Help with HP Mini 110 - 1160SA - pleeeease

dantheman2010

Any idea what settings to change? And how? Cheers

smos585

dantheman2010 wrote: »

Any idea what settings to change? And how? Cheers

I believe the guy meant, changing the boot priority, so that it looks at the usb flash drive first as opposed to what you may have at present.

But before you do this try and create a bootable flash drive, ain't easy, you may find the insructions less than clear if you haven't done it before. Creating a bootable flash drive isn't a "natural" process in Windows, it is trying to kid it that it is a cd/dvd drive, sometimes called a virtual drive.

I find a USB CD/dvd drive easier as it is immediately recognised (but again after the boot sequence has been revised). They aren't pricy £18-£25 fro a good rewriter or half this for a reader - has other uses too as you can use it for offloading stuff etc, loading music etc etc.

TakeThis

smos585 wrote: »

I believe the guy meant, changing the boot priority, so that it looks at the usb flash drive first as opposed to what you may have at present.

But before you do this try and create a bootable flash drive, ain't easy, you may find the insructions less than clear if you haven't done it before. Creating a bootable flash drive isn't a "natural" process in Windows, it is trying to kid it that it is a cd/dvd drive, sometimes called a virtual drive.

I find a USB CD/dvd drive easier as it is immediately recognised (but again after the boot sequence has been revised). They aren't pricy £18-£25 fro a good rewriter or half this for a reader - has other uses too as you can use it for offloading stuff etc, loading music etc etc.

No, that isn't what I meant.
I meant changing the way the BIOS communicates with the HDD.

As an aside, did you try tapping F6 on start up? That rather than F11 may be the path to Recovery for your machine. Though it may be beyond that now.

Which Operating System was installed?

dantheman2010

Hi it was Windows 7.

I didnt try F6, I will try tonight when I get home.

If it is, then what happens when I hit F6?

Also I can still get into the BIOS set up, so how do I change the way it communicates to the HDD?

Thanks

TakeThis

If you cannot see the HDD listed in the BIOS, F6 won't work. But when working it will lead to the Recovery options for the machine.

I don't think there is an option within the BIOS to change the mode. ie SATA/AHCI/IDE. But you can look for it amongst the options.

dantheman2010

Ok thanks.

I will let you know my findings later. Cheers

dantheman2010

Nope F6 didnt work.

Basically it does absolutely nothing.

Is it just a new HDD needed?

Figment

TakeThis wrote: »

As it probably has a SATA HDD installed, you may need to change some settings in the BIOS to reflect this.

The manual says it's PATA interface, although the images of hard drives look like SATA connectors.

To confirm which it is the OP would need to physically remove the Hard Drive again and see which connectors it has. (for the benefit of the OP pins - PATA, blades = SATA)

robmar0se

robmar0se wrote: »

Sounds like yr HP Mini's hard drive is corrupted, and of course from what you have told us we don't know the cause. whether it is a software error, eg the MBR is missing/corrupted, whether ther is a virus on it, or whether there is a physical (hardware) fault.

As you don't need any of the data currently on it, if you key F11 during the initial start-up/boot it should get you to HP's Backup & Recovery system. If the problem is softeare related you should be able to follow the prompts to re-install XP (remember to install an AV first, and run the WIndows Updates).

If it is a hardware error. the HP recovery will fail at some point, then a seperate process will be required.

Re post # 2. I suggest you have proved that the HDD is faulty!!

The sata hdd is under the keyboard - take it out (I sent you the manual), and get a good local firm to double check it for you.

I gather you don't have the usb drives to fix this, nor probbaly the Windows software either, so cut your losses and get a pro to fix it.

dantheman2010

It is a serial ATA, so guessing SATA?

Looks like I will have to take it to be repaired.