Compaq Presario "code purple"

HoolyNI

Sister has a compaq presario which lately had just been grinding to a halt, so after backing up all the necessary files etc, she ran the system recovery program to restore the pc to its factory shipped condition.

When pc was booting vista back up afterwards it got so far then a screen pops up saying theres a configuration error and to ring the helpline quoting "code purple"...anyone come across this before or know a way around it?

Machine is long out of warranty and running vista, also tried running the recovery discs made when she bought the pc, but getting a message saying discs not recognised.

poppy10_2

The code purple error occurs because HP/Cmpaq place a "tattoo" or signature in their recovery disks and motherboard, that won't allow Windows to be reinstalled unless the hardware exactly matches the original hardware that left the factory, to prevent you from using the recovery disks to install Windows on other computers. Very anti-consumer, and causes hassle as the motherboard often loses its 'tattoo' and can't identify itself as the original hardware, leading to the booby-trap code purple error.

Compaq will ask you to send the computer back to them for repair, which will cost £££. Alternatively, there are ways round it - have a read here - most people suggest using booting into a boot cd and then renaming the file C:\hp\bin\CheckDMI\checkDMI.cmd to something else, so that the hardware check won't happen.

And make sure never to buy HP/Compaq in future.

HoolyNI

http://www.justanswer.com/computer/2rksx-system-configuration-error-code-purple.html

Found the solution here, though i had to access the command prompt screen by pressing "shift + F10" rather than "alt + F10"