Cannot boot up

[leiterterry]

I have a HP620 Laptop. My daughter had a virus that was wreaking havoc so I tried to sanitize my hard drive.
BIG MISTAKE
Now I get the non system disc or disc error screen.
tried going to (with the use of F10) to the set up but to no avail.
Am locked out.

Is there a way to get this computer back to factory spec operating mode?

Thanks in advance.

 

[skaz]

What did you do when you "sanitized" the hard drive?

Assuming your hard drive is still listed in your BIOS as a device to boot from, it could either be a corrupted Boot loader or a faulty hard drive.

Do you own a windows 7 disc or any recovery media? If so you can select to repair windows 7 which might fix the possible corrupted boot loader issue. Or you could even do a complete clean install to start fresh. Especially if you think there may be a virus on the system still.

I recommend a clean install if you have the time. Keep in mind this will completely wipe the hard drive of anything already on it like photos, important documents, movies and such.

If you do have important data you would like to retrieve off the hard drive first I would repair the boot loader, copy the data needed, then do a clean install. Make sure to scan the data for any viruses.

Good luck.

 

[bryonhowley]

Not sure what you used to sanitize your hard drive but it sounds like you destroyed the recovery partition. If that is the case you will need to contact HP for a recovery disc if your system did not come with one and most systems do not any more.

 

[leiterterry]

Thanks for replying.
Question; How do I repair the boot loader?
Question; Can I perform a clean install without the recovery disc which I did not get.
Thanks

 

[darlingpchelp]

If in fact that you did delete the partition , then you would need to create a new partition. In some full windows installs the installation will ask what partition you want to install on or to create a new one "this is how you can run multiple instances of a operating system". Or if you have and other computer you can use you would be able to create a partition by using the other computer and your hard drive as a slave. If your interested let me know ill give you step by step instuctions.

 

[skaz]

Thanks for replying.
Question; How do I repair the boot loader?
Question; Can I perform a clean install without the recovery disc which I did not get.
Thanks

As I said before you can use the repair option to fix the boot loader. You will need a windows 7 install disc to do a clean install. A recovery disc would enable you to to go back to a previous configuration of what the manufacture pre set the system at. All junk software included. Similar options but two different things. Depending how much they want for a recovery disc you might want to look into just getting a windows 7 install disc/ISO. You should have the product key on the sticker located on the bottom of the laptop.

Recommended simple answer...

- Obtain window 7 install disc (whatever version your using, check the product key sticker)
- Reinstall windows 7 and start fresh
- Install all drivers needed for laptop (get from manufactures website prior to install)

 

[alexleiter]

If in fact that you did delete the partition , then you would need to create a new partition. In some full windows installs the installation will ask what partition you want to install on or to create a new one "this is how you can run multiple instances of a operating system". Or if you have and other computer you can use you would be able to create a partition by using the other computer and your hard drive as a slave. If your interested let me know ill give you step by step instuctions.

Thank You darlingpchelp, Yes please help me with this, I thank you very much.

 

[darlingpchelp]

Ok if you do have another computer to just hook up your hard drive then follow the procedure according to Microsoft im really dont want to type it out http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg309170.aspx

Or you will need a "genuine" copy of windows 7 install disk not upgrade disk it has limited function and it will walk you through the steps its very user friendly if you really need step by steps for that I can acquire them for you good luck

 

[alexleiter]

How can I make sure that I get an actual install disk and not a restore disk like I wasted 7 dollars on the first time?
Thanks for your help.

 

[darlingpchelp]

Well I hope you plan on actually buying genuine software and not counterfeiter. Anyways just go to a bestbuy and make sure its a bootable disk, meaning if it is bootable that you can use the disk on a blank hardrive that is not partioned but beware i suggest you shop as they are pricey http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy/windows-7.aspx?CMXID=ef_sem&semid=ef_GGL_newc6e654b17368759210bb06215c4e5&WT.srch=1&category=Windows_7_Info&ef_id=k0FPCjSJfwYAAMTW:20120110225221:s

You may notice a considerable difference in price but a full genuine install dvd has more features to offer like repairing the boot drive or in your case a blank install