MY hp computer will not boot past the Blue screen.....

[JEDIYoda]

I have a HP computer that as of yesterday will not boot past the blue screen that gives me 4 options such as start up menu...recoverry......bios....set...etc....

I have switched all my parts except the hard drive and I still get the blue screen and it hangs....forever...

Also all the options work except for the recovery option on the blue screen.

I know it is not a virus because I did a complete scan just an hour before the computer decided to take control of its own life....

Any help or suggestions that do not include reformatting the hd.....are appreciated........

Also if I were to reformat the hd......I do not see a way to that since I do not have a HP Vista CD.......and I for some reason cannot locate my 4 boot disks...hmmmm

Thank You!!

 

[Dahak]

What version of windows is it?

while its booting up, can you hit F8 just after the HP Logo and get the boot menu to go to Safe Mode, does it still blue screen then?

Again with F8 there should be and option for Disable Automatic Restart and see if it tells you anything for the on the blue screen

What was done just prior to the blue screen happening? ie any updates, any program installs?

For HP's they usually use a recovery partition instead of the DVD, which then you are responsible for making. Usually you get to it by press F11, but this will do a DESTRUCTIVE (as in erase everything) re-install. they used to do a non destructive but been a while

 

[Ketchup]

If you are stuck on the blue HP screen, the BIOS check is probably hung on something. See if you can disable the blue screen in the BIOS. You may see what it's getting stuck on. Does your computer normally do the beep when you power it on? If so, is it doing it now?

 

[JEDIYoda]

First things first...the version is windows Vista home 32 bit.

2nd -- when I hit F8 nothing happens.....

when I go into the bios or hit ESC...what I get is a choice between the hard drive and the CD rom....

It makes no difference if the hard drive or the Cd boots first....I have tried both.....

I have tried putting another Hard drive into the computer but nothing happens due to I would guess something HP has done to their machine...

so far thank you for the help!!

 

[Ketchup]

Next I would just see if I could get past the blue screen. Unplug the hard drive, CDROM, add-on cards, leave but one stick of RAM, take off anything external except the screen. See if it gets past that screen.

 

[Dahak]

Ahh I mis-read the first line of the OP, but as ketchup79 said, disconnect any and all drives and it see if it give you a no bootable device error

You can even unplug the mouse and keyboard to see if it will get past it, i have seen on some hp business units where i had a bad keyboard it did something similar

 

[John Connor]

To get into safe mode make sure you are hitting the F8 key after BIOS loads and just before the OS loads. I would remove the CMOS battery and unplug the computer for 10 min and see if that clears up things.

 

[Ketchup]

To get into safe mode make sure you are hitting the F8 key after BIOS loads and just before the OS loads. I would remove the CMOS battery and unplug the computer for 10 min and see if that clears up things.

How is he going to get into safe mode if the computer isn't even trying to boot off the hard drive?

 

[John Connor]

Well someone mentioned going into safe mode and I just wanted to make sure he was doing it right. I don't know if it will work or not, just pointing out some facts of the matter.

Post #2!

 

[Ketchup]

Well someone mentioned going into safe mode and I just wanted to make sure he was doing it right. I don't know if it will work or not, just pointing out some facts of the matter.

Post #2!

And then in post #6 he pointed out his misread it.

 

[Matt1970]

Pressing F11 when you first start up the computer will access the recovery partition but that is the destructive option which takes you back to the out of the box state (everything is deleted) with a boatload of updates ahead of you. Try the F8 option again and you hit it right when Windows is starting to load. Hit it repeatedly every half of a second until the Windows Advanced Boot Options screen displays. From that menu you should see "Repair Your Computer". If that doesn't fix it you are going to have to put the drive in another computer as a secondary drive and scan it for errors.

 

[JEDIYoda]

It was a hard drive crash!
I have a friend who as we speak is retrieving my information off the hard drive,

I just purchased a Dell Inspiron One 2330!!

i5 processor....6 gigs of ram upgraded to 8.....

Windows 8......argg,,,,bu I am learning....

Beautiful 23 inch touch screen.

Thank You for all your help with my problem!!

 

[John Connor]

Install Startisback on the Win 8 machine and get rid of awfull Metro. http://www.startisback.com/

 

[Ketchup]

It was a hard drive crash!
I have a friend who as we speak is retrieving my information off the hard drive,

I just purchased a Dell Inspiron One 2330!!

i5 processor....6 gigs of ram upgraded to 8.....

Windows 8......argg,,,,bu I am learning....

Beautiful 23 inch touch screen.

Thank You for all your help with my problem!!

Glad you figured it out JEDIYoda. I really dislike full logo screens. Years ago I remember my HP screen cutting out because the floppy drive wasn't detected, but I guess notification for not detecting a hard drive would be too much to ask.

Congrats on the new system.

 

[Maicey]

My Windows 8 hp is also doing the same thing , but doesn't get past the blue screen and shows no options but just remains blue

 

[VirtualLarry]

My Windows 8 hp is also doing the same thing , but doesn't get past the blue screen and shows no options but just remains blue

Does it display any sort of "STOP Code" on the blue screen? Can you post it, or take a shot with a cell phone camera and post it?