Re: XP SP2 won't reboot, reinstalled once, under warranty

In view of the repeated nature of your problem I suspect
a hardware flaw.

I recently dealt with a not too dissimilar case: My client's
machine would reboot out of the blue at random intervals.
After running it on the workbench for three days, forcing
a shutdown/startup sequence once every ten minutes, the
culprit revealed itself: A marginal hard disk. After replacing
the disk the problem disappeared.

Sometimes the hardware problem is temperature-related
and occurs only when the machine is completely cold or
very warm.

In your case you may have to apply pressure to HP to
fix the machine under warranty. This could be difficult:
HP can be quite hard-nosed when it comes to problems
that cannot be readily demonstrated to be caused by
hardware flaws. You could also be without your laptop
for several weeks.

You can easily demonstrate that your .PST file is clean,
by running it for a week or two on a different machine.


"Greta Grip" <Greta Grip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2A9C5A04-60A9-45FE-A2EB-6644F714BA0D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

I've been through tons of email and phone support with HP. My HP Pavilion
notebook dv4000 running XP Home Edition SP2 (came installed) won't boot.
HP
said it was because of a virus because I got a particular error mesage
(for
details, I've included a note I posted to public newsgroup below). I run
Norton Internet Security 2005 Antispyware Edition, and update virus def's
daily. I did a complete system scan and Norton found nothing. With HP's
help, I still couldn't get windows setup to attempt restore or anything.
They told me to reinstall the OS. My friend who is an IT pro was able to
save my data to an external hard drive and reinstall XP from the OS
install
disc I received with my laptop purchased new August '05.

I loaded Norton again, got updates, did a full system scan...found
nothing.
Then I loaded Office 2003, and dragged my Outlook .pst and related files
from
the external hard drive to where they usually reside on the laptop's hard
drive, and opened outlook. Aside from my contacts which it couldn't find
(but that's another ugly issue), everything loaded fine. At some point,
and
I can't remember when exactly in this process, the computer started to
act
up again and finally wouldn't boot up. It exhibited similar symptoms to
the
first failure: mouse stops acting correctly, won't recognize USB ports -
it
will see the device there and then lose it and start over as if you just
plugged it in, hangs, won't boot up or down...all periodically.

I will have to talk to HP again, and at their advice: have them walk me
through another OS install, but this time follow it up with running their
"Application and Driver Recovery dvd". My friend says I should then begin
to
reload things but keep track of exactly when things start to fail. He
thinks
perhaps I have a corrupt file or virus, like maybe in the .pst file???

Does anyone have any thoughts? Does Norton effectively scan the .pst for
viruses? Could I have a virus that's not included in Norton's definitions
yet? Could a corrupt file in the .pst cause such system problems?

Nearing my wits end. I'm going to buy a new PC and try not to load my
..pst
- which I really need - I'm a musician who runs her entire business from
the
calendar, contacts and folders within Outlook. But I'm afraid to load it
in
case it is corrupt. My friend thinks I should try to trouble shoot what's
wrong using the HP laptop until I find the problem, before I ruin another
computer.

Thanks
Carmen

Here's my post from last week to:
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support

I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 notebook purchased August 2005 running MS
XP
Home Edition SP2. About 10 days ago it started to hang periodically.
It
would periodically not recognize the printer - you would have to plug
and
unplug the printer from the notebook, likewise with an external hard
drive
and other external devices. Then it started having problems
recognizing
the high speed DSL connection. And you couldn't shut it down - you'd
have
to hold the power button down for 7 seconds to shut it down. Sometimes
wouldn't reboot fully. All of this periodically.

BTW, I run Norton Internet Security 2005 Antispyware Edition software
and
update virus def's daily. 5 days ago I did a complete scan using Norton
and
it found nothing. Two days ago I used Scan Disk and it found nothing,
and
then defragged the hard drive - uneventful.

HP support walked me through using the XP OS CD to attempt to repair the
OS.
It wouldn't work - it would never finish installing necessary files and
instead would reboot from the CD. This it would do over and over.
Contacted HP again. Suggested reinstall OS, I said can't I try to
restore
first? Tried using F8 on reboot to attempt restore to last known good
config at HP's advice, wouldn't work. Kept the loop of trying to boot
from
CD drive (even though there was no CD in the drive). Wouldn't start in
safe
mode. They recommended reinstalling OS. Tried HP phone support who
said
use F10 on boot up to enter Sys Bios. From there Tried Hard Drive self
test. It passed. But still wouldn't boot up afterwards. It would show
an
error message too briefly to read, something like "Security Accounts
Manager
systems failed...is write protected...error status...0000189." This it
showed about 4 times maybe? Then an even briefer error message showed,
with
the title bar of the window: "Isass.exe", and the text: ...error
status..." Insufficient system... (I think I read this right...)

HP says this is a virus. Says I should reinstall XP, and though it's
under
warranty, I should find a local expert to try to save my data if I can't
live without it before installing XP...

My Questions:
Aren't there any other things to try before reinstalling the OS? HP
mentioned re-setting or re-seating the RAM, and also possibly the hard
drive. How does one do this?
I'm finding it hard to believe I have a virus. If so, is there a risk
of
reinfecting after re-install? I do have some data backed up on an
external
hard drive, not all of it, and perhaps it's infected??? And there's no
proof it will really work until I try it - most importantly I'm talking
about my MS Outlook .pst and related files!!!

Thanks!!
Carmen






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