HP Compaq Armada 1750 Problem

[vino10]

Guys,

My HP Compaq Armada 1750 laptop doesnt open up, it displays
"Non-System Disk Error Please insert diskette and press any key to restart" but i dont have any disk on the floppy disk and neither on my CD-ROM, I can't access my Hard disk (Drive C I try entering the bios by pressing F10 but nothing happens. Can any one help me i have important files in my laptop if there's no choice how can i format it

 

[Crowley16]

are you sure you've not got any:
disks in the drive?
usb devices?
cd/dvds?

if that's the case, then it looks like somehow you've totally lost your startup files...

What os were you running and how did you format your hdd, fat32/ntfs?

 

[hopelessliar]

dude, that's a harsh use of the word 'were'.

I've seen this happen where somehow the bios loses knowledge of the attached hard drive. If you go into the bios and rescan the ide channels, it finds the drive again and you're good to go.

If this solves the problem then that's great, BUT I'd take it as a hint that it's time to do some backing up.

 

[Crowley16]

yeah, I know, harsh, but unfortunately it seems very likely that the os has shuffled off this mortal coil...

good news is, you could probably save your files, if it's just your startup/os that's corrupt. If it's your fat that's got messed up then that IS harsh...

 

[vino10]

Windows XP Professional was installed, i dont know what happen its just keeps on displaying that error. I try inserting a bootable floopy disk but i still cannot see my Hard drive it display a error message "Invalid Drive".

I try to enter the bios to see what happen in my hard drive but i dont know what to press i try the usual F1,F5,F8,F10 but it doesnt work.

Guys what should i do? if theres no way to recovery my files, i just have to format it but how?

 

[Walter349]

Did you create a recovery disk when installing ? if so use that and the recovery console
You could try FDISK /MBR that would give you access to the HDD in most cases.
The BIOS corrupting the CMOS is a good call and should always be the first stop before doing anything drastic

 

[vino10]

the problem is, this laptop i have was given to me as a gift of my auntie w/ complete installaton already (Windows XP Professional) but i dont have any copy of the Disk or CD my auntie is in another country.

what version of DOS can try the fdisk you suggest?

 

[Walter349]

Windows 98 SE or an XP boot disk should do it. but bear in mind the whole hdd may be 'Toast' and may not be recoverable

 

[jbotz]

The fact that he is not able to load his BIOS is distinctly troubling. The BIOS is stored in a separate partition on the HD itself. This sounds to me like a HDD failure, rather than an OS crash. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

-Jason

 

[vino10]

Yeah I think theres an Hardware Failure thats why i cant access may HDD

I'll try formating it.

By the way, Thanks for the help guys

 

[hopelessliar]

"The BIOS is stored in a separate partition on the HD itself."

PARP No that's wrong I'm afraid, but thanks for playing. "The BIOS is typically stored in eeprom with a possible utility partition on the hard drive."

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/archive/25/2004/03/2/150952

I guess if you've formatted already then it's too late for you but maybe someone else will come across this thread and the message is: DON'T FORMAT THE HARD DRIVE YET. You haven't even nearly checked out all the possibilities.

There's info here:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winme/t1003933721

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winme/1036842728

 

[gbaughma]

Actually, I have an Armada 1750, and the BIOS setup is *NOT* on-chip.

You can, however, download it from HP (since they now own Compaq). You will need to download it, and make a boot floppy from the file you downloaded. That will allow you to get into the Compaq Setup Utility.

Yes, on factory installs of that particular machine it was included on another partition, but if you've reformatted/reinstalled an OS, then it may well be gone (which is a moot point if you can't get it to boot in the first place!)

So..... dig around hp's site... there were several different models of the 1750, so look on the bottom for the complete model number, and search for the setup utility for that model.



Just my $.02

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify it's owner." --Me
--Greg