laptop

[howardC]

Have problems with Compaq 1210us laptop, AMD Duron,850, used to run Win ME. Was reformatted totaly,(no resident of restore files on HD) installed Win XP-SP2. Flashed Bios with sofpaq from HP site for XP. . put in new ram ,SODIM PC133,256mhz. Laptop will run for a few minutes and then I get blue screen with "Page fault in non page area" and a string of numbers and I have to restart. Reseated Ram several times still does it. Downloaded all  66 updates  for XP and IE7 update. During update pc went out and will not come back on, will go to logo screen and then nothing, sounds like HD is trying to work, I will turn it on and let it sit for a few hours and see if HD will catch up to speed. Any suggestions?

[GX1_Man]

I would make sure the RAM is seated properly and is appropriate for that machine. Look at the bottom right of this page and compare ALL characteristics of the RAM recommended against what you got.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Presario+1210US

www.memtest86.com has free diagnostics for the RAM.

Let us know what you turn up.

Why was it reformatted? Problems?

Free hard drive diagnostics at the appropriate drive maker's site as well. Let's make sure the hardware is OK.  

[howardC]

System was reformatted because: My son had laptop and some coke got spilled into the key board which shorted it out. 3 years later I decided to fix it because I needed a laptop for my self. I bought a mainboard, cpu and modem from Ebay and reassembled it. when I installed the HD all the info on the system was out of whack or would not straighten itself out, I could not get it to the point of sys retore. so I formatted the C drive and wiped out the D drive by mistake so using the recovery disc plan was gone and left with the option of installing new OS, I used XP. I ran IBM HD diagnostics and it shows the drive (20G)to be OK and no problems. I used the Memory that came with the system and bought a new one as well. I will run mem test later today.

[howardC]

Left system on for 2 hours and HD had no activity. When turned on, it does the Compaq logo screen and then the HD rattles a bit and sits there. Tried to do "last known configuration/ safe mode/ and others.... no go. My possible solution----  F10 CMOS to boot from A, reboot with W98 boot disc, format with no partitions and install the RomPaq for the 1200 series from HP site (romPaq created 1 floppy) reinstall the diagnostics th the HD and then create partitions using FAT 32. Use recovery disc and try to reinstall ME and upgrade to XP from there. I am hopeing this will give me a original OS (ME)with factory drivers that will work. Any suggestions will be appreciated : :-/

[howardC]

I did what I was going to do and I have all the diagnostic files from hp site and the Recovery cd...(only has 2 Bin files)....Now I find that I am going to  need a Quick Restore CD's to continue...so it will self format the HD and copy the diag files and the  files from the recovery cd. Problem is I do not have the QRCD, I thought  the recovery cd that came with the laptop was all you needed to replace files. Did not know if you replaced HD that it would be a "Night mare on Elm street" to get it going again. Does any one know what files are on the QRCD that I could copy from some where? any help.

[patio]

On most laptops the manuf sets up a hidden partition with the restore files contained there...have you visited their site to see how to proceed ? ?

[howardC]

yes I did. HP says that without the Quick Start CD to format the HD I am stuck. I could load another OS and then all of the drivers are not available. I did this with XP and it kept giving so many errors and finally quit working.The best way to get the original drivers is to restore to factory settings and then upgrade.

[GX1_Man]

Unfortunately EVERYONE needs a real Windows CD sooner or later.