[Tahoerock]

I am trying to do a System Recovery to:

HP Pavilion 761c - Windows XP Home edition
512 MB RAM
Hard Drive: Maxtor 4G120J6
CD-R/RW and DVD-ROM drives
Core Version 6.0

I backed everything up and do not mind reinstalling everything with a fresh start.
The computer first started with a boot loop. I would turn the computer on and it would go to the black screen with the options to boot in "Safe Mode", " last config", or Normal. Anything I selected did not matter, it would go back to the same screen asking me to select one of the options "safe mode" etc. So I shut down the computer wanting to do a "r" repair with the System Recovery discs, so I rebooted to the BIOS (F11), changing the order of the boot sequence to CD-R/RW because I have the original HP Recovery CDs (8 discs total). I put disc One in the CD-R drive, selected "r" for repair. I put the 8 discs in as they asked, but once I got to the eighth disc, the comp said " Cannot create User Partition", so I turned the computer off and started over with disc One. This time I selected "f" for full recovery, went through all eight discs, then it said "Problem in Extracting process: xxxx can't be opened! the xxxx are all the files I noticed the computer was copying from the CD-Rs, I think... I took out the eighth disc, shut down and rebooted and now the screen reads "NTLDR is missing Press Ctrl +Alt+Del to restart.

I cannot get the computer to do a System Recovery!! I did some research and looked in the BIOS and did not see a boot selction for HDD, I don't know if this is a problem or an option with this model.

I am starting to think there is a problem with the hard drive, but i can't do a CHKDSK because I can't get to the c: prompt. I cannot get to Windows XP at all... Any thoughts before I throw the computer in the lake????

[pishbloom2]

dont throw the computer in the lake. lol!!!! its very possible the hard drive has gone south. they arent expensive to replace.u might want to somehow have the drive checked to see if it has indeed failed and go from there. if it has get it replaced and then of course u will have to reinstall everything. i hope u have backed up everything important on a cd or a flash drive like your drivers etc so that when u are able to reinstall u will have everything u need. or it might also be the cd drive has failed and isnt reading the discs properly or that the discs are scratched etc.hope this helps u.

[DaveA]

Have you tried ther following

From the Windows XP desktop, click Start , All Programs , and then one of the following options:
NOTE: The following options are for HP computers. Compaq computers will have similar options (for example, Compaq Tools).

• HP Tools , and then HP PC System Recovery .Hewlett-Packard , hp pavilion pc tools , and hp pc system recovery .PC Help & Tools , and then HP PC System Recovery .

[flavallee]

Here is the support site for the HP Pavilion 761c desktop.

Here is the "Solve a problem - System Recovery - Performing a HP system recovery in Windows XP" section.

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[Tahoerock]

Sorry, I cannot get to windows at all! I have to boot from the CD-R recovery discs and I cannot get past them.


Thanks anyway

[Tahoerock]

I have two computers so I took the only internal hard drive out of the broken computer and put it in the working computer. I went to the device manager and looked at the hard drive, everything seems healthy and OK. Because I have the 8 recovery discs, should I completely wipe / format the entire drive then put it back in the broken computer and use the 8 recovery discs to reinstall Windows XP?

[Tahoerock]

I took the Hard Drive out of my HP and put it into my other computer, reformatted the drive, then put it back into my HP. Used the recovery discs and ended up woth the same problem, "Problem in Extracting process XXXXX can't be opened!" XXXXX are all the files off the discs. I still cannot get to Windows, need lots of help!!!

[flavallee]

I think the problem is with your recovery CD kit. You would know for sure if you had a full version XP CD to boot from. You would be better off doing that anyway and winding up with a pristine clean computer instead of one with all the outdated and useless bloatware that the recovery CD kit would reinstall.

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