hp pavillion a720n

XpUser4Real March 8, 2010 at 21:45:11

did you set the PC to boot from cdrom? Some HELP in posting on Computing.net plus free progs and instructions Cheers

Yes the PC is set to boot from CD_ROM. I never get to the EULA to hit F8 to agree to the terms.

XpUser4Real March 9, 2010 at 09:28:54

sounds to me like your HD may be going south. If you have another HD, try that. Some HELP in posting on Computing.net plus free progs and instructions Cheers

maybe going another direction..ran PC w/HDD for 10 minute full system load test-everything passed. When i formatted HDD it only formatted 10gb of 200gb drive not sure if that is limitation of DOS format command will lokk at w/partition magic or similar later. TY for info :)

aegis1 March 9, 2010 at 14:27:15

My guess is that you formatted the HP 'Recovery' partition. That's unforunate if you are attemting to do a HP recovery from the Recovery partition. If you 'have' formatted the Recovery partition, you might have to go to HP and purchase a full install CD. You might find some help at the following sites: Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows XP http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/... Hp recovery problems http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...

ok, yes I reformatted the HP recovery partition, I got this PC after somebody else tried to recover previous installation along with disc 2-8 of set, missing disc 1-so I am doing low-level format using maxtor program-waiting for results-original complaint was virus infection, I figured that low level format will remove virus infection-after that I will look at Partition Magic to see what I see on the Drive/disk as far as capaicty and what I set up previously...sorry for the thought train, I am just getting fried by the time to get an HP machine going...that's why I like Dell systems not all the 'exclusive' stuff that HP/Compaq/GatewayPackard add to the system that makes it harder for us guys to set up-install system to make it work. :)