Please Help with Laptop Nuke

[jra64]

Hey, this is my brother's account and I'm not confident that I posted in the correct forum, so move this if it needs to be moved, please. Thank you =).

I am looking to nuke a HP Pavilion dv6103nr Entertainment Notebook PC. It's just running slow and I think it possibly has a virus. However, I heard that nuking a Laptop is more complicated than nuking a Desktop computer so I wanted to make sure everything is okay with you guys because I hear you guys are awesome.

Can I just put an operating system on a CD and install from the CD? Or is it more complicated. Do I have to have the correct drivers for all my hardware? Can anyone help me get started on this.

Thanks, I really appreciate it. Seriously...

[pam123]

Your laptop has a restore partition and you need to access it .
The instructions for doing so should be in the manual.

This will get the laptop back to its "out of the box" condition.

[glc]

Very easy with HP.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07145

Save your data files onto something external, then do the destructive recovery.

Administrative note - we would much prefer that you open your own account, we don't permit account sharing here. Thanks!

[RyanAbella]

Noted. Sorry for the account sharing. Didn't know it wasn't allowed =).

As for the Laptop HP nuke information, are you sure this is all that needs to be done? I've heard from others that nuking Laptops is a different story compared to nuking desktops, and is a very complicated process. I still don't understand what the differences are between nuking laptops and nuking desktops. Does anyone else know?

I appreciate the responses. Thank you.

[glc]

Yep. Read the article - a destructive recovery returns the drive to factory-installed state. All recent HP's have this, not just laptops.

[RyanAbella]

Yeah, I understood the article. Sounds simple enough. It just sounded a little 'too' simple, you know? Lol... Regarding the article, it states:

Originally Posted by HP Website From the Windows XP desktop, click Start , All Programs , and then one of the following options: 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 .

Well, from Start -> All Programs, I do not have HP Tools, Hewlett-Packard, or PC Help & Tools.

However I do have:
All Programs
------> System Recovery
-----------> Application & Driver Recovery
-----------> PC Recovery
-----------> PC Recovery Disc Creator
------> System
-----------> System Restore

Do you know which option I should choose? None of these seem to have the "Destructive Recovery" option that you and the article are referring to.

[glc]

The FIRST thing you want to do is run that Disc Creator!

That will create a set of recovery CD's to be used if your hard drive were to FAIL.

Then you want to use "PC Recovery" - the destructive option is presented after the recovery starts. Just keep reading!

[jra64]

I probably should have used that disc creator, but I went ahead and chose the option in "PC Recovery" that said it would reset the computer to factory settings. Thank God my hard drive didn't fail =/. I never did see anything labeled "destructive" or anything like that. But, the recovery option I did put everything back to factory settings but left a lot of programs on the computer. The prompt did say that it would not erase "Data Files" but I didn't know what Data Files it was referring to. Heh, I sort of still feel like this isn't a fresh start. Right now I'm uninstalling all the extraneous things that HP starts you off with. Is this the best I can do for a fresh start?

EDIT: -_-... I did NOT mean to post on this account...

[glc]

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 .

A recovery Welcome screen appears.
Click Yes or OK to continue the recovery process.
The computer restarts to the recovery program. If another welcome screen is displayed, click OK to continue.
Select one of the following procedures, depending on which recovery type you want to perform:
To perform a system recovery, click Next , and then click Yes
To perform a destructive recovery, click Advanced , (select Destructive Recovery ) and then click Next . CAUTION: A destructive recovery will format the hard drive. This will delete all the information on the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP and the original software that came with the computer.

Read and respond to each window and screen that appears.
After the System Recovery is complete, the computer restarts and continues into Windows setup. Complete the setup screens and wait until the PC finishes the setup.

[RyanAbella]

You really know your stuff. And that's why I'm asking for your help, lol. You are correct, I see the destructive recovery option now, and I feel like a moron . I have been optimizing my computer all day, and the best way to do it is to do a destructive recovery, in which I thought the option wasn't available.

I will be using the destructive recovery after I use the PC Recovery Disc Creator to make sure that even if my hard drive does fail, I still have some recovery discs. Thanks again for your help. This is frustrating and refreshing at the same time =D.

[glc]

You only get ONE shot to make those recovery CD's. Once you choose that option, it disappears. The only way that option will come back is if you do another destructive recovery. That is how I knew that you had never made them!

[RyanAbella]

You guys really do seem to know your stuff.

Okay, so I'm at a standstill right now. I got some DVDs to burn the recovery CDs, but here's the situation. The program wants to write to 3 CDs. The first CD there was no problem, but on the 2nd CD it is stuck at 33%. I let it run for about 2 hours, and still it was at 33%, so I decided I would cancel and restart the process. Well, there isn't a way to cancel it. All the options are greyed out, and there isn't an 'X' in the upper right of the window. I attempted to go to my computer to try to view the contents of the CD to see if anything had been written, but that window stopped responding too. So, I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del but when I clicked task manager, it never came up. I kept hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to hopefully restart the PC, but that didn't work either. As a last resort, I held the power button down, but the PC Recovery program RESPONDED with "PC Recovery has stopped Windows from going into hibernate or stand by during this process." Okay, so figuring it is responding, I put the DVD in (which doesn't physically look like there is anything written to it) and I put it in again hoping that the program it actually doing some work but it has been stuck at 33% for the past additional hour and half.

What do you think I should do?

[pam123]

So all went well till 1/3 and froze ?

This looks like a "bad sectors" problem you may get all you're data back with PCRecovery but don't "hit" the drive again.
Time for chkdisk and and hd diagnostic from the hd manufacturer.

You sound like you know how to do this but I can't really tell.
Don't download or run anything till you tell us exactly what you intend to run and how.

[RyanAbella]

? I'm not trying to get back any data with PC Recovery. I'm trying to create recovery discs just in case my hard drive fails during the destructive reformat.

And no, I don't really know what you mean by 'hit' the drive again. But I do know how to run chkdisk. I don't exactly know what a hd diagnostic is.

I basically let the battery run out to exit the program, I am going to try to create the discs again. Is this a good idea before I nuke the computer?

[pam123]

Hi Ryan,

Do a full wipe and start from scratch, sorry if I side-tracked you.

[RyanAbella]

Before I nuke the computer I want to create these recovery discs, though. I tried again and the program apparently knows that I successfully created the first disc so it told me it would resume installation on the second disc. I put in the second disc and the progress bar took about 30 minutes to move up to 33% again, and now I think it's frozen again.

When I did this nuke, I did erase some things that were extraneous. It might be trying to back up something that I erased, is what I'm guessing. What do you guys think?

[glc]

Bring it up into Windows. Open a command prompt and run:

chkdsk /r

It will probably take a few hours. If it fails or freezes, your hard drive probably needs replacement, verify by running hard drive diagnostics. If you are still on warranty, contact HP. If you have to replace the hard drive, you will probably have to buy a set of restore CD's from HP because you failed to create your own when you bought the machine.

Hard drive diagnostics - most hard drive manufacturers have free diagnostic software available for downloading, you create a bootable CD or set of floppies with it. If you don't know who the hard drive manufacturer is, you can use Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test, it will work in basic mode on any brand drive.

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

The CD image is an .iso, you need burning software that is capable of creating a CD from an image to make the CD. You can NOT simply burn the .iso to the CD as a file.

[RyanAbella]

Let me get this straight. You guys are saying it is getting stuck at 33% every time because my hard drive is failing? It is not because I erased something that PC recovery is trying to find to back up? Because the program prompt is stuck saying, "Collecting Files".

Also, I was able to restore my PC to factory settings, but I didn't do the destructive recovery. Isn't this a sign that my hard drive is okay?

Because I'm going to try and make the CDs one more time with a brand new CD for the 2nd one (instead of the one I was using before) and if that didn't work, I was just going to do a destructive recovery. Is this a bad idea?

EDIT: I ran chkdsk and it didn't freeze or anything.

[glc]

Okay - now do a destructive recovery - THEN you get a fresh shot at making the disks.

[RyanAbella]

If there are errors with chkdsk, how long will they stay on the screen? Because I left chkdsk running and when I came back it was already at Windows and I assumed everything was okay. Is this a correct assumption, or could I have missed the possible errors? Maybe I should chkdsk again to make sure I didn't miss anything. Sorry, I just don't want to do a destructive recovery unless it's safe, yet.

[glc]

I would run hard drive diagnostics!

Did you run chkdsk, chkdsk /f, or chkdsk /r?

[kilgoretrout]

You only get ONE shot to make those recovery CD's. Once you choose that option, it disappears. The only way that option will come back is if you do another destructive recovery. That is how I knew that you had never made them!

I'm not going to go into this any further unless I'm specifically told the discussion is allowed on this forum, but there are well known ways of reinstating that option after making one set of recovery cds.

[RyanAbella]

Welll, I did the destructive recovery, and everything worked out awesome, except for one thing.

Now my computer doesn't have any sound! Even the quick access buttons on my on board Altec Lansing speakers won't make sounds! I wonder why this has happened.

EDIT: Headphones work, though, for some reason...

[shadowpr]

Try reinstalling the drivers.

[RyanAbella]

But the destructive recovery is supposed to give me all the drivers I had right out of the factory. My computer had sound out of the factory, so why doesn't it have sound now? Did something go wrong and now I have to get drivers off of the internet?

[shadowpr]

Assuming it's XP: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...roduct=3289548

Not sure what went wrong, but this should be a fix for it.

[RyanAbella]

From the link I downloaded the Conexant High Definition Audio Driver for the HP Pavilion dv6103nr Notebook PC. But my sound still isn't working =(. Anyone know what is going on?

EDIT: Two possible things that might have contributed.

First, I updated Norton with LiveUpdate and it froze installing the updates. I'm not sure if it shut down properly.

Second, every time I couldn't make those recovery discs, the only option was to let the battery die out until the computer turned out. Even holding the power down wouldn't turn off the computer. It always froze on 33% either on the first disc or while creating the second disc.

[shadowpr]

Have you checked in device manager to see if there are any yellow signs?

[RyanAbella]

No yellow signs =(. All devices are (supposedly) working properly.

[glc]

Possibilities:

1. The sound is muted or the volume is turned all the way down in software.

2. There are Fn keys or separate buttons for adjusting volume, and the volume is turned all the way down.

You didn't ask, but I'd get rid of Norton and use one of the highly regarded free antiviruses such as AVG, Avast, or Avira.