Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Reformatting HP Laptop: Infinite Cycle of Fail

Jeldim · 07-16-2008, 02:22 PM

I am experiencing a problem while reformatting my HP Pavilion dv6500 that I've had in the past. Right now, what is happening is this:

1. I use KillDisk utility to clear the hard drive (an HP support-person suggested this when I've had this problem in the past).
2. I use the recovery disks and driver/application supplement disk, after which the computer restarts.
3. At this point, I SHOULD be taken to the the computer registration/setup then to the desktop of my squeaky clean computer. Instead, one of two things happens:

a. I reach a black screen with a cursor icon.. but nothing else. The cursor seems functional and moves about the screen, but it never moves past this point. Or,
b. The computer goes straight to the desktop of the administrator's account (since it hasn't taken me through setup to create a different profile). At this point, the computer goes through a seemingly infinite cycle of "installing software" and restarting. I've had it go for 8 hours in the past, so it doesn't seem right.

If I ever try to manually restart the computer, it takes me to a prompt to open windows normally or use safe mode. I use safe mode, and I get a prompt which says the OS installation did not complete (which doesn't surprise me) and I start the process all over again.

This has happened in the past and what usually happens is I cycle through this process about 5 times or so and eventually it inexplicably starts working (the planets have finally aligned properly?). I would like to be able to reformat my computer with this NOT happening.

Does this sound familiar to anybody? Would just going out and buying a new hard drive make this stop happening (I've been in the market for a bigger one anyways, and if it stopped this problem it would just make the deal that much sweeter)? Or could it be something else?

07-16-2008, 02:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
Jeldim Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 12 OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit	Reformatting HP Laptop: Infinite Cycle of Fail I am experiencing a problem while reformatting my HP Pavilion dv6500 that I've had in the past. Right now, what is happening is this: 1. I use KillDisk utility to clear the hard drive (an HP support-person suggested this when I've had this problem in the past). 2. I use the recovery disks and driver/application supplement disk, after which the computer restarts. 3. At this point, I SHOULD be taken to the the computer registration/setup then to the desktop of my squeaky clean computer. Instead, one of two things happens: a. I reach a black screen with a cursor icon.. but nothing else. The cursor seems functional and moves about the screen, but it never moves past this point. Or, b. The computer goes straight to the desktop of the administrator's account (since it hasn't taken me through setup to create a different profile). At this point, the computer goes through a seemingly infinite cycle of "installing software" and restarting. I've had it go for 8 hours in the past, so it doesn't seem right. If I ever try to manually restart the computer, it takes me to a prompt to open windows normally or use safe mode. I use safe mode, and I get a prompt which says the OS installation did not complete (which doesn't surprise me) and I start the process all over again. This has happened in the past and what usually happens is I cycle through this process about 5 times or so and eventually it inexplicably starts working (the planets have finally aligned properly?). I would like to be able to reformat my computer with this NOT happening. Does this sound familiar to anybody? Would just going out and buying a new hard drive make this stop happening (I've been in the market for a bigger one anyways, and if it stopped this problem it would just make the deal that much sweeter)? Or could it be something else?