Compaq evo 510 booting problems.

Dawson Rosell

Honorable
Oct 3, 2013
5
0
10,510
Hi, I have a evo 510 tower I got from my dad who got it from a company that was upgrading to newer computers. It came with xp pro installed. I wanted to do a system restore back to factory settings, but seeing as I had no discs, I had to make a recovery center disk from a guide I found somewhere. The disk worked, but when it came to following his/her instructions on doing a system restore something went wrong. I typed word for word exactly what I was told to type into the command prompt. I got a message saying that "that command is not recognize" or something like that. I decided to give up and try something else, but when I rebooted I got the WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM file was missing or corrupt.
From there I went to Microsofts site and followed there guide on repairing this problem. When I tried to copy the config\system file it said it was not there. Getting frustrated I quit and rebooted, only to come to a dreaded black screen with a blinking white cursor. :??: It goes through bios, but when it comes to loading off the HDD, CD-ROM, or even a USB drive, it sticks with a white blinking cursor. I went so far as to make a flash drive with Ubuntu, no luck. I downloaded a copy of an xp disc (not cracked, it still needs the key, and the tower has the official microsoft sticker with the key on it) and that didnt work (even though it opened perfectly fine on my laptop (vista, oh boy :sarcastic: ) I even tried an old copy of Corel Linux Deluxe edition I had laying around (I love goodwill :D ) That didnt work either. It got to the loading screen, farther than anything else I tried, but it froze and stayed there.

So basically, any help? I want to put xp back on there, the linux was just to get into something and use a GUI to fix my problems. :??:
 
Solution
This may take some time and may seem somewhat unconventional but stick with me...
Try removing all HDD's, USB drives or flash drives so you have no operating system (they don't need to be physically removed just disconnected). Try starting, hopefully you'll get to the "No boot device found" screen. If you get to there then the issue can be fairly safely determined to be either your hard drive controller, the hard drive itself or the IDE cable (least likely in my experience).
If you do not get to the "no boot device found" screen, try replacing the CMOS battery on the motherboard, you might do that just as a matter of course since it's easily replaced and rather inexpensive (and - in rare cases - may cause issues with the hard drive...
This may take some time and may seem somewhat unconventional but stick with me...
Try removing all HDD's, USB drives or flash drives so you have no operating system (they don't need to be physically removed just disconnected). Try starting, hopefully you'll get to the "No boot device found" screen. If you get to there then the issue can be fairly safely determined to be either your hard drive controller, the hard drive itself or the IDE cable (least likely in my experience).
If you do not get to the "no boot device found" screen, try replacing the CMOS battery on the motherboard, you might do that just as a matter of course since it's easily replaced and rather inexpensive (and - in rare cases - may cause issues with the hard drive controller)
 
Solution

Dawson Rosell

Honorable
Oct 3, 2013
5
0
10,510
I know for a fact the CMOS battery is dead haha, as I disconnected the tower speaker to shut it up about not having a set time and date. I will try replacing it then. Ill try all this when I get home, Im sitting in study hall now, bored out of my mind.
 

Dawson Rosell

Honorable
Oct 3, 2013
5
0
10,510
ok so I have checked what you told me too, I got the missing or non system disk error, replace and strike any key when ready. I did not replace the CMOS battery, as I have not gotten to radioshack yet.
 

Dawson Rosell

Honorable
Oct 3, 2013
5
0
10,510
I seem to have fixed it. I got a floppy drive from goodwill and made xp pro boot disks from another computer, and used those. They booted just fine. I did a automated system recovery and now its a fresh install of xp pro service pack 2. Thanks so much for your help though.