usablue
11-08-2004, 06:34 AM
I have a HP n5445 Pavilion Laptop, purchased a new hard drive, put in the recovery disk (4 of them) it loads all the way to 98% then stops and gives me this "error #1500 Bad Boot Signature Byte". I have done this what seems to be 10 times so far and the same thing happens each time.
Bios shows the 40GB size drive (20GB was originally in the laptop), but does not show the detail of the HD, nor does it give me the option to manually enter the info. I even partitioned the 40 into 2 - 20's thinking maybe the recovery disk were looking for a 20GB HD, who knows, but it did not make a difference either. It will boot with a boot disk and will copy to the C: drive and show a directory of the drive, so the HD is working ok, but just will not let me load these 4 recovery disk completely. Hewlett Packard Tech guys keep saying to remove partitions, there are none to remove when i go to fdisk. I have even tried to format the drive, oddly it will not let me do that, says invalid parameters or soemthing like that. I know i typed it correctly, i have some computer knowledge, but not enough to get me past this one. <pout>
I went ahead and purchased a full working copy of Win XP Pro, maybe this way I can load Xp direct instead of using the recovery disks. Not sure if this will work, but they suggested that, i only paid $20.00 for it, so it was worth the try. If that doesn't work, they said i could purchase a new set of recovery disk, right, that will probably cost more than the laptop is worth! They should just give them to me with all this headache i have gone thru.
By the way, found this great site to purchase full version software with key for only $20-$25.00 a piece. I found them at the yahoo auctions. They have every kind of software you could imagine. They have a direct site. www.cheapsoftware.741.com if anyone needs something. I have purchased from this guy before a couple of years ago I think, the site looks the same and they offer the same variety of software as before and they are real full working copies.
Ok, any input from out there? Suggestions, I know there are smarter folks here than at HP <grin>
:brick :soapbox :curse
Bios shows the 40GB size drive (20GB was originally in the laptop), but does not show the detail of the HD, nor does it give me the option to manually enter the info. I even partitioned the 40 into 2 - 20's thinking maybe the recovery disk were looking for a 20GB HD, who knows, but it did not make a difference either. It will boot with a boot disk and will copy to the C: drive and show a directory of the drive, so the HD is working ok, but just will not let me load these 4 recovery disk completely. Hewlett Packard Tech guys keep saying to remove partitions, there are none to remove when i go to fdisk. I have even tried to format the drive, oddly it will not let me do that, says invalid parameters or soemthing like that. I know i typed it correctly, i have some computer knowledge, but not enough to get me past this one. <pout>
I went ahead and purchased a full working copy of Win XP Pro, maybe this way I can load Xp direct instead of using the recovery disks. Not sure if this will work, but they suggested that, i only paid $20.00 for it, so it was worth the try. If that doesn't work, they said i could purchase a new set of recovery disk, right, that will probably cost more than the laptop is worth! They should just give them to me with all this headache i have gone thru.
By the way, found this great site to purchase full version software with key for only $20-$25.00 a piece. I found them at the yahoo auctions. They have every kind of software you could imagine. They have a direct site. www.cheapsoftware.741.com if anyone needs something. I have purchased from this guy before a couple of years ago I think, the site looks the same and they offer the same variety of software as before and they are real full working copies.
Ok, any input from out there? Suggestions, I know there are smarter folks here than at HP <grin>
:brick :soapbox :curse