Recovery Discs

[Sanman]

A friend has a HP Pavillion xt926, which came loaded with win ME. It came with three recovery CDs, the third is to recover all the programs that was loaded on the PC. If she switches to 98, can that third disk still be used to install those programs? It says it can only be installed on a HP pavillion system. I'm not sure how it works with those pre loaded PCs.

[Sanman]

^^

[Undeadlord]

I am not 100% percent sure, but my guess would be that yes he can. Any program that installs on ME can go on 98 and the program may check to see if your have the HP Pavillion but it shouldn't check on the OS

Undeadlord

[inquisitive goat]

lol HP tech here, at work so I don't mind answering since I am getting paid

Never seen someone try it, but recovery CD's check your bios tattoo before they continue (the stuff you get when you CTRL-ALT-S), if that doesn't say what it thinks it should, then it will not work.

Now I KNOW that holds true for the Windows installing portion, I assume it holds true for the application installing CD. I believe sometime ago I spoke with someone trying to do that and it did not work.

So, don't count on it, but you might get lucky.

[fatal xception]

Another former HP Tech here...and I believe it won't work. If I remember correctly, the 3rd recovery CD also checks to see what OS is loaded and if it's different, it's a no go.

I can't tell you how many arguments I had with people saying they purchased the software, so they should be able to use it any way they want. Actually, they licensed the software, so the licesning agreement dictates how they use it.

I guess if worse come to worse, try it. If it fails/works...there's your answer. Post back with an update.

Props to inquisitive goat for admitting they're a tech...HP none the less.

[inquisitive goat]

Oh ya, I should also mention that his Recovery CD's come with all the drivers for the obscure hardware on his computer, MS's Win98 cd will NOT. And you won't always be able to find a generic driver to do the job. If you don't see the driver on HP.COM, you are screwed, because HP will not support you with a different OS than what it shipped with (for that reason). You void 95% of your warranty until you switch back. But less than 10% of people ever need to call tech support and less than 10% actually have hardware trouble, so you may want to give it a shot still because WinME eeeeats it.

(ps I do not speak for HP lololoLOLolol!!!!)

[Sanman]

Nope, didn't work I just figured this would be a solution for her since she is having so many problems with her PC. This is her second one, the one she had before ran even worse. I guess I will have to tell her to return it. Maybe I can talk her parents into letting me build one for her At least next time she will know to stay away from Win ME

[fatal xception]

DUUUUUUDE...Bummer.

I always wanted to say in Tech support.

[inquisitive goat]

ya that sucks, sometimes the problems in ME make people think it's hardware and we end up sending them new ME computers over and over because we just can't fix it. but if all else fails...

"hmm well when was the last time you gave your pavilion a bath?
never?????? oh ya you need to do that like once a month..."

ps. no we don't really say that! though the valued delightful mushhead AOLers would probably do it. god love 'em!

[Sanman]

"hmm well when was the last time you gave your pavilion a bath?

It would be tonight if it were mine

I formatted and ran the recovery program and it booted up fine. I right clicked on the networking icon and it said my network would be configured on the next startup. Well, I restarted and that's where the problems started. Now when I reboot it, it gets to where it plays the little microsuck jingle and freezes. I get a blue screen , but can't read it because it is all screwed up.
The only thing that was added to the thing was an NIC(but there are no conflicts) that her college says she needed. I will yank it out and see if that solves her problems. I was talking with her dad, and he said that he thinks it might be too late to return it. So what would their options be at this point. Can't get it running, and can't load another OS on it. I searched the Microsoft database a little and tried a few things, like a selective startup, but came up empty. I will try to get more details from her as to more specific problems soon.

[Inanis]

I say screw all the crap that the HP came with it, format it, and install whatever the heck you want.

:P

[Sanman]

I already tried doing that Inanis, but all the drivers needed are on the recovery CDs as noted above. I treid to put 98 on it.


I pulled the NIC and so far it is running ok. Are there any programs I can get to give it thorough test? Just to make sure I get all the bugs out of it. As for that NIC card, I don't know why her college would say she needed to install it since it already came with one.

[Sanman]

I ran a few of the Sandra benchmarks, and all were good. Plus I just got done running 3D Mark 2000, and it scored 1890 3D marks @640X480 16 bit color. So it looks like I found the culprit.
I probably should have checked that first, but I am fairly new to this troubleshooting thing,and figured that since there were no conflicts that everything was fine. Thanks for the help guys, it is much appreciated

Will post back if I encounter any more problems

[sharder8]

Well, I can add my .02 at this point. (Since I just joined in after getting home from work.)

First, I've seen the same in regards to using the software disk with HP's. However, I have used the software disk from my IBM without a problem. It's worth a try on the HP!

While in Windows, put the CD in. It will come up and tell you that it can't be used since you are trying to use it on an unauthorized machine. Click okay to close the warning. Then either go to Start/Run and browse for the setup.exe for the program you want to load or do the same using Explore on the CD.

Second, I up-graded my daughters W98 HP to W2000Pro and while I was able to find all the drivers for everything at HP (they said you can't upgrade to W2000Pro and if you tried, it wouldn't work), I wasn't able to find the W2000 drivers for the "Multi-media Keyboard. I finally found them as well at Drivers Guide .

Harder

[Rflush]

I got a HP pavilion xt 963. a friend of mine bought is at an auction and could not get it to work so he gave it to me. Well i have had no luck yet. here is the problem it was donated to the auction with the windows xp password protection on....!!!! so does anyone know where i can get a recovery disk for this system or a way around the password protection so i can clear it ...P.S. I have even tried Reformating it to install my own win xp but it boots directly to the password screen. HELP PLEASE

[RAY6266]

I also have an xt963 and have used the built in system restore features a couple of times. When you press the power button to start up the system just keep hitting the F10 key it will take a minute or two but you will eventually get to a system restore page. You can either do a non destructive system restore which will allow you to keep all the files that were placed on the computer by the previous owner or a destructive restore(advanced mode tab) which will return the computer to a "just pulled out of the box state" It will take about 20-30 minutes to run the restore process, however when complete, it should be an operable system. Post a response after you try.

[nukes]

If you want the win98 drivers look no further:
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search..._lang=en&cc=us
Searched the support.hp.com site for "pavilion xt926 drivers" and look what popped up.