Welcome to Vista Banter. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access our other FREE features. By joining our free community you will have access to ask questions and reply to others posts, upload your own photos and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact support. |
|
General Vista Help and Support The general Windows Vista discussion forum, for topics not covered elsewhere. (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general) |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"Bill Leary" wrote in message
... "R. H. Breener Jr." wrote in message ... It still takes 2 or 3 tries before the PC will boot. Googling online I found this is a common problem but found no solution. What can I try next? I want to see if we can get you into the setup screens and tell the machine to restore BIOS settings. But without a working keyboard, this is difficult. The way to do it without a keyboard isn't that complicated, but depending on how the machine has been customized, it could totally disable it. And comparing what you've said about the machine and what I've found out about it's factory setup, it's definitely been customized. So, let's not go there just yet. Note that this is not Windows restore we're talking about. You've done that already. This is much lower level than that. Open the following page, which has the technical data for your computer. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...roduct=3715498 Then scroll down until you get to the section titled "I/O PORTS" and the subsection "BACK I/O PORTS". The port marked 1 is the PS/2 mouse connector and the one marked 14 is PS/2 keyboard connector. From the data a but further on it appears the machine came with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Please verify, did your original keyboard and mouse plug into these connectors? I honestly can't remember since the original KB and mouse are along since worn out and gone. The mouse and KB being use now have USB cables on them and have for over a year, maybe longer. The four connectors marked with 12 are USB ports. There are also two more of these on the front of the machine. Do you new mouse and keyboard plug into any of these connectors? The mouse is connected to the port on the monitor. The monitor came with 2 USB ports. IT's been connected there for a long time. And while we're collecting information, is there anything else plugged into any of those USB ports? Front or rear? The Seagate backup external drive in also plugged into the monitor's 2nd USB port and has been. Is there anything plugged into the IEEE 1394a connector, marked 4? I don't see anything back there that looks like #4. Also observe the VGA connector, marked 3 on the picture. From what you've said about video related errors, I’m pretty sure your monitor is not plugged in here, but please just let us know for sure. Yes - that is where it is plugged in. Since getting an update for the N Vidia, I'm not getting that error anymore. Again, from what you've said, I expect you monitor is plugged into a card in a PCI slot, immediately to the right of the connectors marked 8, 9 and 10 on the picture. Nope. The end of the monitor cord would not fit there. It will only fit where it's plugged in now. So, the questions a 1. Did your original keyboard and mouse plug into the PS/2 connectors 1 & 14 ? I can't remember since they've been gone for a long time. 2. Do your current keyboard and mouse plug into the USB connectors marked 12 (or the similar ports on the front) ? The mouse is plugged into the USB on the side of the monitor. The KB in plugged into a USB port on the back. The back of my PC doesn't look like that photograph. It's been this way for a long time. 3. Is there anything else plugged into any of the USB connectors marked 12 (or the similar ports on the front) ? No. 4. Is anything plugged into the IEEE 1394a connector marked 4 ? There is nothing I can see that resembles that. 5. Is your monitor plugged into the VGA connector marked 3 ? Yes. 6. Is your monitor plugged into the PCI x16 slot, immediately to the right of the audio (8, 9 & 10) connectors ? It's in the one marked #3. It wouldn't fit anywhere else. Looking forward to hearing back from you. Oh, you say that you found that this is a common problem. Please give me the URL of one or two of those pages you found. - Bill That was last week so I can't recall the exact websites. I Googled "Vista can't load OS" and went from there. Just trying to find the exact same problem was a b*tch. I never did in fact. One problem I've run into is most advice is either too technical, not my exact problem or for a version I don't have, nor do I have the MS disk for this PC. All I have is the set of three made when I bought the PC. They no longer supply the MS OS disk as in the past. |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"R. H. Breener Jr." wrote in message ...
((..omitted..)) OK. All good news. The machine appears to be pretty much stock. Now go he http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...d uct=3715498 Scroll down until you find MOTHERBOARD LAYOUT. Observe the location of the jumpers in the upper right corner. These are the CLEAR CMOS (upper) and CLEAR PWD (password, lower) jumpers. These are the jumpers you have to work with in the immediately following section CLEARING THE BIOS SETTINGS. If everything exactly matches your motherboard, go ahead and follow the instructions. Follow them exactly. Do not do the CLEARING THE BIOS PASSWORD SETTINGS section. It would be a good idea to get a cheap PS/2 keyboard incase you get any "press this or that to continue" messages. You should also unplug the external hard drive before doing this. Once the BIOS has been cleared, it might try to boot from the external drive. And that would be another reasons to get a PS/2 keyboard. You may find that you need to set boot order in the BIOS. Do you have another computer that you'll be able to talk with if this hangs up the machine? - Bill |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
On Mon, 28 May 2012 00:10:18 -0500, R. H. Breener Jr. wrote:
"Bill Leary" wrote in message ... "R. H. Breener Jr." wrote in message ... It still takes 2 or 3 tries before the PC will boot. Googling online I found this is a common problem but found no solution. What can I try next? I want to see if we can get you into the setup screens and tell the machine to restore BIOS settings. But without a working keyboard, this is difficult. The way to do it without a keyboard isn't that complicated, but depending on how the machine has been customized, it could totally disable it. And comparing what you've said about the machine and what I've found out about it's factory setup, it's definitely been customized. So, let's not go there just yet. Note that this is not Windows restore we're talking about. You've done that already. This is much lower level than that. Open the following page, which has the technical data for your computer. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...roduct=3715498 Then scroll down until you get to the section titled "I/O PORTS" and the subsection "BACK I/O PORTS". The port marked 1 is the PS/2 mouse connector and the one marked 14 is PS/2 keyboard connector. From the data a but further on it appears the machine came with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Please verify, did your original keyboard and mouse plug into these connectors? I honestly can't remember since the original KB and mouse are along since worn out and gone. The mouse and KB being use now have USB cables on them and have for over a year, maybe longer. The four connectors marked with 12 are USB ports. There are also two more of these on the front of the machine. Do you new mouse and keyboard plug into any of these connectors? The mouse is connected to the port on the monitor. The monitor came with 2 USB ports. IT's been connected there for a long time. And while we're collecting information, is there anything else plugged into any of those USB ports? Front or rear? The Seagate backup external drive in also plugged into the monitor's 2nd USB port and has been. Is there anything plugged into the IEEE 1394a connector, marked 4? I don't see anything back there that looks like #4. Also observe the VGA connector, marked 3 on the picture. From what you've said about video related errors, I¢m pretty sure your monitor is not plugged in here, but please just let us know for sure. Yes - that is where it is plugged in. Since getting an update for the N Vidia, I'm not getting that error anymore. Again, from what you've said, I expect you monitor is plugged into a card in a PCI slot, immediately to the right of the connectors marked 8, 9 and 10 on the picture. Nope. The end of the monitor cord would not fit there. It will only fit where it's plugged in now. So, the questions a 1. Did your original keyboard and mouse plug into the PS/2 connectors 1 & 14 ? I can't remember since they've been gone for a long time. 2. Do your current keyboard and mouse plug into the USB connectors marked 12 (or the similar ports on the front) ? The mouse is plugged into the USB on the side of the monitor. The KB in plugged into a USB port on the back. The back of my PC doesn't look like that photograph. It's been this way for a long time. 3. Is there anything else plugged into any of the USB connectors marked 12 (or the similar ports on the front) ? No. 4. Is anything plugged into the IEEE 1394a connector marked 4 ? There is nothing I can see that resembles that. 5. Is your monitor plugged into the VGA connector marked 3 ? Yes. 6. Is your monitor plugged into the PCI x16 slot, immediately to the right of the audio (8, 9 & 10) connectors ? It's in the one marked #3. It wouldn't fit anywhere else. Looking forward to hearing back from you. Oh, you say that you found that this is a common problem. Please give me the URL of one or two of those pages you found. - Bill That was last week so I can't recall the exact websites. I Googled "Vista can't load OS" and went from there. Just trying to find the exact same problem was a b*tch. I never did in fact. One problem I've run into is most advice is either too technical, not my exact problem or for a version I don't have, nor do I have the MS disk for this PC. All I have is the set of three made when I bought the PC. They no longer supply the MS OS disk as in the past. The mouse and drive plugged into the monitor's USB plugs rings a loud alarm bell for me. USB hubs (that's what you're using) are notorious for trouble. OK, not notorious, but problems are not infrequent, so doing that is not recommended in many situations. Try plugging the mouse and drive directly into USB ports on the computer and see how it goes. No guarantees, but it's absolutely what I would do in your situation. -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
... The mouse and drive plugged into the monitor's USB plugs rings a loud alarm bell for me. USB hubs (that's what you're using) are notorious for trouble. OK, not notorious, but problems are not infrequent, so doing that is not recommended in many situations. I've encountered this enough times that I always plug at least the keyboard directly into the computer. But, in this case I'm pretty sure his problem is that the machine came from the factory with PS/2 keyboard and mouse. So the BIOS is most likely not set up to do USB to PS/2 emulation. Therefore, the keyboard won't work in BIOS. Your point is valid, but he said his mouse is connected to the monitor, his keyboard is connected to the back of the machine. So, as far as BIOS is concerned, if it was doing USB to PS/2 emulation, it would be OK. I think since it's normal configuration was PS/2 it probably just isn't emulating. - Bill |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
On Mon, 28 May 2012 17:58:07 -0400, Bill Leary wrote:
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message ... The mouse and drive plugged into the monitor's USB plugs rings a loud alarm bell for me. USB hubs (that's what you're using) are notorious for trouble. OK, not notorious, but problems are not infrequent, so doing that is not recommended in many situations. I've encountered this enough times that I always plug at least the keyboard directly into the computer. But, in this case I'm pretty sure his problem is that the machine came from the factory with PS/2 keyboard and mouse. So the BIOS is most likely not set up to do USB to PS/2 emulation. Therefore, the keyboard won't work in BIOS. Your point is valid, but he said his mouse is connected to the monitor, his keyboard is connected to the back of the machine. So, as far as BIOS is concerned, if it was doing USB to PS/2 emulation, it would be OK. I think since it's normal configuration was PS/2 it probably just isn't emulating. - Bill Your criticism (constructive!) is valid, of course. I wonder if there are adapters that would allow a USB KB to plug into the PS/2 connector. Or maybe at a rummage sale, he could find an old PS/2 KB. -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
... On Mon, 28 May 2012 17:58:07 -0400, Bill Leary wrote: "Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message ... The mouse and drive plugged into the monitor's USB plugs rings a loud alarm bell for me. USB hubs (that's what you're using) are notorious for trouble. OK, not notorious, but problems are not infrequent, so doing that is not recommended in many situations. I've encountered this enough times that I always plug at least the keyboard directly into the computer. But, in this case I'm pretty sure his problem is that the machine came from the factory with PS/2 keyboard and mouse. So the BIOS is most likely not set up to do USB to PS/2 emulation. Therefore, the keyboard won't work in BIOS. Your point is valid, but he said his mouse is connected to the monitor, his keyboard is connected to the back of the machine. So, as far as BIOS is concerned, if it was doing USB to PS/2 emulation, it would be OK. I think since it's normal configuration was PS/2 it probably just isn't emulating. - Bill Your criticism (constructive!) is valid, of course. I wonder if there are adapters that would allow a USB KB to plug into the PS/2 connector. Or maybe at a rummage sale, he could find an old PS/2 KB. There are. I've got two of them. They came with Microsoft keyboards and mice while ago. They're the green thing in the picture he http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812338063 - Bill |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"Bill Leary" wrote in message
... "R. H. Breener Jr." wrote in message ... ((..omitted..)) OK. All good news. The machine appears to be pretty much stock. Now go he http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...d uct=3715498 Scroll down until you find MOTHERBOARD LAYOUT. Observe the location of the jumpers in the upper right corner. These are the CLEAR CMOS (upper) and CLEAR PWD (password, lower) jumpers. These are the jumpers you have to work with in the immediately following section CLEARING THE BIOS SETTINGS. If everything exactly matches your motherboard, go ahead and follow the instructions. Follow them exactly. Do not do the CLEARING THE BIOS PASSWORD SETTINGS section. I want to thank you for your time, but this is way beyond my expertise, not for the average Joe or Jane to attempt. The most I've ever done was remove the case and blow out the dust. I'll see if I can find someone with more experience with computers to do this. I seriously doubt any of our friends or family would attempt it in case something goes wrong and it wont boot at all. It would be a good idea to get a cheap PS/2 keyboard incase you get any "press this or that to continue" messages. You should also unplug the external hard drive before doing this. Once the BIOS has been cleared, it might try to boot from the external drive. And that would be another reasons to get a PS/2 keyboard. You may find that you need to set boot order in the BIOS. I have no idea how to set the BIOS. I don't think I've ever even seen it. I was afraid this problem would be a serious one, not something easy to fix. Do you have another computer that you'll be able to talk with if this hangs up the machine? - Bill Doing something like this by email/text is difficult. I'll have to call around and see if any of my friends or neighbors can recommend someone with experience in fixing or working on PCs. I don't mind paying someone if they know what they're doing. I'll let you know if I can find someone. |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"Bill Leary" wrote in message
... "Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message ... The mouse and drive plugged into the monitor's USB plugs rings a loud alarm bell for me. USB hubs (that's what you're using) are notorious for trouble. OK, not notorious, but problems are not infrequent, so doing that is not recommended in many situations. I've encountered this enough times that I always plug at least the keyboard directly into the computer. But, in this case I'm pretty sure his problem is that the machine came from the factory with PS/2 keyboard and mouse. So the BIOS is most likely not set up to do USB to PS/2 emulation. Therefore, the keyboard won't work in BIOS. Your point is valid, but he said his mouse is connected to the monitor, his keyboard is connected to the back of the machine. So, as far as BIOS is concerned, if it was doing USB to PS/2 emulation, it would be OK. I think since it's normal configuration was PS/2 it probably just isn't emulating. - Bill Once the cheap flimsy ones give me trouble I toss them and purchase a new, better KB. The original is gone for a long time. I just want you to know that nothing changed in the set-up with this PC for several years. Then, after that last MS update (could be a coincidence) the problems started. |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"R. H. Breener Jr." wrote in message ...
I want to thank you for your time, but this is way beyond my expertise, not for the average Joe or Jane to attempt. The most I've ever done was remove the case and blow out the dust. I'll see if I can find someone with more experience with computers to do this. I seriously doubt any of our friends or family would attempt it in case something goes wrong and it wont boot at all. Best not to try it if you're not comfortable with it. I wish I could suggest some business I'd trust to take it to, but I've got little faith in any of the big-box places. But for what it's worth, I agree its best to find someone you have some faith in who knows what a BIOS settings reset is. If your day-job has an IT department, I've often found that they'll help out with employee personal machines. Though they'll usually want to to promise that, if they break it worse, you'll accept "sorry" and not give them a hard time about it. I have no idea how to set the BIOS. I don't think I've ever even seen it. I was afraid this problem would be a serious one, not something easy to fix. I don't think it's serious in the nature of something physically broken. I think it's serious in that it's fouled up something that the average user can't fix. The last thing you might try is a recovery from the installation DVD. This might work if the recovery partition, which you've used already, is corrupted in some way. The only other failure I've seen that plays out like this is a pending hard drive failure. But given your description of the proximate cause, I don't think that's it. I suspect that something went weird during the updates and it's fouled your BIOS settings. Microsoft update shouldn't do that, but as I recall they've started to also deliver vendor specific updates as well. Without seeing what it tried to do to your machine, I'm thinking a vendor specific update changed something in the CMOS or Flash equivalent of it and did it wrong. Doing something like this by email/text is difficult. I'll have to call around and see if any of my friends or neighbors can recommend someone with experience in fixing or working on PCs. I don't mind paying someone if they know what they're doing. I'll let you know if I can find someone. Please do. I always like to know what the problem was when I hear of something like this. - Bill |
|
|||
Vista-32 bit OS load problem
"Bill Leary" wrote in message
... "R. H. Breener Jr." wrote in message ... I want to thank you for your time, but this is way beyond my expertise, not for the average Joe or Jane to attempt. The most I've ever done was remove the case and blow out the dust. I'll see if I can find someone with more experience with computers to do this. I seriously doubt any of our friends or family would attempt it in case something goes wrong and it wont boot at all. Best not to try it if you're not comfortable with it. I wish I could suggest some business I'd trust to take it to, but I've got little faith in any of the big-box places. But for what it's worth, I agree its best to find someone you have some faith in who knows what a BIOS settings reset is. If your day-job has an IT department, I've often found that they'll help out with employee personal machines. Though they'll usually want to to promise that, if they break it worse, you'll accept "sorry" and not give them a hard time about it. I can't get any help there. That's out. The last thing I can try, in case the D: drive copy is corrupt, is to try and use the set of thee disks made when the PC was brand new. That copy shouldn't be corrupt. If I could find a website that takes me step by step through the process, I can use the kid's laptop here on the end of the desk and try it. But we really don't know what's causing this boot problem for sure. I have no idea how to set the BIOS. I don't think I've ever even seen it. I was afraid this problem would be a serious one, not something easy to fix. I don't think it's serious in the nature of something physically broken. I think it's serious in that it's fouled up something that the average user can't fix. The last thing you might try is a recovery from the installation DVD. This might work if the recovery partition, which you've used already, is corrupted in some way. Yes.... see above. Several people suggested I do that and just take the time to set the PC up all over again from scratch. As a last resort that is probably what I'll do. The only other failure I've seen that plays out like this is a pending hard drive failure. But given your description of the proximate cause, I don't think that's it. I suspect that something went weird during the updates and it's fouled your BIOS settings. Microsoft update shouldn't do that, but as I recall they've started to also deliver vendor specific updates as well. Without seeing what it tried to do to your machine, I'm thinking a vendor specific update changed something in the CMOS or Flash equivalent of it and did it wrong. That is quite possible. And that is making me leery of allowing this PC to update as it did the last two times I did the system-recovery. This PC ran like a charm for months on end without a hitch, until those updates. I can't help feeling that update was somehow the cause, since nothing else was changed, added, or removed from the computer. Doing something like this by email/text is difficult. I'll have to call around and see if any of my friends or neighbors can recommend someone with experience in fixing or working on PCs. I don't mind paying someone if they know what they're doing. I'll let you know if I can find someone. Please do. I always like to know what the problem was when I hear of something like this. - Bill I'll let you know what the outcome is. I'm waiting to hear back from one more person. Then, if they can't help, I'll use the original disks made the day this PC was bought some years back. If that creates a problem or doesn't work, I may go ahead and call HP for help and advice. This has been such a good PC I'd hate to junk it and buy another. Once it loads, after a few tries, it runs just fine, like the day I got it. Thanks so much for your time and effort in trying to help. |