HP Pavilion will not boot and cannot get to BIOS

[Dooey1]

I have 5 year old 'off the shelf' HP Pavilion 8695 -specs:
AMD Athlon 750, AMD 751 Chipset, 20.4gb ultra DMA Hard drive, CD-WR drive, DVD-Rom Drive, Floppy disk drive. came preinstalled with Windows 98se.

I had many problems with viruses and such - the hp recovery cd disk would not work to reinstall windows again so bought a new Novatech pc preinstalled with XP Home 2 years ago. Recently someone wants to use the HP - I thought id try to clean the windows 98se up abit using some anti virus software - it ended up deleting alot of the windows files. Last night I wanted to start again and install XP over the old 98se. After not having much luck with a downloaded XP pro, I used the recovery disk for the Novatech which managed to install XP Home on the c:\ drive of the HP everything worked just fine.

When I switched the HP on this morning the HP screen comes up as normal but stays there when it should dissappear after a couple seconds as it boots and goes into dos. The cd and dvd drive light up but the floppy disk does not make a sound ie.check for disk. The hard drive light comes on for around 10 secs then goes off. The fan is running. Keyboard lights flash for a split second then go off. I tried getting access to bios set up pressed F1 after switching on - a line appears at the bottom of the screen " Entering SETUP... " then nothing else happens. I cannot do a ctrl,alt,delete reset. I tried switching off putting the recovery disk in the cd drive then swithing on but again the hp screen just stays there and nothing happens. I have not done anything to the machine hardware wise at all.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve this or what the problem could be. Could it be because I used an install disk designed for use on a different PC (Novatech) on a HP?

Your answers will be much appreciated

[BuggZ]

Is the disk that came with your other PC a recovery image disk or a Windows XP system disk? The difference is a recovery image disk is an image of the all the software installed on the hard drive including the OS and all the specific drivers for the intended system already configured. Normally this would cause a blue screen during boot if the drivers are not compatible with the system you are trying to install the image on. It's possible it could cause the problem you are describing. If nothing else, consider you are in violation of the software license agreement when you try to install a copy of XP that is already installed and licensed on one computer onto a second without purchasing another license. Even if you can get it to work, I expect you will run into registration problems unless you have a valid key for the second computer.

[BuggZ]

If you want an OS newer than Win98, but don't want to spend the money on XP, why not try a version of Linux. Most can be downloaded for free or the CDs can be purchased for a minimal cost at several websights. You can even find the CDs in Linux how-to books and Linux magazines.

[BuggZ]

If you cannot get into the BIOS at all, try reseting the BIOS using the jumper on the motherboard of the HP computer. If that doesn't work, try disconnecting all the drives and then if it posts, reconnect the drives on at a time until you either find the problem or youare able to complete post again.

[Dooey1]

The novatech recovery disk is not an exact copy of windows xp.

Could you please explain more about resetting the bios please, i am not an expert in electronics I would just like to have a working virus free comupter.

[BuggZ]

You should find a small jumper on the motherboard with the word CMOS or BIOS and Clear or Reset. I think your motherboard amy be an Asus K7M but I could be wrong. I tmay have been custom configured for HP. The Asus Support link for your board is
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
You should be able to download drivers and the manual for your board there.
Here is the HP ling that chows how to clear the CMOS:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph05885#top
If you are worried about shorting the jumper and then turning the system on you can also clear the settings by removing the round watch type battery from the motherboard socket. Leave the battery out for about 10 minutes and then put it back in. If you, or anyone else has changed any of the motherbaord jumper switch settings, you should verify they are set correctly while you are inside the case. If this is more than you feel comfortable doing, perhaps you should take the computer to a technician.

[Dooey1]

I have taken the battery out for 10 mins and then put it back and switched on but its had no effect.

[J_Search]

Dooey1,

Could it be because I used an install disk designed for use on a different PC (Novatech) on a HP?

Yes.

The HP is stuck in some kind of startup/setup routine. Could have even ruined your BIOS configuration somehow. (That’s my guess) As far as fixing it, you'll need to boot with a floppy. Is this possible? If so, you'll need to flash the BIOS. (Install a fresh version) Go to HPs website, and you can locate your BIOS version from the download section by searching for your computer's model number.

If you can't boot with the floppy, I have no clue.

J_

[BuggZ]

Disconnect the hard drive. Disconnect the CD drive. Try to boot the machine. It may take some time if the BIOS Drive settings are set to "User defined" because the BIOS will try to find the disconnected drives and then give you an error. One of the options should be to "Enter Setup". If you get that option, try going into the BIOS and select the option under the save menu to "Use BIOS Default settings" or something similar. If you can do that, you should be able to re-connect the drives and reload the Operating System. If you still can't access the BIOS, you may want to remove the back up battery (and make sure the computer is unplugged) and leave it out overnight.

[Dooey1]

i have tried all your suggestions except for the jumper settings on the motherboard. Nothing as of yet has worked. Should I be getting some sort of beep code if something is not working propperly at the moment there are no beeps. How can installing a new operating system mess up a computer so badly?

[chrisbliss18]

Well... You didn't just do an Operating System reinstall. What you did was you used a recovery disk that was specifically designed for completely different hardware. These recovery disks don't stop at reinstalling software, they can also modify the software on a chip inside the computer, called the BIOS. In essence, you could have rendered your motherboard unbootable by running that recovery disk. If this is the case, there is no way for you to repair what has been done since you cannot load the system to a point that will allow you to reset these changes.

If the BIOS is functioning correctly, you would hear some beeps that would give you an idea of what is wrong with the system. Since you don't hear any, your BIOS is either completely damaged or some hardware problem just happened to occur right after you ran the recovery disk.

I suggest that you try to contact HP tech support and ask them if there is a way to undo the damage.

[BuggZ]

Unfortunately chrisbliss18 is correct. Since you used a recovery CD for another manufacturer 's system, there is no way to know what changes (if any) were made to your computer's BIOS. If you could get the system to boot from the floppy you could possibly reload the BIOS but if you can't then the only options are HP support or replace the system board.

[compnutt]

have you considered trying another power supply? i had a similar problem w/ a gateway tower i was fixing for a customer. used my power supply tester & it showed good all lites on. but did'nt trust it so i purchased another one & it fixed the problem. found out m.b. was'nt getting the proper 5.5 volts, it was just weak. it was running a little under 2.0 volts.

[akatamax]

i think what you need to do is to check the RAM chip. remove one an d try them one by one or change them completely. i am sure that is the problem.

[astrobadger]

I have 5 year old 'off the shelf' HP Pavilion 8695 -specs:
AMD Athlon 750, AMD 751 Chipset, 20.4gb ultra DMA Hard drive, CD-WR drive, DVD-Rom Drive, Floppy disk drive. came preinstalled with Windows 98se.

I had many problems with viruses and such - the hp recovery cd disk would not work to reinstall windows again so bought a new Novatech pc preinstalled with XP Home 2 years ago. Recently someone wants to use the HP - I thought id try to clean the windows 98se up abit using some anti virus software - it ended up deleting alot of the windows files. Last night I wanted to start again and install XP over the old 98se. After not having much luck with a downloaded XP pro, I used the recovery disk for the Novatech which managed to install XP Home on the c:\ drive of the HP everything worked just fine.

When I switched the HP on this morning the HP screen comes up as normal but stays there when it should dissappear after a couple seconds as it boots and goes into dos. The cd and dvd drive light up but the floppy disk does not make a sound ie.check for disk. The hard drive light comes on for around 10 secs then goes off. The fan is running. Keyboard lights flash for a split second then go off. I tried getting access to bios set up pressed F1 after switching on - a line appears at the bottom of the screen " Entering SETUP... " then nothing else happens. I cannot do a ctrl,alt,delete reset. I tried switching off putting the recovery disk in the cd drive then swithing on but again the hp screen just stays there and nothing happens. I have not done anything to the machine hardware wise at all.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve this or what the problem could be. Could it be because I used an install disk designed for use on a different PC (Novatech) on a HP?

Your answers will be much appreciated

Answer to your question, I had the same issues and I was able to access the boot menu after waiting for over 10 minutes, I have located my fault to a HD failure. If you are having further issues loading into the boot settings then the jumper settings on the main mother board could be your only option.

[madmike56]

Unseat the Ram and the battery on the motherboard then reseat both. Make sure you unplug the power supply first.

[dspnhn]

how much RAM do you have installed....if u are using 2 DIMM remove one or if u r using 1 DIMM try adding another and start the PC it will show u memory size error.......and allow u to configure boot through bios

[ITLADY]

I had this same problem with it turning on, but no power nor boot. So after reading a few tech blogs on the subject, I removed the battery, held in the Start button for 40 seconds, and it FINALLY powered up but didn't boot the OS. So I replaced the battery, but then I unplugged the media card reader (from the MC reader not the MB. It then booted to Windows, and I waited 5 mintues or so and turned it back off. I plugged the card reader back in (again the reader, not from the MB) and my Pavilion is working again. What was the fix exactly? Not sure. But both these things seemed to get it going again...Good luck, y'all!

P.S. After taking out the vid card numerous times before these steps, I did end up removing it as well...(the card fan has gone bad in the process or something because it's now very loud) and using the ONboard.

[tiyema]

Hey everybody I need your help.
My Compaq Presario SR1000 will not boot up. I will power on and the Compaq logo will come up along with the prompts to select F2 for set up, Esc for boot sequence or F12 to boot from LAN It will not go to set up, to the Bios or anywhere.

[rahpoo]

Hello to all of you.
I need your help.
My Notebook is (HP pavilion ze5626ea).
I forgot bios admin password.
There is no way for me to boot my notebook, because it's bios admin password is active and i can't pass it.
I unplugged my notebook from AC and removed the main battery and bios battery and held in the Start button for more than 60 seconds, but finally when i want to boot my notebook again it prompt me for "PASSWORD".
I don't know can i do.
Please help me.
Please...
Thank you so much.

[BRS]

My Laptop HP PAvillion dv4 series could not be forced into Windows 7 boot disk. I arranged boot order to boot from CD but it still did not work at all. Please help

[jingda]

When was the last time you were able to use your laptop normally and what did you do after that? It could have cause the problem. Did you upgrage the bios and do you hear any beep codes?

[RomanticMike95]

I have a HP Pavilion A1510N i was playing pogo and was tired so i shut down my computer and woke up in the morning ato turn it on it comes on but does not boot. You can hear the fans

[Steve_20]

I have the same system for a server. I cant access the bios unless I reset the cmos and get the new screen showing an error, to enter bios setup. I bypassed it by enabling the floppy (which I dont have), and then a new error pops up saying it cant find the floppy, but gives me the option to enter bios, allowing me to change the bios when I want instead of resetting the cmos. I didnt flash the bios or anything, cuz other than the lack of control for bios the system works fine. The mentioned ram change would bring about a similar error that lets you enter BIOS. I like my workaround cuz sometimes I want to enter bios without taking the case apart (for booting new systems with USB or CD, or to change a setting). I know its an old thread, but I found this and it helped me nearly 10 yrs later.