Just in case anyone is even mildly interested ...
I finally just gave up. It wouldn't install the BIOS update, just hung.
Looking into the dump files, the BIOS update might have been contingent
to Vista SP2 being installed.
Service Pack 2 error-ed out with a message saying it required Service
Pack 1 to be installed first. Vista Service Pack 1 wouldn't install. On
the "about" page it showed Vista w\SP1.
Final verdict - bad mother-board & out of warranty with Compacq/HP.
It might have been a corrupt Vista preload on the recovery partition,
but I think it got so dirty inside before I got hold of it that it
overheated & damaged the memory controller chip.
I managed to rescue my sister's photos & documents, salvaged the
hard-disk & DVD drive.
I also removed the new memory I'd bought for it, although I don't have
anything that can use 2x2GB DDR2 RAM. I just didn't feel like junking
brand new memory even if it is totally useless.
The carcass is going to recycling.
From: Paul <[email protected]>
Is everything in the BIOS OK? Can you update the BIOS to the latest
version without running the OS?
You might try creating a Knoppix disc and booting from that. You might
have to go into the BIOS and change the boot order so it looks for the
Knoppix disc first.
If that runs OK it would seem the problem is in the HDD. You said you
had managed to rescue the data, but Knoppix will allow you to mount the
HDD to see if it's working OK or to move data to another disc.
Just mentioning this 'cause Knoppix has saved my bacon a couple times...
-p
On 11/14/2014 11:57 AM, John wrote:
NOT!
I've spent the last week trying to ressurect my sister's computer
(Compaq Presario manufactured by HP). It had crashed on her and she
couldn't get it to boot.
I managed to rescue her data from the hard-drive. While I had the
hard-drive out, I gave the inside of the case a thorough cleaning. Put
the hard-drive back in & tried to do a system restore to return the
operating system, Vista Home Basic, to Out Of The Box condition.
The diagnostics included with the system restore passed the hard-drive,
motherboard & CPU, but failed the memory. I replaced the memory.
I've also run diagnostics of my own - 20+ passes of Memtest86+ on the
new memory & Spinright 6.0 on the hard-drive. It takes about 24 hours
for each of those to run to completion, so that's 2 days right there.
Both diagnostis completed without finding any errors.
Still, the computer kept crashing when I tried to run Windows Update. I
finally overcame that by booting into Safe Mode and running the Norton
Removal Tool. After that I was able to run Windows Update from the
Control Panel and install updates 2 & 3 at a time. Running it from the
taskbar crashed the computer again.
I've spent 5 days downloading & installing updates, rebooting and
downloading & installing updates again.
I got down to one last update that wouldn't install, and according to
Microsoft support (via Google) I needed to install Service Pack 2.
Looking at the requirements for Service Pack 2, I have to have Service
Pack 1 installed in order to install Service Pack 2.
Service Pack 1 installation failed. It gave an error code, but before I
could write it down it flashed to a BSOD, which also shut down &
rebooted before I could write down the error number. It wasn't one I'd
seen before.
And now, it won't start again. I get a BSOD & reboot OR a black screen &
reboot OR it gets to the logon screen & goes black/BSOD when I enter the
password. I can't even get into Safe Mode.
Safe Mode with Networking goes black & reboots as soon as the last
driver loads; Safe Mode without networking BSODs & reboots ... in either
case it doesn't pause long enough for me to write the Stop Code down.
Thank you for listening. I don't feel any better, but at least I've been
able to vent.
--
Science - Questions we may never find answers for.
Religion - Answers we must never question.
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