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My HP PC a6207c is 7 years old. Has Vista. Became very sluggish and started crashing all the time. Is only used for personal use, not business. When it crashes, a message comes on the monitor saying "monitor is going to sleep." Then it shuts down. I tried resetting to prior time of computer working properly, but didn't work. This has worked many times in the past, but not today. So, I decided to do Factory Image Recovery. Have tried this using recovery disks at least 4 times today. It gets to the point of "Reinstalling original content" with Recovery Disk #2, then it gets to 99% complete and 5 minutes time remaining and a message comes up: "MBR.Dll - Application error. The exception integer division by zero. (0xc0000094) occurred in the application at location 0x004147fb. Click on OK to terminate the program." I click ok and then i get a message to please wait a moment while windows prepares to start for the first time..... However, it hangs there and never starts until finally the message once again comes up that the monitor is going to sleep. Can anyone advise me what I should try now? Not much $ here, so hoping for an inexpensive fix.

Edited by pritaeas because: Moved to Hardware.
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Given the thread and the suggestions from and , here is a concise, practical triage and recovery plan that preserves data, tests the hardware, and gives low‑cost options if the drive is failing.

First priority — preserve data. Boot the machine from a USB "live" environment on another PC (small Linux live image will do) and copy Documents, Desktop and any iTunes libraries to an external drive before trying more repairs. Do not run another factory restore until a backup exists.

Check the disk health next. From a live USB, run SMART and a surface/read test (example commands):

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
sudo badblocks -sv /dev/sda    # read-only test recommended; runs a long time

Look for growing Reallocated_Sector_Count, Current_Pending_Sector or read errors — those point to imminent drive failure.

If SMART looks healthy, try repairing the Windows boot/filesystem from a Windows Recovery Environment (use an install or repair disc): run

chkdsk C: /r
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Run Startup Repair as well. These steps fix MBR and file system corruption that can cause recovery routines to hang.

If tests show drive problems, replacement is the reliable fix: install a new HDD/SSD and either restore from backup, clone the old disk (if possible), or do a clean OS install. As noted, installing a lightweight Linux is a low‑cost alternative for web/email/printing, but be aware iTunes does not run natively on most Linux distributions (so iPhone sync or some printer/fax features may be affected). Also confirm the recovery discs themselves are not damaged before discarding them.

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Member Avatar for almuniz

Hi Shanann, welcome. I'm curious to know if you have upgraded the hard drive in this pc to a larger drive or ever replaced it in the seven years its been running?

Member Avatar for rubberman

Have you considered installing Linux on this system? Also, have you determined that the system drives are still good? Seven years is a long time in computer terms, though I have some discs that are about that old, but still good - I monitor them constantly.

Member Avatar for shanann

No, I have never upgraded or replaced the hard drive. I'm not sure what Linux is. How would I know if the drivers are still good? How would I make sure they are good? I realize the computer is getting on in age but as $ is tight and we don't use the computer for much and only personal stuff - some Internet, e-mail, word documents and printing and syncing my iPhone with iTunes. Also printing/faxing sometimes, so thought we could put off getting a new laptop for awhile longer. Your help is most appreciated. Thank you. Shanann

Edited by shanann
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