Recovery without Recovery Discs? HP Presario SR2180NX

[judyfriend]

Hi there.

Need help with a recovery reboot
Got the blue screen of death - with a message that suggests that I restart the computer, press F8 and then start in Safe Mode....of course, when I try this it only gives me the option to run windows normally or to launch system repair.

Launching system repair sends it into a cycle of trying to repair something - but nothing happens.
Clicking "run windows normally" brings me back to the blue screen of death.

It's running VISTA - if that matters at this point.

When I get into the "SET UP" screen, i can opt for booting from FLOPPY GROUP, CDROM GROUP, HDD GROUP, or NETWORK GROUP. the first and the last are not installed (but the floppy option is the default setting!????)

I don't have the recovery discs (don't ask!!!) but i really need to get this beast moving again. She's only a year old, but out of warranty - naturally....
HELP!

thanks!!!
judy

[caperjack]

hi ,you could start with the ram ,if you have more that one ram chip in the LT,remove one and try booting ,if nothing remove it and replace with the other one ,its gonna be hard to do anything with out the recovery disk ,and i wont ask because i know the answer heard it a hundred time before !!
does you LT have a floppy disk drive .

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi Judy,
I got lost somewhere, you are running Vista, you are posting in a NT, XP, 2000 2003 site. You don't have your recovery disks and you want someone here to help.
I don't think anyone can help you but post this in a Vista forum and give them a lot more information, details of your computer, etc.
The only help you can get is to borrow a recovery disk off a friend (if it work on different vista machines???) and do a repair that way.

[greggdluis]

Hi: Your SR2180NX has a 250GB SATA Hard Drive. There is a second partition that is populated with the Restore Data and it is not hidden. On your F8 at boot time, select that partition to boot from and you may start the restore process. It will re-image the C: Drive with everything your Presario originally came with. Select the create Disks, first. You will need one DVD and two Data CDs. The second CD will store the supplemental data. One of the things you should consider first, is upgrading the PSU to something like Enermax with a minimum of 400Watts. Second, replace the memory sticks (there's four DDR2 Slots) and shoot for the 6400 speeds even if they drop down to the 5300 speeds, it'll be ready when you change CPUs to the Core Duo E-series. I was able to install Patriot in all four slots with 2GB each for a total of 8GB even though HP supports only 4GB. I used the Low Latency Labeled (low density, unbuffered, non-ecc) sticks that have the tall black finned heat spreaders. Vista sees all 8GB in the system page. Then start your Restore Disks creation, followed by the re-imaging of the C: drive. Stay unplugged from the LAN/Ethernet and update your drivers for the hardware. You may have to use another computer to download all of them and burn to a CD. Install the Updates in the order they were released by date. Uninstall the garbage that originally came with the SR2180NX through the Control Panel & Add/Remove Programs. Then plug in your LAN cable and go to the Windows Update screen. Keep updating & reboot over & over again until everything is up to date. Download Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, JAVA Update ASAP. You will notice the Presario finishes things much faster now. Google the free program Advance System Care, it will clear up a lot of problems and speed things up even faster. Get your anti-virus program installed and updated (scan, too). Now, for the hard part!!! Create a backup plan and get your system backed up so that you can restore everything without having to start from scratch again. I have this Presario machine and I like mine! Hope this helps. -Gregg

[Bob_180_Bob]

Why are you reviving a very old post, the poster has either fixed her PC or given up since it is nearly 12 months since she posted her request for help.