newbe: XP boot problem

[RonH]

I recently purchased a factory refurbished HP with Windows
XP home addition, from overstock.com. Warrenty expired (90
days) and no CD or disc to restart.
Problem: after trying to install a digital camera
program (unsuccessfully) I delete it. Now my puter will
not boot past the Windows XP blue screem. In other words
its not loading windows xp. Tried all the F8 options same
result nothing.
I am using an old computer to write this, it could
crash at anytime, if temp gets below 85 Cracked circuit
board.
Please reply to me personally at with
this subject title: BOOT HELP. All others will be deleted
or blocked.
Thanks in advance Ron H.

[Sharon F]

On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 22:31:50 -0700, RonH wrote:

> I recently purchased a factory refurbished HP with Windows
> XP home addition, from overstock.com. Warrenty expired (90
> days) and no CD or disc to restart.
> Problem: after trying to install a digital camera
> program (unsuccessfully) I delete it. Now my puter will
> not boot past the Windows XP blue screem. In other words
> its not loading windows xp. Tried all the F8 options same
> result nothing.
> I am using an old computer to write this, it could
> crash at anytime, if temp gets below 85 Cracked circuit
> board.
> Please reply to me personally at with
> this subject title: BOOT HELP. All others will be deleted
> or blocked.
> Thanks in advance Ron H.

Ron, visit the HP site. Look up your model in their support pages. Download
all documents for this system including the one that explains how to use
the recovery tools from HP.

HP has a copy of all the software they provided with the machine on a
hidden partition. From the posts in these newsgroups, I gather that one of
the F keys can be pressed during startup to start the HP recovery/repair.
This is not normal for all computers and is particular to HP and some
Compaq models. The details of how this works should be in the documents
referenced above.

Also, some users have been able to get an additional recovery CD from
customer support for a small fee. Might want to look into that. If your
hard drive dies or a virus infection affects the hidden drive, you will
lose any means you had to restore.
--
Sharon F
MS-MVP - Windows XP Shell/User