Matt_Davis

Hello, I need some help with my PC, it suddenly crashed, and turned off. I'm not sure if someone hacked it or something, the real problem is that now, when I try and start it up, the windows loading image appears but it has got lines through it, the box where i enter my user and pass is purple and green, you can only see the outline of the window, I typed my password in what i thought was the text space and it worked, my desktop image came up but the login window outline was still there, the bar at the bottom didn't load and only the picture of one icon showed in the middle left of the screen, nothing else happened. I turned it off and tried starting it in safe mode and when windows was last working properly, there it would either turn off and start again or bring up the messed up login window. The keyboard and mouse are currently not responding, I'm on my laptop now trying to get help. What do I do to fix it and to keep all the files I had before, I don't want to take out my hard drive and copy it onto another before re-installing windows, I really just want everything to work the way it did before, is this possible ?

Thank you very much for reading, and I really hope you can help me.

- Matt D.

(P.S. I have the windows media centre edition and the computer is 4 years old, been working slowly for the past couple of months and it's often crashing without reason if left on too long. I kept it clean with Norton AntiVirus though.)

Receng56

What is the make and model of your computer. If you have the facility I would take out your HD and backup all the files anyway, just in case any repairs fail!

Matt_Davis

The problem has been resolved, I was playing around with it and all of a sudden it just started up as it always did, it gave me an error message when I came to my desktop about a misplaced file, so it was just one huge system crash, sent a report to microsoft and their reply told me to re-install the drivers but I'm sure it's not that. This computer is fairly old now, I try keep it as clean as possible but it's going to die soon so I will backup my files, thank you very much for the advice. I'll come back to this helpful forum if anything worse happens.

Matt_Davis

The computer acted up again, in the same way but this time it was much worse. I bought an external hard drive and backed everything up. I discovered that the computer worked perfectly fine in VGA mode, after a while every mode I tried to start the computer in would restart, so I reformatted the hard drive (been meaning to anyway) and the computer was still acting strange with lines down the screen. I went and bought a new graphics card because I was sure it was that and it worked, everything worked except for now I need to install the operating system, windows media centre edition 2005. Unfortunately, it does not recognize my SATA hard drive (mode HDT72252DLA380) and it gives me an error message (page_fault_in_non_paged_area) when I try and start the windows XP setup and that switches off the computer. I discovered, on the upside, that you can beat that by slipstreaming the INF files of the SATA driver into the bootable CD with the operating system so that it will recognize the drivers upon startup and will allow me to install properly and move on with my life! Of course I have no idea how to get those INF files, can anyone help ? or is there some place you can download them from the HP Pavillion site ?

Thank you for reading,

- Matt

Receng56

What brand is you HD?

simpswr

The "page_fault_in_non_paged_area" message is often faulty memory. You can clidk on the link to Memtest in my signature to download diagnostics.

What is the complete model number? You can find your drivers here:

http://www.hp.com/#Support

Matt_Davis

My HD is an HP Pavillion,

Hp Pavillion t3655.be
Prod #RQ481AA-B14

I'm mistaken, you actually need to slipstream INI files, (not INF) and I've written the model number of the HD above. Still trying to extract the reinstallation CDs I made for the old operating system to see if I can find the files that recognize the drive, I'm trying to install a new english operating system of windows xp media centre, as you will notice I bought this in Belgium (French Language).

I'm going to check those websites now.

Receng56

I think this is your computer, not your harddrive! When you try to install windoows from your CD does it get as far as the installation screen with option for install, recovery console etc, or does it fail before?

Matt_Davis

It doesn't find the internal hard disk that I'm looking for. The error message is because the hard drisk isn't being recognized so the operating system can't install. I need to slipstream those driver files so that I can install.

Matt_Davis

He was asking for my computer's model number and make, no ?

This is my HP Pavillion hard disk again HDT72252DLA380.

I get as far as having to press F8 to accept the terms of service and then it says that it can't find any disk space or something in the slots where I think you're supposed to choose from. Then i press a button and the error message will show.

Receng56

OK you will have to check in your bios to see if there is a pata/sata setting. Your HD appears to be an IBM. When you first start the computer it will give you a key to press for setup.

Matt_Davis

How exactly do you check if there is a pata/sata setting in the BIOS ? and what do I do after that ?

I have seen exactly how to fix this problem on other websites, I just need those drivers, let me link you

http://www.getpcmemory.com/user-guid...e-using-nlite/

http://www.digitgeek.com/how-to-slip...rs-into-xp-cd/

That's what I've been trying to do but I'm failing because of the hard drive.

simpswr

If you are installing XP on a SATA drive, there is an additional step:

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how...ws_xp_on_a.htm

However, Most newer BIOS allow an Alternate method for SATA . . Go into the bios and check the "Sata Operation" setting,

change it to "Raid Autodetect/ATA if it is not already. Now try to install XP ( could be IDE Mode, Compatibility Mode or Legacy Mode - different BIOS use different terms )

some will say IDE instead of ATA)

If there are no such settings you'll need to slipstream the sata drivers on the XP CD, follow the instructions in this guide :

http://www.digitgeek.com/how-to-slip...rs-into-xp-cd/

Receng56

Yes, but where do you find the drivers?

Matt_Davis

Thanks for the help, but the two main problems for the steps you have provided me with are that I do not have a floppy disk drive (so i have to slipstream) and I can't get the SATA driver files, don't know where to get them.

Can you please tell me (step by step) how to change the BIOS settings like you just mentionned ? is it in the command prompt or do I have to start it in a different mode ? (sorry I'm not that experienced)

Receng56

When you first switch on the computer you will probably get an HP logo, at the bottom it will say something like Hit F" for setup. Follow the instructions and this will get you into the BIOS (basic input/output system). follow the instructions to scroll through the pages.

simpswr

See this for help entering BIOS http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Matt_Davis

Okay so I checked the BIOS and everything was set normally, as you specified before. So now the question is to get the drivers for my hard disk so I can slipstream them into the bootable CD. I really appreciate the help, thank you for your time.

simpswr

If you were able to set the SATA to IDE, you do not need the drivers

Matt_Davis

I was able to switch the SATA to IDE but the first installation CDs had to fail of course. The second doesn't recognize my serial key so now I'm looking everywhere for a good serial key for the normal windows XP. Is there any way you can help with finding a serial key so i can validate my windows xp?