| Forum Home | ||||
| PC World Chat | ||||
| Thread ID: 147350 | 2018-11-20 11:58:00 | Need assistance reviving an old HP computer Running Win XP Media Cernter Eddition. | Merlynswolf (17657) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1455776 | 2018-11-20 11:58:00 | Hey Guys. so here is my issue, many a year ago (around 2006 or 2007 it was one of the last machines to have XP) i got a HP Pavilion Media Center PC and it was running fine, till it just stopped, i got a message saying something like windows is installed incorrectly, back then I knew only less then i do now but for a long time i just put the machine aside and then we had kids... long story short i never got back to it. There are a number of photos etc i would like to get off it, and to be honest i have no idea what else. so im trying to get it back and alive again. I never created a recovery disk, and everything was per-installed so i never had any disks, i have my XP MCE licence, its on the side of the machine, as well as the computer specs. I have tried to create boot and install disks from IOS's i could find online, but none seem to get past the recovery screen :badpc:. If someone can suggest things to try It would be most appreciated, due to its age, and my stubbornness, im reluctant to take it to anyone for "repairs" also i would like to try ans fix it myself. Let me know what you need to know and ill noobishly try to get the info up on here. Cheers!:punk again, thanks in advance. |
Merlynswolf (17657) | ||
| 1455777 | 2018-11-20 17:27:00 | Unplug the hard drive and plug it into another already running computer | gary67 (56) | ||
| 1455778 | 2018-11-20 19:49:00 | some HP's had a hardware self test function, one of the F buttons on startup . Run a HD test is the HD even detected/working ? do you have the HP recovery disks ? what was the exact error you were getting open it up & look for bulging or blown caps : its about that era :-) |
1101 (13337) | ||
| 1455779 | 2018-11-20 20:05:00 | Does it have a SATA drive ot the old PATA IDE style? that might make Garys suggestion a little harder. It is the best option for getting files off before attempting any repairs though. You can get external drive docks with the either PATA or SATA connections you can run off a USB port. Another option is to get a bootable Linux live disk and use it to boot up the machine and save files to an external drive. Any current Linux install disk should work, linux Mint is one of the easier ones to use for a first time linux user. XP is a distant fading memory for me, but if you can find a copy of the install media somehow I think you can boot off the disk and if I remember correctly when you start the install process and choose the same location it should notice windows is already installed and give you an option to repair it. However that can cause issues if it's been updated past the version you are repairing with as it can put older files back on, I think internet explorer was an issue. These are vague memories though so take them that way. Anyway it might pay to see if you can find service pack 3 and put it on a disk in case you need to update it after "repairing" Last time I installed XP was in a virtual machine and the biggest issue I found was updating it, the browser is too old to connect to the internet any more which makes life interesting. I still have SP3 on a disk though so that helped a lot. If it has at least a dual core processor and more than 2G of RAM you could always install windows 10 or Linux to make it functional again, but you lose the media centre and really need to wipe the hard drive first to ensure a clean install. Windows 10 can be used un activated for free indefinitely (at least up until now that's been the case). |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1455780 | 2018-11-21 12:52:00 | Unplug the hard drive and plug it into another already running computer No other comp to plug it into an in the process of getting bits to build a new one... it loads ok, just there is a point it says instI Latino incomplete please run setup again. |
Merlynswolf (17657) | ||
| 1455781 | 2018-11-21 12:53:00 | some HP's had a hardware self test function, one of the F buttons on startup . Run a HD test is the HD even detected/working ? do you have the HP recovery disks ? what was the exact error you were getting open it up & look for bulging or blown caps : its about that era :-) All looks good inside, I ran all self tests it could and no faults. |
Merlynswolf (17657) | ||
| 1455782 | 2018-11-21 12:57:00 | Does it have a SATA drive ot the old PATA IDE style? that might make Garys suggestion a little harder. It is the best option for getting files off before attempting any repairs though. You can get external drive docks with the either PATA or SATA connections you can run off a USB port. Another option is to get a bootable Linux live disk and use it to boot up the machine and save files to an external drive. Any current Linux install disk should work, linux Mint is one of the easier ones to use for a first time linux user. XP is a distant fading memory for me, but if you can find a copy of the install media somehow I think you can boot off the disk and if I remember correctly when you start the install process and choose the same location it should notice windows is already installed and give you an option to repair it. However that can cause issues if it's been updated past the version you are repairing with as it can put older files back on, I think internet explorer was an issue. These are vague memories though so take them that way. Anyway it might pay to see if you can find service pack 3 and put it on a disk in case you need to update it after "repairing" Last time I installed XP was in a virtual machine and the biggest issue I found was updating it, the browser is too old to connect to the internet any more which makes life interesting. I still have SP3 on a disk though so that helped a lot. If it has at least a dual core processor and more than 2G of RAM you could always install windows 10 or Linux to make it functional again, but you lose the media centre and really need to wipe the hard drive first to ensure a clean install. Windows 10 can be used un activated for free indefinitely (at least up until now that's been the case). Yes it has a sata drive, Ive never used Linux befor so if all else fails I’ll give that a go... I tried a hood disk as you suggested and no luck, the recovery wouldn’t run, and i couldn’t get it to do a “fresh install” |
Merlynswolf (17657) | ||
| 1455783 | 2018-11-21 13:05:00 | ok so update . . . I’ve managed to get the HP recovery going from start up . This gave me to option to do a recovery install of windows that should save my personal data . Now all ran fine, it got to the XP start page, name the computer etc . after that is began to re-start again, then I got an error message saying: SetRes 2 . 4 . 0 . 0 - cannot create file c:\hp\bin\SetRes . log . Anyone know what this means or know how to correct it . . . . . Please!! |
Merlynswolf (17657) | ||
| 1455784 | 2018-11-22 02:40:00 | SetRes 2 . 4 . 0 . 0 - cannot create file c:\hp\bin\SetRes . log . I googled it, its a common enough old HP recovery issue, not just your PC . Google & see if any of the 'fixes' work in the XP era , you'd be surprised just how often the recovery disk/tool simply didnt work properly (I dont think they allways tested them) Sometimes they would even send you updated recovery disks if you rang the help desk (when the originals were so buggy) A full wipe & reload option is allways better . But you loose all the data . Otherwise you're fixing one issue after another . |
1101 (13337) | ||
| 1455785 | 2018-11-22 07:00:00 | I googled it, its a common enough old HP recovery issue, not just your PC . Google & see if any of the 'fixes' work in the XP era , you'd be surprised just how often the recovery disk/tool simply didnt work properly (I dont think they allways tested them) Sometimes they would even send you updated recovery disks if you rang the help desk (when the originals were so buggy) A full wipe & reload option is allways better . But you loose all the data . Otherwise you're fixing one issue after another . Cheers for your input, I found a good forum post on another site that had some good information . Kinda hoped I would find more recent and “easier” work around . . |
Merlynswolf (17657) | ||
| 1 2 | |||||