Problem with HP recovery cd

[coolbeans]

Heres the deal. Friend has a HP pavillion pc model number 8699. Specs at end of post.Been having probs for a while, such as CD-RW stopped working, hi-jacked start page, and constant pop ups.

After various attempts to correct said problems and much frustration on both our parts I finally told him to just back up important files and run the recovery cd (bad move). To my understanding this should roll back the pc to its origanal state at which point we could start reloading progs and any other after purchase stuff. WRONG!!!

To my suprise (and his horror) this totally screwed the pc. Lost the AGP video, killed the internet, and caused various IRQ conflicts and printer problems.

Finally sorted things out with the exception of internet access and the printer problems. Called the isp for help, got none.(big suprise there huh). Unable to release or renew ip addy and that seems to be the problem. Looks to be the addy of a router when none is present and internet was working okay before the recovery. Address is 192.168.1.1 with subnet 255.255.255.0.

O/S is win98SE with origanal hardware with the exception of an additional 256mb of ram.(old upgrade) Intel PIII 800 mhz,
2x 256mb of pc100 sdram, 40 GB hd, 4x2x24 HP CD-RW, 8x DVD,
HP 10/100 BaseT LAN Adapter (Ethernet), 16 MB TNT2-Pro with TV-Out vid card, and Rockwell Chameleon combo card fax/data modem and sound card.

Cable guy coming friday but pc is needed now. Any help greatly appreciated and my apologies for the long winded post.

TIA,
GARY

[ssahl]

How did you run the recovery CD? I think most of those are usually bootable, and when it boots up it will ask you if you want to run restore with, or without formating the drive. If you did format the drive it should of went back to when it was first bought, anything else added to the system (ie printers, modems, CD/DVD ect...) will need to have the drivers installed for them to work. (This would include your video card unless it was in there when the system was first bought) As for your ISP you need the DNS #'s along with your username & password and the phone # to dial, you dont need ip address unless you connect through a network. As for your IRQ conflicts, this is not hard to fix. If you could open up system information and expand hardware resources and highlight IRQ's then go up to edit click select all, go to edit again and hit copy then paste it in a reply to this post the information would help us fix your IRQ problems if you need it.

[coolbeans]

How did you run the recovery CD?

Did a total format and recovery. Video card was the origanal.

As for your ISP you need the DNS #'s along with your username & password and the phone # to dial, you dont need ip address unless you connect through a network.

Not using dial up, its cable internet through comcast using the sb4100 cable modem and HP 10/100 nic. This is a network, right?
Somehow the recovery changed some settings and wont let me change any.

As for your IRQ conflicts, this is not hard to fix.

IRQs all fixed, just need to get the internet back so we can d/l appropiate drivers and get on the almighty Mech for any further help or questions.

SIgned,
so glad I found the Mech and built my own!!!

[ssahl]

Is that the NIC card that your ISP gave you or was it originally in the computer, if not you need to install the drivers for that, hook up the modem and put the CD(s) that came with your modem. The install process of these CD's will alot of times not go well if your NIC card is not installed right. This would be the case unless it came with the computer and not from your ISP.

[coolbeans]

Yes, the nic came with the computer. Not sure if he has any cds that came with the modem (mine didn't, with same modem/service) but we will take a look and let you know the outcome. If he doesn't have a cd maybe I can get something from the comcsat site and burn him a copy. Thanks for the help.

[coolbeans]

Got it figured out tonight. Turned out to be set up for manual ip address instead of obtain automaticly. Corrected this and back on the net.

I wonder why the recovery cd would change that? Stupid HP!!