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Question about formatting a computer

Cyclonesrule91

Cyclonesrule91

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
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Alright computer guru's, I have a question for you that hopefully one of you can help me with. I have formatted computers quite a bit but it's always been using the disks that come with the laptop. That is easy for me...........BUT

I have an HP laptop given to me because it has a virus and they were going to throw it away. It is a HP Pavilion g6 and they said they had no disks to format it like I am used to. This computer you can't even boot it up as it goes to Windows Error Recovery. When I select either to repair or startup normal it goes to a screen with a popup that says "your computer was unable to start and goes into permanent "attempting repairs..." mode. So long story short, trying safe mode, safe mode with networking, normal boot ups all end at the same place so whatever virus is on this computer has it all messed up.

Now I have Dell Vostro 3700 laptops as well which were my old work laptop with all the set up discs, including Windows 7 which is also installed on the HP. Can I format the HP using the Dell Windows 7 cd??? And if I do, since I don't have the drivers disk, is there a way I could format the partitions or not format the partitions where my drivers do not have to be downloaded? My worry is if I go and delete both partitions I have no drivers, which means I don't have a wireless card or ability to hook up ethernet cable to get to internet to go to HP website to download drivers.

Is that possible to do? Don't want to go order setup disks if the computer isn't worth fixing. Just looking for a laptop for the kids to use.
 
Cyclonesrule91 said:
Alright computer guru's, I have a question for you that hopefully one of you can help me with. I have formatted computers quite a bit but it's always been using the disks that come with the laptop. That is easy for me...........BUT

I have an HP laptop given to me because it has a virus and they were going to throw it away. It is a HP Pavilion g6 and they said they had no disks to format it like I am used to. This computer you can't even boot it up as it goes to Windows Error Recovery. When I select either to repair or startup normal it goes to a screen with a popup that says "your computer was unable to start and goes into permanent "attempting repairs..." mode. So long story short, trying safe mode, safe mode with networking, normal boot ups all end at the same place so whatever virus is on this computer has it all messed up.

Now I have Dell Vostro 3700 laptops as well which were my old work laptop with all the set up discs, including Windows 7 which is also installed on the HP. Can I format the HP using the Dell Windows 7 cd??? And if I do, since I don't have the drivers disk, is there a way I could format the partitions or not format the partitions where my drivers do not have to be downloaded? My worry is if I go and delete both partitions I have no drivers, which means I don't have a wireless card or ability to hook up ethernet cable to get to internet to go to HP website to download drivers.

Is that possible to do? Don't want to go order setup disks if the computer isn't worth fixing. Just looking for a laptop for the kids to use.
Click to expand...

You can reinstall Windows on them, Google what drivers you need for each laptop, put them on a flash drive and then put that into the laptops and install them that way. You don't have to connect to the Internet on the virus laptops, just find out the drivers you need and download them on a functional one.
 
OK, next question. Looking at the product key on the bottom of the HP Pavilion the Windows 7 version is Windows 7 Home Prem OA and the installation disk I have is for Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. Am I right in my thinking that using the product Key for the Home Prem OA version for the Professional 64 bit will probably not work?
 
Ubuntu 14.04 is your answer my man. Download it on a good computer and put it on a flash drive. Install it into the Dell and it will sing like a birdie and all the viruses will have vanished.
 
Ok I'll give it a shot. Downloading it and making bootable file on my USB thumbdrive. See if I can't screw something up major?? HA
 
One thing to consider is that the hard drive might be failing, which could have corrupted your windows install. This would result I similar symptoms. I suggest you put Ubuntu 14.04 on a flash drive, boot into it and backup the built in HDD.
 
Well here's what I'm dealing with. Maybe someone can figure it out because I haven't yet. The only way I an get the computer to stay up and going is if I boot into Safe mode without networking, because if I boot up normally I don't get the option to hit F12 to have different boot options. I can only hit escape to go to some menu which gives me two options, either boot up normally or go into repair mode.

I took the battery out and unplugged the power cord and held the power button for 15 seconds reset it. I then boot up normal and get to the windows screen and start going to do something when I get a blue screen with a bunch of yellow text that doesn't stay up long enough to read it before it goes to a black screen but the mouse pointer is there and will move.

It keeps telling me I haven't shut it down correctly but then I shut it down via the menu and it does so but nothing changes on the boot up. Without ever having the option to hit F12 with the option to boot up via USB bootable file that I am pretty sure I have ready, I am not sure where to go. Power light comes on, the hard drive light comes on but something is all borked out....
 
Cyclonesrule91 said:
No and to be honest, don't know much about Linux. I guess I could do some checking
Click to expand...

I installed Linux (Ubuntu) on my laptop that I had given up for dead due to a virus, It's been working great now (mainly just for internet) for a couple of years. Do some googling on installing Ubuntu. It's pretty easy, and you'll love it. You can even boot it off of a usb stick if you just want to try it out.
 
I have a HP Pavilion desktop that was acting something like that. I took it in and was told that the hard disk was bad. Can you be sure that after you do all this extra work, it will work?
 
If the hard disk is bad, only replacing it will help. Then the question arises of whether the old computer is worth the investment of a new hard drive? The F12 key has always worked for me and that alone is amazing because I have tackled some really screwed up computers.
 
Cyclonesrule91 said:
Well here's what I'm dealing with. Maybe someone can figure it out because I haven't yet. The only way I an get the computer to stay up and going is if I boot into Safe mode without networking, because if I boot up normally I don't get the option to hit F12 to have different boot options. I can only hit escape to go to some menu which gives me two options, either boot up normally or go into repair mode.

I took the battery out and unplugged the power cord and held the power button for 15 seconds reset it. I then boot up normal and get to the windows screen and start going to do something when I get a blue screen with a bunch of yellow text that doesn't stay up long enough to read it before it goes to a black screen but the mouse pointer is there and will move.

It keeps telling me I haven't shut it down correctly but then I shut it down via the menu and it does so but nothing changes on the boot up. Without ever having the option to hit F12 with the option to boot up via USB bootable file that I am pretty sure I have ready, I am not sure where to go. Power light comes on, the hard drive light comes on but something is all borked out....
Click to expand...

Since you have this much time invested in it....

Remove the hard drive. It should then boot to your flash drive and allow you to get into the bios and change some settings and look at the rest of the hardware on the laptop to see if it is worth the investment.

After you have changed the boot order to usb drive first you should be able to put the hard drive back in and work from there.

Here is the link to download drivers off of HP's website. Just select which G6 you have.
 
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IsUaClone2 said:
I have a HP Pavilion desktop that was acting something like that. I took it in and was told that the hard disk was bad. Can you be sure that after you do all this extra work, it will work?
Click to expand...

I can't be sure that it will work after I try all this, but the people said the computer was a year old and they were just throwing it away because of a virus and I told them if they were going to do that, give it to me and I'll see if I can't get it going for the kids to use.

I like rooting and flashing new operating to my smart phone and that took awhile to learn, so if nothing else I learn how to use ubuntu and get it to work on other computers.
 
IsUaClone2 said:
I have a HP Pavilion desktop that was acting something like that. I took it in and was told that the hard disk was bad. Can you be sure that after you do all this extra work, it will work?
Click to expand...

Pthis sounds like it could be the case. It happened to my parents desktop, because old people and Internet. Only so many times could I recover it or reinstall off of thumb drives before the hard drive just said peace out.
 
Firefighter4Cy said:
if its a laptop for the kids have you thought about running linux?
Click to expand...

I put Sugar on a Stick (sits on fedora) on my daughters computer. She went from playing stupid IPTV internet games to playing games built in to the OS that teach small electronics and game design. Now she is excited about helping me build a computer for her grandma for a christmas present. Windows will never spur a kids imagination the way the right linux distro will.
 
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