HP Notebook 6735s boot up error BSOD

TakeThis

Worst case scenario if Factory Restore does not work; Get yourself a caddy to place the HDD within, in order to make a backup of your important data.
Place the HDD back into the machine and Format it with Windows 7 via USB(or just format it whilst in the caddy), then re-install Vista.

YorkshireBoy

robmar0se wrote: »

Page 101 talks about boot options, referencing cd/dvd boot, but I haven't read all 171 pages!

Does the File menu page 98) give you info on installed devices - it just surprises me that you don't have the option to select the onboard dvd/cd as a primary boot device............

Thanks. It doeesn't really tell me anything different to what I'm seeing on my laptop's BIOS setup.

One interesting thing though...I can't find any reference to F9 (see my earlier post #17) in that document?

There is an option to reset back to factory settings, worst case you could select that option and then try changing the noot sequence?

I'm reluctant to do that before I've had chance to talk to HP again on Monday morning.

It looks like they've tweaked the BIOS and may need to talk me through a procedure to unlock it to make the necessary changes.

I should add that when I put the DVD in the LED seems to indicate that it's being read?

robmar0se

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I'm reluctant to do that before I've had chance to talk to HP again on Monday morning.


It looks like they've tweaked the BIOS and may need to talk me through a procedure to unlock it to make the necessary changes.

As you wish, appreciate that you don't know us from Adam. HP should be more familiar with their BIOS settings.

"unlock" is just a case of resetting the BIOS back to factory settings, this in effect starts with a clean slate. By definition factory settings will always boot the PC, and would require little if any sebsequent tweaking - so can't do any harm.

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I'm reluctant to do that before I've had chance to talk to HP again on Monday morning.

I should add that when I put the DVD in the LED seems to indicate that it's being read?

Update:

HP support have this morning said my optical drive must be faulty and suggested I order another one from their sales team.

When I expressed concern that this would be too much of a coincidence, and almost certainly nothing to do with the root cause (of a corrupted log file), they supplied me with instructions on how to remove and reseat it to see if that makes a difference. I'll do that tomorrow morning.

Apparently under F9 I should see my optical drive listed if it's being 'seen' by the system/BIOS. Whereas all I have is what I posted earlier...

If I press F9 (Boot Device Options) I have a Boot Option Menu:

Notebook Upgrade Bay
Notebook Hard Drive
Notebook Ethernet

craigster

Apologies if I've missed a key post. But in your position, I'd check the hard drive is ok first. Granted that this may be too technical for you. To do this, I'd find out the manufacturer of the hard drive (you should be able to find this in the BIOS), download their disk diagnostic cd (which will be available as a disk image e.g. an .ISO) and burn it on to a cd. Google 'Seatools for Dos' for an example of this (sorry I can't post links). From there you can boot from the cd and allow it to check your HD for errors.
For similar reasons it can be helpful to have a free bootable operating system, such as Knoppix or Slax which allow you to boot up an OS from the cd. This is useful in determining if the hardware or software is at fault and/or transferring data if Windows will not boot.

Laz123

I'd been troubleshooting my HP Compaq Presario for 3 days so I'm quite an expert on these bloody machines now. Eventually I found out my problem was the crappy Fujitsu hd had gone after less than 2 years.

I couldn't boot from my set of recovery discs eventhough the bios is defaulted to boot from dvd rom first. I couldn't get the recovery partition to return to factory settings.

I'd suggest this:

On bootup tap Esc key which should give you a few diagnostic options to repair.

Also in the bios is an option to repair the hd.

BTW when in bios press F10 to return the bootup options to default.

craigster

Laz123 wrote: »

I'd been troubleshooting my HP Compaq Presario for 3 days so I'm quite an expert on these bloody machines now. Eventually I found out my problem was the crappy Fujitsu hd had gone after less than 2 years.

I couldn't boot from my set of recovery discs eventhough the bios is defaulted to boot from dvd rom first. I couldn't get the recovery partition to return to factory settings.

I'd suggest this:

On bootup tap Esc key which should give you a few diagnostic options to repair.

Also in the bios is an option to repair the hd.

BTW when in bios press F10 to return the bootup options to default.

I think you'll find that if the hard drive is on the way out there is no repair. Your best, and only, option is the bin and a new HD. If you have data on it you may be lucky and find that only a few sectors are damaged and you can use one of the boot cds I mentioned earlier to copy said data to an external drive. Sorry, but going by the symptoms you describe - failure to boot (with BSOD indicating possible disk corruption), getting so far in OS installation before the computer throws an error message, and you once managing to boot in safe mode (but it taking ages to do so) - have all the hallmarks of the death throes of a HD.

Laz123

craigster wrote: »

I think you'll find that if the hard drive is on the way out there is no repair. Your best, and only, option is the bin and a new HD. If you have data on it you may be lucky and find that only a few sectors are damaged and you can use one of the boot cds I mentioned earlier to copy said data to an external drive. Sorry, but going by the symptoms you describe - failure to boot (with BSOD indicating possible disk corruption), getting so far in OS installation before the computer throws an error message, and you once managing to boot in safe mode (but it taking ages to do so) - have all the hallmarks of the death throes of a HD.

I agree, but it's worth a try, isn't it?

craigster

I think, having looked at the manual that has been posted, what you're calling a hard disk repairing option in the BIOS' diagnostic page is actually a diagnostic program. This is handy as the OP can check their HD without the hassle of burning a boot disk. It won't fix the disk, but will tell them if there is a problem. If possible they should perform an advanced test and get it to check the whole disk for bad sectors, etc. It can be accessed by pressing F4 on the diagnostic page. Doing the other tests on that page wouldn't be a bad idea either.

YorkshireBoy

An update, for those who kindly replied and offered help...and for anyone else who has the same issue in future:

Have now resolved the issue.

To cut a very long story short:

Tried to boot from a USB-DVD drive with the disk HP sent me...no joy, even though BIOS F9 screen recognised the drive.

Removed my HDD and inserted it in the spare HDD bay of a mates laptop and backed up my files to DVD just in case!

Downloaded the aforementioned hotfix to my mate's machine and attempted repair that way...no joy.

Removed HDD from my mate's laptop and put my HDD in that bay. On re-booting his machine, it recognised there was a fault and automatically repaired it!

Put HDD back in my laptop and re-booted successfully.

Thanks again to all those who offered help and suggestions. Much appreciated.