PC HELP Forum

[fisher_i_am]

Wondering what good pc help forums exist out there. I'm trying techtalkz.com now but looking for others to help me with my issue. If you have any good experience with with a PC forum please pass it on.

My issue is the following if there are any experts on walleye central that might be able to help also.


I have an HP Pavilion from ~2008 or 2009. I believe Windows 7

At start up I get the "Reboot and Select proper Boot device" in white print with black background

I ran the diagnostic test and get a BIOS-2 code for the hard drive

I bought hard disk drive enclosure and installed the HP hard drive and hooked up to a laptop.

Good news was it recognized the drive and I could see the files. What seemed odd to me was that my user folder with all my documents, pictures and videos was hidden.

I have created a back up of all my documents, pictures, videos and such.

I made my user folder unhidden, reinstalled in the pavalion, double checked the connections to and from the hard drive and powered up with the same result.

Seems to me my hard drive is not failed as I can read it still with the external enclosure and my laptop.

Any thoughts on what's next to get the pavilion to run again?

Thanks in advance , Jason

[FloridaRigger]

Sounds like your Windows install may be corrupted. This isnt really a fix, but if it were me I'd just pick up a new SSD (the prices have come down a lot) then reinstall windows on it and transfer your backed up files to it. The SSD will make your old computer feel new and fast. Consumer hard drives arent meant to last more than 5 years and you are beyond that now. If you like the laptop and its in good shape, then a simple SSD upgrade will give you a couple more years of life for under $100

[Apple Guy]

A hidden Doc fold could be a FAKE encryption malware program that did not fully get enabled. It hid your Doc folder but did not get the code to show you a ransom page. They don't spend the time to do all the encryption coding and just hide your Doc folder and put up a locked ransom page. Quick and easy and 50% of the people will fall for it and pay the money. IF so, consider yourself very lucky.

Run a Kaspersky Live Rescue CD

http://support.kaspersky.com/us/4162


BitDefender Live Rescue CD

http://www.bitdefender.com/support/h...ue-cd-627.html



Hitman Pro (In "Force Breach Mode") https://hitmanpro.wordpress.com/2010...e-breach-mode/

http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro/



ComboFix (All AV must be shut off as per real-time scanning of file system files)

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/


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[fisher_i_am]

Apple Guy, thanks for the reply but I don't understand how to do any of those suggestions as I can't get the computer to boot up. I can only view the drive when it's in the external case hooked to the laptop.

Thanks.

[Apple Guy]

I re read the post (sorry, can back from a night on the town, not even close.....must of read it with one eye) This what I would do. First I would run Spinrite from Gibson Research, but I can understand you would not have this or want to buy it $90. I have it, so I would run it as a long shot you dropped some sectors on the boot area or partition tables of your drive.( it boots up in bios as a boot disk) Next, I still cant find on the internet what a bios-2 warning is on your computer specifically. Are you talking 2 beeps or literally it says "bios-2"? It would also help to list the bios manufacture because it appears HP uses 3 different vendors with 3 different coding systems. If it is a hardware issue then it's time for a new computer,,,if it software/HD, time to nuke a pave.

As long as you have your data, I would see if your HP has Windows on another partition on that drive by booting into the bios with the right F# key. But , because you have described the "white type can't find drive" you are totally hosed scenario....you might be totally hosed!!

Then it is a new drive and trying to find if OEM install disks came with your HP or try to order them from HP which the outcome on that will most likely be they don't have any because it is too old.
Then you have to find a good Windows 7 retail or OEM disk to put on a new drive.

OR, do as I would do if you are at this point........It is old and except it is junk and buy a new computer because it is not worth sticking time and money into old outdated slow hardware. Then when you finally get all you stuff figured out, buy and external drive and start running a backup of your important data so you have it if your drive or computer goes bad. You stated you can get your data back from the old drive....consider yourself very lucky you can do this, most of the time you can't do this.

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[fisher_i_am]

Apple Dude,

Thanks again for the help. I thought it was hosed and the family has been one me for a new computer. I already ended up getting a new imac.

Everything is backed up and running on the new Mac and I'm learning how to use it. I was trying to get the old HP going again but now consider junking it.... Just wasnt ready to give in yet but after your reply I'm considering not investing any more time into it.

Thanks again. I do however have a Mac question for you....

I have successfully migrated all my files and pictures to the IMAC and started using Iphoto. I also have several user accounts for the imac for the family but want to be able to share all the photos across the user accounts. What is the best way to do this without having duplicate files.

I started by coping all the photos in a Shared folder directly under the user folder that everyone has access to. I now have been in my user account and dragged and dropped in my photo library. Things seem to be working however it appears I have now two copies on my hard drive. One set in the share folder where I have originally copied them to from the pc and another set in my photos folder on my user account. I'm afraid as the other users do the same to I, we will have 3 to 4 copies... and with the number of photos I have I scared I won't have the disk space.

How else can I manage all the photos in a single location while having multiple users be able to access them.

Thanks in advance.

I have successfully copied all the files to the IMAC and started using Iphoto. I also have several user accounts for the imac for the family but want to be able to share all the photos across the user accounts. What is the best way to do this without having duplicate files.

I started by coping all the photos in a Shared folder directly under the user folder that everyone has access to. I now have been in my user account and dragged and dropped in my photo library. Things seem to be working however it appears I have now two copies on my hard drive. One set in the share folder where I have originally copied them to from the pc and another set in my photos folder on my user account. I'm afraid as the other users do the same to I, we will have 3 to 4 copies... and with the number of photos I have I scared I won't have the disk space.

How else can I manage all the photos in a single location while having multiple users be able to access them.

Thanks in advance.

[Apple Guy]

I have never had to do this, but this is what I found.


http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517

If you will be using an external drive that will be spinning every time your computer will be running you may want to buy one that can get rid of it's heat. Many of the externals fail early because they overheat because the drive is in a jacket of plastic. Look into this manufacture for external drives. They are Hitachi drives that got rated #1 for the least failure rate in the BackBlaze Report. Western Digital bought Hitachi, but they still are the same Hitachi drives.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-...eptember-2014/




2.5 drive just runs off of USB port (Mac and Windows compatible)

http://www.g-technology.com/products...top-hard-drive


3.5 needs wall wart power. Large capacity (Mac and Windows compatible)

http://www.g-technology.com/products...nal-hard-drive





But you still have the issue of backing up your pictures. You have the option to buy a dual drive version of both drive that are Raid 0 or Mirrored drive. Both drives copy the same thing. One drive fails you have a good second drive.


3.5 large capacity

http://www.g-technology.com/products...nal-hard-drive

2.5

http://www.g-technology.com/products...l-2-tb-7200rpm




If you get the larger drive, you can partition it off and use Carbon Copy Cloner to do you daily backup and skip Apples Time Machine that becomes a growing behemoth of disk space use. Plus Time Machine is know to get corrupted easily. It has happened to me twice, so I don't rely on it exclusively. I run Carbon Copy Cloner and it just takes a cloned image of how my drive looks on that backup time. It never grows more then my HD grows. Plus it is really enterprise ready as far as failure rate. I have never had a bad Carbon Copy Cloner image yet.

I do run Time Machine with CC Cloner but I only let Time Machine take up so much space(runs out of space) and then wipe and redo Time Machine after 6 months or so because I only have a 320 GB G-Tech Mini as my back up drive. I partition the drive 1/3 space for CCCloner and 2/3 Time Machine.


https://bombich.com/




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[lowtech]

Sounds like you've moved another direction, but the original issue reeks of a damaged MBR. Windows isn't without issues for their MBR, but it can be recoverable - try this, you will need a Windows 7 installation disk to complete it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win...mbr,10036.html

AFA the hidden user folder, that's actually not as uncommon as you'd think. WIN7 changed a few things as far as folder attributes to keep system/user files from being monkeyed with. I've run into some installations that they purposely hide the user folders - usually from direct copy OEM installations, it's their way of "keeping the interface clean" but makes for a PITA for a superuser.

Fix the MBR, then see if you can restore.

[GBS]

Originally Posted by lowtech

Sounds like you've moved another direction, but the original issue reeks of a damaged MBR. Windows isn't without issues for their MBR, but it can be recoverable - try this, you will need a Windows 7 installation disk to complete it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win...mbr,10036.html

AFA the hidden user folder, that's actually not as uncommon as you'd think. WIN7 changed a few things as far as folder attributes to keep system/user files from being monkeyed with. I've run into some installations that they purposely hide the user folders - usually from direct copy OEM installations, it's their way of "keeping the interface clean" but makes for a PITA for a superuser.

Fix the MBR, then see if you can restore.

Ditto on the above - I've seen a LOT of hidden user folders in win 7 installs over the years for the reasons noted above. Just Microsoft trying to protect you from yourself.

You've moved on - just make sure to copy all your critical stuff off of the old drive ASAP to a new location - Mac, external drive, etc.

Besides the MBR fix noted, it might just be the hardware of the old computer - the message you reported seems to be the BIOS of the computer (startup chip) complaining. Either a track on the hard drive is corrupted (the MBR) or the disk controller (part of the motherboard of the computer) is dying or dead.

If you want to continue playing with the old stuff, easiest would be to get a cheap new drive, and see if you can reinstall windows on it and get it up and running (provided you got a Windows or restore disk with your HP). If that passes, then you can work on reinstalling any software and data you want to have on the old machine. My mother's old adage about food also applies here to hard drives "When in doubt, throw it out!"

[lowtech]

Originally Posted by GBS

Ditto on the above - I've seen a LOT of hidden user folders in win 7 installs over the years for the reasons noted above. Just Microsoft trying to protect you from yourself.

You've moved on - just make sure to copy all your critical stuff off of the old drive ASAP to a new location - Mac, external drive, etc.

Besides the MBR fix noted, it might just be the hardware of the old computer - the message you reported seems to be the BIOS of the computer (startup chip) complaining. Either a track on the hard drive is corrupted (the MBR) or the disk controller (part of the motherboard of the computer) is dying or dead.

If you want to continue playing with the old stuff, easiest would be to get a cheap new drive, and see if you can reinstall windows on it and get it up and running (provided you got a Windows or restore disk with your HP). If that passes, then you can work on reinstalling any software and data you want to have on the old machine. My mother's old adage about food also applies here to hard drives "When in doubt, throw it out!"

Don't think it'd be a controller, if the BIOS registers the drive and can pull the SMART/drive identifier info in it, the controller's fine. Because the files can be accessed after the drive has been mounted as a slave, that would mean that the primary file system is still in good shape, which points to the MBR - either damaged or a bad sector like you mention. Both can actually be corrected with the fix because if there's an issue with the sector, the fix will punt to the next block set (that's why there's a "dead space" at the end of the MBR after it's set, at least with modern MBR's like GRUB/and NTLoader).

Question remains how bad you want to mess around with a 7yo computer, though. If you do decide to toss the machine, please take the hard disk out and drill a few holes into it through the platters to physically damaged the disks.

You would not BELIEVE how easy it is to bring back personal info from an "erased" hard disk, much less one that hasn't been touched at all.