found in a lot of cases HP/Compaq doesn't still have the recovery sets available.

[win2kpro]

Originally Posted by GTechWiz

If you don't have the original shiny (silver coated) XP Disc, then I might recommend you go out and get a Service Pack 3 Disc from the store..
(For multiple good reasons!)

Why would an owner go out and purchase an OEM disc when he could get a System Builder disc set for $17-$27?

HP/Compaq recovery disc sets are image discs, and bring the system back to original configuration. I too hate the "bloatware" that HP/Compaq have in their image, but it's fairly easily removed through Add/Remove programs.

Dell sends out a set of discs one being the OS, one being drivers and utilities, and generally two or three other discs that you can load or leave out. Gateway previously used the same method as Dell, although since Gateway has now been taken over by Acer I'm not sure if they still send out the individual discs or now also send out an image disc set since I haven't reloaded a Gateway machine in quite awhile.

In the past few years, neither Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq or other large "mass producers" ever sent out a bright, shiny OEM discs, they all sent out System Builder discs that were produced by their respective companies under license from Microsoft.

[Byteman]

Hi,

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...product=438373

Regarding>

Originally Posted by techkid

Unfortunately, you might get a lot of crud from HP as well (I'm not too sure if the Recovery CDs actually have all that, though).

If you consider some helpful things like MS Office (this used to be fully working install- of Word, etc but lately is a trial type thing).... CD/DVD burning software, or Photo editing or album making software "crud" then by all means, never use the manufacturer's Recovery disks... some computer owners are not all that convinced that they need to obtain new or full featured software to do basic things like play or burn disks, or work with their digital photos. The Recovery disks give the owner a good chance at a working system in just a few hours with minimal stress or mistakes taking place. The worst items HP's disks put back on are the trial antivirus app type of things, in my opinion.... there is a way to opt out of installing on the NEWER computers, and of course this could always be UNinstalled just after finishing the Recovery, should an owner wish to do so.

Manufacturers have slimmed down the full installs these days....there are better Opt-outs available, and looking through what the basic model in this case came with, I don't see a boatload of "crud" at all. Done ranting!

My advice is for this owner to get and read the User manual to become a little familiar with the terminology and how-to's. Learning to install Windows and some drivers and then programs, and getting caught up with updating everything should be learned first this way.


mattyguilly Note> See the Alert for the battery recall for your machine

It would look like this, if yours is an affected model....

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...os=228&lang=en

Your user guide which I advise you to Download to have on hand, will explain to you exactly how to perform the full Recovery....you do not run it using the wininit file.....you do it by pressing keys at startup with the first CD in the drive tray and then following what it says. Perhaps there is a relative or friend, a techie type person near you who might help with this?

Installing Windows always can give surprises, but the one amazing thing is, you can do and redo it until you are happy. If something goes wrong, just run a new Recovery, and unless there is a major issue with hardware or the disks themselves, you can set everything back the way HP sent it out. Your job from that point on, is to know enough to install a good antivirus program before connecting to the Internet- to do this, you need the download or Installer for whichever antivirus program you like these days, on a CD or other media, so you can copy the installer to the computer, and install the program, get it updated and then you can go to the websites and get other things done. Too easy these days to get the computer infected especially while it is in an UNprotected or UNupdated state just after a full REcovery.

The HP user guide is meant to help you through this process, and there are several documents available that should be enough to make this process fairly easy for you. This is something you should learn how to do- the process is similar for almost all pre-installed computers you can go buy.

Just having a Windows disk in hand lets you install just Windows....and then you have a nice job of installing drivers for whatever hardware needs them, as well as all the programs you need to run. And, you have to buy your own copy of XP, Vista, Windows 7 if your computer didn't come with it.

In the future when you are experienced with at least the hardware on this notebook, you might consider installing just Windows, and then bringing the machine up to date, installing what HP has you can download....I can tell you though that you do need to become a bit familiar with hardware and how to do things before you tackle a plain copy of Windows especially on a notebook computer. I'd be happy to answer any other questions.....

Reinstalling using the HP Recovery disks should result in an error-free running machine, you should not see that bootvid.dll error. Doing a Full System Recovery, where the hard drive is wiped and for all purposes "erased" by the process itself, more than 99% of the time will take care of all software problems like malware, too. These days, there are some rootkits and other malware that it has been shown, can survive a format since they infect the boot sector of a hard drive....hopefully your machine does not have this malware but that is something that can happen. You will know after doing the Recovery....the malware can be detected but right now it is hard to fix...there probably will be a ton more of it coming along so it is not something to dwell on.

If you post the model number info I will post links for you to the documents you need to read and save to some media so you have them handy to refer to. Print them, or have them on a flash drive, CD, whatever....having a spare computer handy at the location is also a very good idea.


win2kpro I fully understand, and no harm done. You give great advice, we all know that! [/b]


For HP's it's quite simple to find out if the Recovery set is available, if it isn't shown in the Product Information section, usually it's not available anymore from HP.... that's when I send folks to computersugeons.com and the other specialty online stores. We or an owner can look through the Parts list, the CDs or DVD for the OS is shown there if you can still buy it. This may not be 100% but it is what I have found holds true It's always a good idea to call HP support and ask though. I don't know why except that in Vista HPs the DVD must cost less so they have dropped the cost to consumers from the old $27 to $17. The stores are still $27!

http://www.computersurgeons.com/Sear...esults#Results

And:

Cannot find recovery disc on the HP web site Unable to order Recovery DVD
If you have removed the Recovery Manager, or changed the operating system, or the discs you made are corrupted, go to the HP drivers and download web page for your model and order replacement discs. To order replacement recovery discs you will need the exact product number and the Serial number of the computer. If recovery discs are not listed on the drivers and download page, click Contact HP at the top of this page, and choose a contact HP Support to order the replacement discs. There may be a fee for the replacement discs. See HP Notebook PCs - Order Recovery Discs for Windows 7, Vista, or XP .
If you are outside of the United States or Canada, please see Europe, Middle East, and Africa - Statement on the Availability of the Recovery Software on CD , or contact your local HP support center for information about obtaining recovery DVDs.

I suspect when you have the exact model number, it will let you see the Recovery disk ordering link this is very common at HP>
the Canada ones for example, are different than the US and so forth.....I see it all the time with notebooks.

[mattyguilly]

I am beyond impressed by everyone and the responses I've received. Very informative. It's comforting knowing that there's people out there who are so willing to offer this kind of support. Thank you all!

I've decided to go with the option of ordering the recovery disks. Again, thanks for the other suggestions. I'll certainly keep them in mind when I become more experienced in this area, but for now, using the disks seems like the simple way for me to go. I can do simple.

Byteman, my model number is: EH443UA#ABA

Thanks for the heads up on the battery recall. I'll check into that right away.

[Byteman]

Hi, From the model # you posted, which is not the one I was after, I was still able to find what I believe is your exact sub-model of Pavilion notebook a dv1411se

I would be happy if you would confirm that, from the tag or label underneath the computer.

That may be a system or serial number...anyway, it appears to have worked so if you cannot confirm dv1411se don't worry.

The HP set is available for XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...130589&lang=en

Go there >> notebook recovery disc set windows xp home

and fill out the information when you are ready to order.


*The Recovery (if it can run successfully), should get you back to factory condition but the process is not sometimes without a few bumps....it helps if you run into problems to post back here and we can post help for you which you can carry out on the notebook computer.

You might not know some of these things, bear with me if you do.....

1. You will need to have on hand....on a flash drive, a CD, etc.... a copy of an antivirus program's installer that you want to install. IF you know what one the pc was using, and want to run that, then you need a way to install it without connecting the notebook to the Internet at all....or you stand a chance of getting the machine infected quickly.

The way I and many others do it, is to get the installer for the antivirus program (and lots of other things, should you wish to) onto a CD or other media to have handy to install onto the notebook. You need a computer with Internet access and a CD burner at minimum, it should be running XP or later but does not have to. Perhaps, a friend could help you accomplish those things. For example, a lot of us use AVG Free Edition, or Avast! Free etc.....you can download a copy of the full installer and burn it to a CD or save it to flash drive and install the antivirus that way on the notebook.

(Once you learn how this works you will never be without a backup of your favorite programs' installers except for those that already are on CDs or DVDs)

2. After you get things basically running and can get online with an antivirus program set up and Updated, and perhaps after Windows Updates are caught up....

You will not have Internet Explorer 7 or 8 you will have IE 6.0 so strongly consider getting IE 7 and get that Updated at Windows Updates. You may already know of and use Firefox, if not, consider trying that later.


You will only have Service Pack 2, and you should check on how to proceed to get SP3 installed, and should delay that for a bit until you do check since HPs sometimes require their OWN updates to software before getting newer Service Packs!


3. You don't need all of the downloads available at HP support- some of the files are Updates and you do need them, some are just the original drivers, which the Recovery process will already have installed....if you do happen to try an Update, the process itself will alert you if it is not needed- or not meant for your computer.

It's hard to determine which Network adapter your computer might have since there are bunch it could have...so, check in the Device Manager now if you are able to, if not, maybe the previous owner has a record or has original paperwork for the machine? (Usually not) Otherwise, if XP or the Recovery does not install a driver for your wireless and that is type of Internet you have you might have to connect using a wireless card that goes into the cardbus slot on the end of the computer (as opposed to using the built-in WiFi or wireless adapter). Or, there may be a Wired Network port that accepts a network cable...many ISP Internet devices like cable or DSL access points have BOTH wired and wireless features. Hopefully the Recovery installs all this for you, but don't lose hope if it does not. Simple matter of trial and error to get the right one.

Here is a good page with lots of other links to check out the ins and outs of HP Recovery processes, FAQ's, gotchas and how-to's> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...130589&lang=en

Your notebook's main support start page > http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...lang=en&os=228

(If that model is not yours, let's find out which one is before doing anything else!)

OK get some of that digested, perhaps print it or save it to a file on an external media so you have it handy during the Recovery process and after.

[mattyguilly]

I didn't know a machine could get infected so fast. Thanks for the tip.

Here's the info listed exactly as it is on the sticker on the bottom of my notebook:

Product: HP Pavilion dv1000
s/n: CNF5391XH0
p/n: EH443UA#ABA

Then on the same sticker, it says:

dv1411se
Warranty: 1 year

I'm confused about this. Is my notebook a dv1000 or a dv1411se?

[Byteman]

It's a dv1411se, and part of a great number of sub-models...IN the main notebook family dv1000

They THEN have....you guessed it.....upward sequencing series.......dv1100, dv1200, dv1300 and so on. OK, got it now?

http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Looku...&submit=Go+%BB

HP and other computer companies, like to name the new computers coming out something flashy.... Pavilion 500, let's say, and then they start creating slightly different sub-models with slightly different hardware and software....newer editions so to speak. They have to identify each sub-model somehow, so they give them different upward-sequencing IDs

This will explain it far better than I can >>>>>> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...&product=18073


Here;s the list of your dv1400's sub-models>>>>
http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Looku...&submit=Go+%BB

That's why when you go to HP Support and type in just dv1000 you get the long list of submodels...it has to know your exact submodel....in order to get to the right info, since HP builds different arrangements of the same basic family....kinda like car companies do....doesn;t that drive you right up the wall? It sure did me, until I figured out what was going on.....HP doesn't show you the other SERIES when you type in dv1000....so you'd never know there were all those dv1400's and whatevers....they come out with so many a year and just add more submodels and/or series....

which is why I stay up late and mess around on these forums, just to relieve stress and feel like I'm helping!