I ordered the new hard drive for Dad's laptop from newegg and received it the very next day and I just went with their regular shipping!

I have the online repair manual that KJT posted for me and it says to remove the battery before taking out the old drive.

Once I get the new drive in, what CD's am I to load first? I have several and will list how they are labeled:

1st one is a red CD labeled: Compaq Operating System CD(Win XP Home SP1)

2nd one I have is a black CD: Documentation Library then I have

4 Compaq QuickRestore System Recovery CD's labeled disk 1, 2, 3, 4.

Probably sounds like a ridiculous question but I've never had to do before

Adirondack Girl

Did you find the paper instuctions that were in the same plastic bag with the cd rom disks?
Also read the Documentation Library disk.

LilJoe

Below is what Compaq says to do:


"Yes, you can use Quick Restore CD for your new Hard Drive. The
QuickRestore CD again reformats the hard drive and brings your notebook
to it's original factory default state.
Red disk is to repair Windows operating system and black disk is a
documentation(manual guide) CD for your notebook."

Course I have 4 Quick Restore CD's for his laptop so I assume I need to use them all?


EDIT: will it be difficult to get this upgraded from SP1 to sp2, and I guess I will need to get his AV on their right away.

Adirondack Girl

Try here also:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00006110&jumpid=ex_R602_info/hho-ng-Sept-compaq-notebook

LilJoe

The new hard drive doesn't have the plastic covering around the connector pins like the old one does. Is this a problem? Sorry I don't know what to call it. (Edit:perhaps the plastic thing is the "connector bar"?yup, I think it is, by george I answered one thing for myself,LOL)now on to the next one:

The HD installation guide says to run the CMOS (BIOS) setup program to detect the new hard disk drive. I'm a lil' lost here. Thot all I had to do was put the new hard drive into the laptop then load original quickrestore recovery disks.

Adirondack Girl

>Below is what Compaq says to do:
>
>
>"Yes, you can use Quick Restore CD for your new Hard Drive.
>The
>QuickRestore CD again reformats the hard drive and brings your
>notebook
>to it's original factory default state.
>Red disk is to repair Windows operating system and black disk
>is a
>documentation(manual guide) CD for your notebook."
>
>Course I have 4 Quick Restore CD's for his laptop so I assume
>I need to use them all?
>
>
>EDIT: will it be difficult to get this upgraded from SP1 to
>sp2, and I guess I will need to get his AV on their right
>away.

You will need to go to Microsoft update and install SP2 andall the other updates released since your restore disks were made.

Shelly

Yes, won't that take a long time? Once the hard drive has the restore cd's installed what should be my next plan as far as software installations/upgrades? I would think I would need to get his NAV installed(since it's NSWP 2005 will I run the risk of getting infected since that too has to be updated) then install SP2 and then should I also check for HP's software and driver, firmware updates as well?

I don't believe he ever went to HP's site to do any updates before so I'm wondering if that would now be recommended?

Adirondack Girl

Install and update your NAV, if you are not behind a router with NAT, install your software firewall next, then go directly to Microsoft Update. And yes, it will take a while.

Shelly

I have a linksys router BEFSR41, not sure if that has NAT.

Will his NAV update to his "past expiration" date, it expired 8/14?

Adirondack Girl

>Yes, won't that take a long time? Once the hard drive has
>the restore cd's installed what should be my next plan as far
>as software installations/upgrades? I would think I would
>need to get his NAV installed(since it's NSWP 2005 will I run
>the risk of getting infected since that too has to be updated)
>then install SP2 and then should I also check for HP's
>software and driver, firmware updates as well?
>
>I don't believe he ever went to HP's site to do any updates
>before so I'm wondering if that would now be recommended?

I remember ordering the SP 2 CD directly from Microsoft's website free of charge. I think they might have stopped doing that - you could always check their website to see if they're still shipping those out.

Edit: I found the link on their website. Looks like they are still offering that free of charge.

Go here and look on the bottom right:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

The only downside is that you will have to wait a few days for it to arrive of course. (I think I waited about a week for mine). But if you're still on dial-up service, it sure beats waiting for it to download.

I did get a CD in Feb 2004 that was a Windows securtiy update CD but that's still old and I'm not sure that was SP2.

What about the HP updates, drivers, firmware. Is it necessary.

***I have the HD installed, is there a step I need to perform first before installing the system software? Like do I have to turn on the PC to see if the system detects the HD and once that's done I would turn off and then put Disk 1 into the CD drive and turn on again?

Gosh, I feel so stupid.....if all goes well after this I will feel much better and I'm sure I'll look back and think, "that was easier than I could have imagined!" Thanks,

Adirondack Girl

>I did get a CD in Feb 2004 that was a Windows securtiy
>update CD but that's still old and I'm not sure that was SP2.


I don't know what CD you are referring to there, but it does not sound like that has the service pack 2. Look through the contents of the CD with Windows Explorer and see if there's any documentation that would tell you for sure whether it has SP 2 or not. (There might be some sort of a read me file or setup text file). Whenever you're in doubt - RTFM.

As for drivers, the rule of thumb is to always install the latest version available. So if the website shows a higher version than what you have now - then use it.

Firmware updates - don't bother unless you're having a specific issue with a hardware component. Then, only then, look at their website to see if the firmware update addresses that particular problem.

Thanks Chewy, what about this

Adirondack Girl

>Here's what I'm thinking my steps are:
>
>1) turn the pc on to see if system detects the new hard drive.
> And I don't need to place any disks in cd drive yet? If HD
>detected, turn off pc, then
>
>2) Put QuickRestore disk #1 into the cd drive and restart
>system
>
>do I have to reset the bios to boot off the CD.
>
>Really, I don't know all the steps,just baby steps

When the system boots up, go into your BIOS menu. If the new hard drive is recognized by the BIOS, then you're good to go. Insert the restore CD, make sure the CD-ROM is set as the 1st boot device and then reboot the system.

I know you're new to this but you're making this out to be much harder than it is. Just jump in girl - learn as you go. The forum will be here to help you out and for morale encouragement.

LOL Chewy, so true, I just don't want to screw anything up Thanks so much I will go ahead and get to it!

Adirondack Girl

Well everything was going fine. I installed 2 of the Quick Restore disks with 2 more to go, only 10min in. When it asked me for the next disk (#3) I put it in and hit enter for ok, then a few seconds later the PC just shut down. Anyone know why this would happen and what my next step should be?? Should I turn on again and see if it continues where it left off?? I knew something would go wrong

Adirondack Girl

Yep, turn it on and see what happens. You do have the power supply connected to this laptop, don't you?

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

I had it set to boot fromt he CD and now when I turn it on it says "Operating system" not found. Do I need to go back into the Bios and do all over again? And I thought the hard drive was detected because I saw some #'s next to it.

Yes, it is plugged in.

Edit: went back into Bios to make sure would boot to CD, wasn't on that selection which it was before. Rebooted again, and same thing, "operating system not found".

Also when I firt went into Bios the very first time I navigated to the exit menu in Bios, select defaults and then select and save changes, then I selected CD/Rom in the boot menu.

Adirondack Girl

Remove the CD and see if it boots from the HD.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

It does not. Still get "operating system not found."

Adirondack Girl

Start over with recovery disk #1.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

I hate when that happens.

Visit the Basement

I'm almost finished with re-installing the QR disks, on last one now, keep fingers crossed

Once all 4 QR disks have been installed do I need to go back into the Bios and change it from booting off the cd/rom?

EDIT: It doesn't appear that I have to

Adirondack Girl

Leave the CD first in the boot order. You will need it everytime you install a program. Your Lynksys router does have NAT.

Shelly

Well, everything is installed and working fine. Thanks to all that have helped me and stuck with me all this time!!! I'm very happy to have learned how to do this.

After installing and downloading programs yesterday and tweaking some things I do see something happening that I can't figure out why.

Now every time I start up and the desktop is loaded the System 32 file folder opens. How can I stop it from doing that???? Maybe I did something when I was checking settings in the security zone etc?

Thanks again,

Also I did an HP health scan to detect software, driver and BIOS updates. There are 2 Bios updates, would it be recommended to do these?

Adirondack Girl

This MS knowledgebase article - System32 Folder Opens When Logging on to Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0 - describes the steps to take to fix this problem.

It involves editing the registry which is not difficult. Be sure to back up the registry first, as MS recommends. If you're not familiar with this, go to Start>Run and type in regedit. Once the Registry opens, you can back it up by clicking File>Export and then saving it at a location of your choice.

Then, just drill down to the locations listed by MS in their instructions.

And you thought your heart rate had at last gone down from the excitement of installing the drive.

As far as the BIOS updates go, I'd wait for now. Does the documentation for these updates describe what the changes are? You may have no need for them - or they may quite necessary.

Jim.

Jeez, after all this work I can't understand how all of a sudden why I get the System 32 folder opening on its own. Yesterday all was fine. This bums me out!! Thanks for the article Jim!

As for the BIOS (is that considered firmware?)update, both contain a WinFlash Utility and a Bios image used to locally flash the System Bios (ROM) on notebooks operating in a Microsoft Windows environment.

There's also an application update that contains a program that enables users to restore default Power Managemnent settings in the registry. Not sure this is necessary either?

Adirondack Girl

Also, just tried to back up registry, after I save it to where I want either on desktop or in my documents, I then click on that folder to see if saved and get this registry error: cannot import to C:\documents and settings\username\desktop\filenamebackup.reg:Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes.

Only processes I have going are NAV, Ghost, Go Back, Goodgle desktop search all in the toolbar.

Man, I just want to be done with this!

Edit:also when I get to the run part of registry key I don't see the Value, Value Type, Value Date that the article talks about.

Adirondack Girl

Delete the first backup and try again. Right click on it on your desktop. Is there a menu option to "Merge"?

Also, since you're running GoBack, it will be able to undo any changes you make to the registry should you make a mistake while editing. How long GoBack can do this depends on how much space you allocated to it, and how much activity occurs - usually a few days are available.

Just be careful to follow the instructions precisely while in the registry and you shouldn't have any problems.

Jim.

I still get the same error from Registry Editor after selecting merge. Says not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other process.

Sorry bout my editing here, LOL. I'm lost

Adirondack Girl

You're making this hard by editing your messages. lol

When you drill down in the Registry, left click on "Run" in the left pane, then look in the right pane to make sure that, as MS says, "keys do not contain any incorrect, incomplete, or null entries (such as ""). "

Jim.

I'd continue to hold off on the BIOS updates. Yes, the BIOS is one type of "firmware".

Once the system32 problem is fixed, if you see a need to, then the BIOS can be flashed. Otherwise, as the saying goes, "If it isn't broken, don't fix it."

Jim.

see my post #30.

After navigating to Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

I don't see these below like the article says, am I supposed to?

Value: ActiveMovie File Extensions
Value Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: ActMovie.exe /Check

I do see some entries like this:

Name Type

AdaptecDirectCd REG_SZ

Data
"C:\Program Files\Roxio\Easy CD Creator 5\DirectCD\DirectCD.exe"

I see two others listed under "Data" that start and end in quotations.

Can I just use the laptop with the System 32 folder opening till I fix this, or is this dangerous?

Will running a program help me. This seems difficult.

Adirondack Girl

The items in the right side pane are Startup programs that load at startup. Here's a picture of my startup items from the first Registry location:



You want to make sure that the items under "Data" are pointed to the correct location, and not incomplete, or empty ("").

Jim.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

In case you miss my post #38:

For the record that Feburary 2004 disc doesn't have SP2. If you don't have it on disc you're going to have to download it.

Visit the Basement

Yes, you do have to turn on the PC.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

Yes, I realize I must turn on the PC but please review my steps in #13 and tell me if that's the correct order. Thanks.

Edit: I believe I have the answer to this question now so no worries. Will let ya'll know how it goes!

Adirondack Girl

>1st one is a red CD labeled: Compaq Operating System CD(Win
>XP Home SP1)
>2nd one I have is a black CD: Documentation Library then I
>have
>4 Compaq QuickRestore System Recovery CD's labeled disk 1, 2,
>3, 4.

It's interesting how they gave you the OS disc plus the 4 system recovery CDs. I guess the difference would be the latter allows you to restore the OS; the drivers; plus all the applications that originally came w/ the laptop. If you want to reload only the OS, the 1st CD is the one to use. However, if you go that route - you'll have to install the system drivers yourself.

Go to Kellys Korner and scroll down to item #260 and select the "System32 Folder Opens Upon Boot" on the Right side. Download and Run it and it should make the registry changes for you.

Jim.

Thanks Jim, I think I'll try. Any other ideas on why I can't back up my registry? When I click on 'merge' it asks if I'm sure I want to add this info. to the registy. That seems odd to me.

Adirondack Girl

>back up my registry? When I click on 'merge' it asks if I'm
>sure I want to add this info. to the registy. That seems odd
>to me.

That's the way it's supposed to work. When you double click on a *.reg file, whatever is contained in that file gets merged into your current registry.

Edit: And you should never backup your registry and save it to your desktop! The whole point of having a backup is to restore the system or a specific key. In the event you can't boot up to your desktop, you're SOL because that's where you saved your backup.

Gotcha. Where would be best place to save?

It seems this problem occured after I installed several downloaded programs last night. Can't be 100%.

Should I still try to back up registry before doing Kelly's corner. Again I'm not sure what else to try to back it up since it doensn't seem to want me to do so.

With regedit open, I go to export, then I select location for back up and name it, save it. Then I go to that location and do 'merge' and it tells me no go,

Adirondack Girl

If GoBack is installed and running, at this point I'd just run Kelly's tweak. You can use GoBack in the unlikely event that the tweak screws up anything.

Jim.

Well, I downloaded that file from Kelly's Korner. I opened it and it says this: This script cannot repair your issue. The expected Registry value was not found.

I'm gonna go cry and pull my hair out now

Adirondack Girl

Me too, at least the pulling hair out part.

Take a look at Start>Run typing in msconfig. Click the Startup tab and see if anything looks unusual.

At some point, were you able to bootup without the system32 appearing? If so, and if you didn't load in too many programs since then, you could probably run GoBack to a time prior to the appearance of system32.

Jim.

I've loaded quite a few, 7 or 8.

I notice in the "starup" that some entries under starup item are blank. I noticed 2 blank enteries before, now I notice only one.

EDIT: I could disable all start up progs and then enable them one by one to see which is the culprit but I don't think all that constant rebooting would be good?, and would be very time consuming. I was ready to give this laptop back to Dad today and now I have to tell him it will be a lil' longer!

Adirondack Girl

At some point you will probably need a program such as StartUp Cop to control unwanted startup programs. But for now, try a Selective Startup in msconfig of about half of the items. If system 32 still appears, try the other half. lol

Jim.

maybe I should just take it to the repair shop.

In the meantime, will it hurt anything to use the laptop with that Systme 32 folder opening at startup???? I just close the window and everything is fine from that point.

Edit: if I could upload what my registry looks like maybe that would help, cept when I save to irfanview and try to upload the file is too big and I don't know how to make it smaller. It saves it to bitmap too

Adirondack Girl

In my opinion, it won't hurt a thing to have system32 open at startup. Just close it and procede normally.

Your entire registry is large, unless you just mean a print screen image of a specific location.

In Irfanview, you can resize the picture via Image>Resize - Resample. The forum max is 50KB unless you're Jason. lol

I'm not sure what would be shown anyway. Normally the appearance would be similar to the pic I posted earlier - for both registry locations - thought they are not identical.

Have you tried it with msconfig yet?

Jim.

Thru msconfig I have discovered the location of the problem, so I will leave it disabled at start up and won't see that folder open again. This of course still leaves a bad registry key needed to be fixed at some point.

Will not having this program checked for start up keep me from being able to use it properly?

The culprit is this:

startup item is -quiet
command is -quiet
location: SOFTWARE/Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

I don't know what '-quiet' is. Do you?

Adirondack Girl

No, I don't know what it is. Maybe a Google search would turn up something but I've got to go out for awhile.

I'd just delete it in the registry, then set msconfig to boot normally to see what happens. Of course, I, too, have GoBack.

Jim.

Thanks so much Jim. I too am gonna take a break and clear my head.
Course then I'll have to figure out where to find -quiet in the registry but no rush, lol. I did a google search and came up with nothing. Think I'll get back to it later. Again, thanks a million!!!

Adirondack Girl

I thought you had found it in the registry. The word "quiet" could appear many places in the registry, or not at all. Don't just automatically delete anything "quiet". I just searched my Registry and didn't find "quiet" anywhere so it's quite likely you won't have an abundance of them. lol

For now, just unmark it in msconfig, leaving it on Selective Startup. Shouldn't hurt a thing for now, if ever.

Jim.

>Thru msconfig I have discovered the location of the problem,
>so I will leave it disabled at start up and won't see that
>folder open again. This of course still leaves a bad registry
>key needed to be fixed at some point.
>
>Will not having this program checked for start up keep me from
>being able to use it properly?

That's perfectly fine. Since you have un-checked the item in MSCONFIG, it's no longer necessary for you to edit the registry. Its unclear from your posting just which key contains the "-quiet" value so I don't know what program you are referring to. I doubt it will adversely affect the application in any way.

If you really want to hunt this down, you'll have to look in following two keys.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1004336348-789336058-1343024091-1004\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

In the right window pane, the first column will be value name. Look for a blank one where the string value contains "-quiet".

Edit: I re-read your posting again. You wrote:

Chewy, that's just the read I got out of Msconfig. I did it by process of elimination like Jim suggested. It would be interesting to know which program it's tied to tho. If it's a non issue, perhaps I'll just leave well enough alone. We'll see how it runs and from what you say, I don't have to worry too much about it. Dad is just thrilled to have his laptop back and in working order. (lets hope it stays that way!)

My brain is pretty much fried after all this big learning experience, lol. But the more I learn, the more I want to do which is why I must thank everyone here who has helped me so much!!!!

Adirondack Girl

>It would be
>interesting to know which program it's tied to tho. If it's a
>non issue, perhaps I'll just leave well enough alone.

The only way to know for sure is to navigate to either of the registry keys I pointed to in my previous post. Usually data contained in those keys have a string value that points to the path that the application was installed to originally. A bad installer routine can sometimes leave those orphan entries behind and cause the kind of syptom you just saw. I think that "-quiet" parameter tells the program to load silently in the background so the user doesn't know. But not all applications support that command.

I'll check it out at some point. Just kind of baffles me to have that happen right after a newly loaded hard drive. But then I did install a lot of stuff.

Adirondack Girl

(I'm hopefully moving this part back to the left).

Adirondack Girl