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grwrogs · Jan 19, 2008, 12:33 AM

Never finishes boot with Windows boot screen/bar forever rolling.
No CD options at this location in woods of northern California.
XPPro SP2 Media Cntr Edition 04 on HP zd7030us notebook.
No safe mode boot; stops roll at an AGP440 driver in the list.
Bios simple (V.34) and clean w/ no apparent misconfigs.
Removed/replaced HD and both 512 sticks.
No peripherals and no cards inserted.
Tried w/wo battery.

donf · Jan 20, 2008, 04:32 PM

Sounds like the BIOS is blown or has a loop command inserted.

Is this custom written boot code or is code that came written on ROM? My concern is that
With all component tear-out you've done the could have fried the board.

grwrogs · Jan 20, 2008, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by donf

Sounds like the BIOS is blown or has a loop command inserted.

Is this custom written boot code or is code that came written on ROM? My concern is that
with all component tear-out you've done the could have fried the board.

Yes, BIOS looks suspicious as friends have also suggested. BIOS is default. Apparently not an easy fix.
If you agree then looks like a HD reinstall of the OS.
So today I went into Santa Rosa and bought a 2.5" drive enclosure to retrieve 3 years of data and then use a new OS (Vista?) to get it up again.
Funny, though, that it stops at an AGP driver in safe mode every time.
Thanks for the observation. If you can add to it from this reply that would make a curious west coast surfer very happy. GWR

donf · Jan 21, 2008, 08:51 AM

First back up your data, then go to the vendor's website and see if you can download the latest code from the vendor of the chip to the chip itself. Lately a lot of these chips have been changed to flash chips rather than ROM.

jstrike · Jan 22, 2008, 12:01 PM

If your BIOS is hosed then reinstalling the OS won't make a bit of difference. Based on the fact that its getting to the windows boot screen and that you were able to install a new OS on the hard drive then I'd say that the bios is probably OK. As for installing Vista, if you're laptop is 3 years old then that was a mistake. I would seriously recommend putting XP back on as it will run much better and you won't have to worry about Vista not having drivers for your old hardware... which is probably the AGP issue you're seeing in safe.

grwrogs · Jan 22, 2008, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by jstrike

If your BIOS is hosed then reinstalling the OS won't make a bit of difference. Based on the fact that its getting to the windows boot screen and that you were able to install a new OS on the hard drive then I'd say that the bios is probably OK. As for installing Vista, if you're laptop is 3 years old then that was a mistake. I would seriously recommend putting XP back on as it will run much better and you won't have to worry about Vista not having drivers for your old hardware...which is probably the AGP issue you're seeing in safe.

Latest:
Accessed the Notebook's drive w/o an OS install yet.
Will not use Vista.
After an online chat w/ HP BIOS looks OK as jstrike suggests.
Defrag and CHKDSK done on the pulled drive.
Discovered accessing some essential files not allowed (orig userprofile?).
Needed to get to Video file in My Docs for a current edit job.
Can't.
Will attempt a copy to external HD for access.
Will search for that AGP440 driver that SafeMode stops at continually.
Then reinstall this drive and update this.
Other fixes welcome.

mahsun · Dec 19, 2008, 10:30 AM

What's a BIOS??

mahsun · Dec 19, 2008, 10:31 AM

What's a BIOS??

cogs · Dec 19, 2008, 11:37 PM

Why isn't that driver your main problem?

donf · Dec 22, 2008, 01:38 PM

"BIOS", Basic Input Oput System

It is the core software controls for all input and output software.