My old hard drive has lots of problems- virus - etc. plus it's only about 32G. I got a

new seagate 120 G. I want to install it as the master and don't use the ole one at all to

transfer the OS because of all the problems and the virus. My HP computer came with

windows xp installed from the factory. I lost the books and the cd'c in a move. I do have

some cd's a friend gave me for his HP They are

#1-- Application recovery CD

#2-- drive recovery CD and

#3--operating system CD for XP.

He has no books at all.

I also have a viewkey program that gave me a number for my old Hard drive. Can I use

that or the one on the tower?

I have an instruction

book with the new seagate hard drive, but they tell me to use my OS instruction and cd to

install the OS. Will this work for me? And if so, Where can I find instructions?

HP has a very helpful site. You need to input your exact model # for exact details but most XP questions go across the board. I just picked a random model for example:



HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Recovering the System after the Hard Drive Is Replaced

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07119

System Recovery

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...740&rule=39666


If you have your Product Key you should be OK as long as you find a proper disk.

If your disks don't work then you may need to buy a new disk from HP.

I found the HP tool for making Recovery CD's. It tells me to use 8--650gb cd's. So I put in 1of8

into the writer and, I use a 700gb cd. It copys the files onto the cd But when it starts

checking the CD the try opens and closes ant it tells me to put the cd back in so it can

complete the prosess of checking. I click OK but it keeps doing this. I can't go any futher.

What do I do???

I'm still trying to get it up and running, with not much luck!

I bought a set of 7 recovery C\D from HP for $36.00. I gave them my PC ser.# and they sent the C\D's

Then I followed the instructions. Changing my cmos to allow the C\D rom to boot first etc.
But when I put in the first C\D and the recovery screen comes up It Freezes and the screen get all fuzzy.

So I put in a new hard drive 120 G and the same thing happens.

Can some please help me?

Sorry I missed your previous post

I am curious as to what is on all those CD's

Most CD's are 700MB. An XP SP2 CD is @ 630MB (1 CD). I assume that they have drivers and perhaps bundled software but even 7 CD's seems unreal!

I imagine the first problem you had was a problem with spanning CD's unless your burning software has a spanning feature.

All that being said: Assuming that the first disk is good then I would question the CD drive.

You started this thread by saying the hard drive was questionable. Was the computer working OK otherwise? Do you have any reason to suspect a faulty CD drive (or any other hardware)?

Are these the instructions that you were following:

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Recovering the System after the Hard Drive Is Replaced

Did you format the hard drive first?

DiscWizard Suite is your installation software kit for installing Seagate disc drives.

Thanks for getting back to me.

Yes I formatted the hard drives and used the instructions from Hp and the DiscWizard C|D that came with the new hard drive.

I also tryed another C|D Rom drive and tryed both hard drives ( one at a time making them the master.)

The DiscWizard and the bios setup, both tell me the Hard drive is installed correctly.

It still Lockups and hangs just after the first recovery disk is put in and the recovery screen opens and starts to download files.

Any Ideas

I had a similar problem once - turned out the PSU was on the way out and everytime it went to draw the extra current, it dropped a notch and froze. Maybe a red herring in this case but it sounds so similar...

How do I check the PAU and what is it?

PSU that is?

Power Supply Unit

You can get a tester:

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...n&q=PSU+tester