Just one quick bitch ...

[Alex179]

To Peter:  I think most HP and Compaq laptops have the restore disk for the laptop on a seperate partition on the HD nowadays.   Usually you can get to the restore from the BIOS.   That will take it back to its original factory installation.   Otherwise your BIOS should always be able to detect the DVD drive, not sure whats going on there.   Even safe mode might help you out, and have you tried a system restore point or do you not have that running?


Bitch:  I have stopped smoking weed in order to pass a damn drug test.   It isn't that hard as I have quit for a year before (this will probably only be for a month), but it still is annoying.

[Parts]

Compact florescent outdoor spot lights suck one died already only 2 days old

[Peter]

To Peter:  I think most HP and Compaq laptops have the restore disk for the laptop on a seperate partition on the HD nowadays.   Usually you can get to the restore from the BIOS.   That will take it back to its original factory installation.   Otherwise your BIOS should always be able to detect the DVD drive, not sure whats going on there.   Even safe mode might help you out, and have you tried a system restore point or do you not have that running?

As far as fdisk can tell, there's only one partition on the HD, and selecting 'reset to default' in the BIOS didn't improve anything.  I have an HP driver restore CD that probably goes with this laptop, but when I stick it in, the BIOS doesn't see it.  The BIOS has HDD self-test and memory test tools which I've run, and they came back fine.  I plugged in a USB floppy drive and stuck in an old windows 98 boot disk, and it's starting fine with that, but it still can't find the internal DVD drive.  I read some posts on another forum where people were having to open up their HP laptops to tighten the connections for the DVD drives, so I'll give that a go tomorrow.  At least I can get to a command prompt now.

[odeon]

I've got an HP laptop, series HSTNN-105C, 'running' (cough) XP Pro, but it's fucked and I don't know why.  Most of the time when I try to boot it, it freezes at 'Mup.sys', but for some reason it booted ok once.  It also completely fails to recognise the internal DVD R/W, despite the drive having power and whirring and things when a disk is inserted.  I tried to boot it from a Knoppix live CD, but the BIOS seems oblivious to the presence of the DVD drive, and the one time I got it booted into XP, XP didn't have a clue that there was a drive either.

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you're lucky, it's a loose connection (your CD/DVD drive) but it could also be a problem with the motherboard, an EIDE bus problem or other such weirdness. Conceivably, you could have a corrupted BIOS but that seems very unlikely.

Did you have XP on automatic update?

[Peter]

I've got an HP laptop, series HSTNN-105C, 'running' (cough) XP Pro, but it's fucked and I don't know why.  Most of the time when I try to boot it, it freezes at 'Mup.sys', but for some reason it booted ok once.  It also completely fails to recognise the internal DVD R/W, despite the drive having power and whirring and things when a disk is inserted.  I tried to boot it from a Knoppix live CD, but the BIOS seems oblivious to the presence of the DVD drive, and the one time I got it booted into XP, XP didn't have a clue that there was a drive either.

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you're lucky, it's a loose connection (your CD/DVD drive) but it could also be a problem with the motherboard, an EIDE bus problem or other such weirdness. Conceivably, you could have a corrupted BIOS but that seems very unlikely.

Did you have XP on automatic update?

It's an ex-service machine that was due to be crushed, and I don't know if automatic updates were on while it was in service.  I might be that this fault is why it was sent to the crusher, but it's a good laptop and I'd like to fix it if I can.

[DirtDawg]

I hate throwing away computers!
I have put many perfectly usable units together over the years from salvaged parts from several machines. When I had my studio on the Army post the nearby dumpster was fucking goldmine

At work we have three or four computers every week that people have traded in or given up bothering to fix or the warranty ran out or what ever the fuck! We have to send them to a local auction house that sells them by the pound, by bid, a sealed pallet at a time. It is a way the company keeps its employees honest. We don't get a chance to bid or make offers or salvage the things that we condemn.

The bidders never have a chance to see what's on the pallets of "junk"  but all the pallets are clearly labeled "Best Buy" and the bidders know that it will contain all the electronic toys that we sell, many of which are there as junk simply because of broken packaging. I've seen brand new, but "dinged" or "scratched," computers, televisions, receivers, speakers (everything we sell!) sold for ten to twenty cents per pound. So for less than a hundred bucks the winning bidder takes home several desktops, laptops, home theater systems, MP3 players, open DVDs, software and CDs by the crate .......  and I never even get to make an offer.


Of course, I could bid on them at eBay, if I wanted.

[DirtDawg]

Hate this, too:

The item you have requested had an error:

We're experiencing system slowness - please try again in a little while.  Thanks for your patience!

which prevents us from displaying this page.

... system slowness?

[odeon]

I've got an HP laptop, series HSTNN-105C, 'running' (cough) XP Pro, but it's fucked and I don't know why.  Most of the time when I try to boot it, it freezes at 'Mup.sys', but for some reason it booted ok once.  It also completely fails to recognise the internal DVD R/W, despite the drive having power and whirring and things when a disk is inserted.  I tried to boot it from a Knoppix live CD, but the BIOS seems oblivious to the presence of the DVD drive, and the one time I got it booted into XP, XP didn't have a clue that there was a drive either.

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you're lucky, it's a loose connection (your CD/DVD drive) but it could also be a problem with the motherboard, an EIDE bus problem or other such weirdness. Conceivably, you could have a corrupted BIOS but that seems very unlikely.

Did you have XP on automatic update?

It's an ex-service machine that was due to be crushed, and I don't know if automatic updates were on while it was in service.  I might be that this fault is why it was sent to the crusher, but it's a good laptop and I'd like to fix it if I can.

Maybe it's enough to open it and tighten everything, and check for loose cables?

Also, check for damage in those flat ribbon cable thingies going between the mobo and stuff. It might even be enough to open the laptop and move them around to get the laptop to function again. Of course, that won't permanently fix the problem, but if it works after you've done nothing except to move things around, you know it's a hardware problem, most likely something to do with the wiring or the mobo connectors.

[Peter]

I've got an HP laptop, series HSTNN-105C, 'running' (cough) XP Pro, but it's fucked and I don't know why.  Most of the time when I try to boot it, it freezes at 'Mup.sys', but for some reason it booted ok once.  It also completely fails to recognise the internal DVD R/W, despite the drive having power and whirring and things when a disk is inserted.  I tried to boot it from a Knoppix live CD, but the BIOS seems oblivious to the presence of the DVD drive, and the one time I got it booted into XP, XP didn't have a clue that there was a drive either.

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you're lucky, it's a loose connection (your CD/DVD drive) but it could also be a problem with the motherboard, an EIDE bus problem or other such weirdness. Conceivably, you could have a corrupted BIOS but that seems very unlikely.

Did you have XP on automatic update?

It's an ex-service machine that was due to be crushed, and I don't know if automatic updates were on while it was in service.  I might be that this fault is why it was sent to the crusher, but it's a good laptop and I'd like to fix it if I can.

Maybe it's enough to open it and tighten everything, and check for loose cables?

Also, check for damage in those flat ribbon cable thingies going between the mobo and stuff. It might even be enough to open the laptop and move them around to get the laptop to function again. Of course, that won't permanently fix the problem, but if it works after you've done nothing except to move things around, you know it's a hardware problem, most likely something to do with the wiring or the mobo connectors.

I've got it working.  The DVD drive had become unseated from it's connection, and literally fell out while I was trying to open the case up.  I've pushed it back into the connection cradle thingy and everything's working fine now.  Next up is installing a new OS, since I don't have administrator access for the current one.

[DirtDawg]

I've got an HP laptop, series HSTNN-105C, 'running' (cough) XP Pro, but it's fucked and I don't know why.  Most of the time when I try to boot it, it freezes at 'Mup.sys', but for some reason it booted ok once.  It also completely fails to recognise the internal DVD R/W, despite the drive having power and whirring and things when a disk is inserted.  I tried to boot it from a Knoppix live CD, but the BIOS seems oblivious to the presence of the DVD drive, and the one time I got it booted into XP, XP didn't have a clue that there was a drive either.

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you're lucky, it's a loose connection (your CD/DVD drive) but it could also be a problem with the motherboard, an EIDE bus problem or other such weirdness. Conceivably, you could have a corrupted BIOS but that seems very unlikely.

Did you have XP on automatic update?

It's an ex-service machine that was due to be crushed, and I don't know if automatic updates were on while it was in service.  I might be that this fault is why it was sent to the crusher, but it's a good laptop and I'd like to fix it if I can.

Maybe it's enough to open it and tighten everything, and check for loose cables?

Also, check for damage in those flat ribbon cable thingies going between the mobo and stuff. It might even be enough to open the laptop and move them around to get the laptop to function again. Of course, that won't permanently fix the problem, but if it works after you've done nothing except to move things around, you know it's a hardware problem, most likely something to do with the wiring or the mobo connectors.

I've got it working.  The DVD drive had become unseated from it's connection, and literally fell out while I was trying to open the case up.  I've pushed it back into the connection cradle thingy and everything's working fine now.  Next up is installing a new OS, since I don't have administrator access for the current one.

Cool!

So basically, you have a free laptop, now?

BTW, have you tried starting in safemode with administrator access and changing the password? I works sometimes. Depends on how it was originally set up.

[DirtDawg]

Also, there a number of ways into XP admin accounts, but be careful. I looked into this many moons ago and was successful, but many of the so-called cracks out there are internet jokes and they are actually designed to fuck you up.

Just use your head and think it through.

... or better yet, if you have a complete install disk, start over as you were originally intending to do.

[Peter]

I've got an HP laptop, series HSTNN-105C, 'running' (cough) XP Pro, but it's fucked and I don't know why.  Most of the time when I try to boot it, it freezes at 'Mup.sys', but for some reason it booted ok once.  It also completely fails to recognise the internal DVD R/W, despite the drive having power and whirring and things when a disk is inserted.  I tried to boot it from a Knoppix live CD, but the BIOS seems oblivious to the presence of the DVD drive, and the one time I got it booted into XP, XP didn't have a clue that there was a drive either.

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you're lucky, it's a loose connection (your CD/DVD drive) but it could also be a problem with the motherboard, an EIDE bus problem or other such weirdness. Conceivably, you could have a corrupted BIOS but that seems very unlikely.

Did you have XP on automatic update?

It's an ex-service machine that was due to be crushed, and I don't know if automatic updates were on while it was in service.  I might be that this fault is why it was sent to the crusher, but it's a good laptop and I'd like to fix it if I can.

Maybe it's enough to open it and tighten everything, and check for loose cables?

Also, check for damage in those flat ribbon cable thingies going between the mobo and stuff. It might even be enough to open the laptop and move them around to get the laptop to function again. Of course, that won't permanently fix the problem, but if it works after you've done nothing except to move things around, you know it's a hardware problem, most likely something to do with the wiring or the mobo connectors.

I've got it working.  The DVD drive had become unseated from it's connection, and literally fell out while I was trying to open the case up.  I've pushed it back into the connection cradle thingy and everything's working fine now.  Next up is installing a new OS, since I don't have administrator access for the current one.

Cool!

So basically, you have a free laptop, now?

Basically.  I got a lot of free stuff over the years, since mum's work had a policy that every piece of IT equipment had to be disposed of once it was 3 years old.  This laptop is one of the last things she rescued from the crusher before she retired, and thus it's one of the more up to date items.

[Peter]

Also, there a number of ways into XP admin accounts, but be careful. I looked into this many moons ago and was successful, but many of the so-called cracks out there are internet jokes and they are actually designed to fuck you up.

Just use your head and think it through.

... or better yet, if you have a complete install disk, start over as you were originally intending to do.

I'm installing Tiny XP.  I want a system that I can have always on for downloads, and I'd also like to do some time-lapse photography using a webcam and some software that takes a picture at timed intervals.  I can't leave my main PC on all the time, since it uses too much power and it's far too noisy to comfortably sleep in the same room as it, but this laptop should be fine.

[Alex179]

Loose cabling and/or connections is the most common thing with hardware it seems.   That or incorrect jumper settings on a mobo.  At least it wasn't something that needed to be replaced.

That is awesome that you got a free laptop.  You can't really bitch about that part of the deal haha.  Do you not have much RAM (you seem to say it doesn't run XP well)?

[DirtDawg]

Also, there a number of ways into XP admin accounts, but be careful. I looked into this many moons ago and was successful, but many of the so-called cracks out there are internet jokes and they are actually designed to fuck you up.

Just use your head and think it through.

... or better yet, if you have a complete install disk, start over as you were originally intending to do.

I'm installing Tiny XP.  I want a system that I can have always on for downloads, and I'd also like to do some time-lapse photography using a webcam and some software that takes a picture at timed intervals.  I can't leave my main PC on all the time, since it uses too much power and it's far too noisy to comfortably sleep in the same room as it, but this laptop should be fine.

Sounds like a plan!