HP Recovery CD fails! (help!)

my laptop recently just started to fail with failure in the video card (l4d2 vertical bar crash and same iwth youtube)

and now i'm trying to recover by using HP Recovery discs, but it's not working!!!

It installs and then when it says "Customizing software" it just freezes and hard-resets itself.

then when i turn it back on, it says "Setup is preparing computer for first use" then the Welcome screen then an error message/sound -> "Windows could not complete the installation. TO install windows on this computer, restart the installation"

and then it shuts down and restarts itself. What is happening??

Is it possibly a hardware error? before the recovery i had video issues with computer constantly failing to load 3d games or even youtube at times.

if i tried with a downloaded Windows 7 installation would it work? Man i hoped it wouldnt end out like this

If your video card has failed what will a factory restore /recovery achieve?

Does your HP have a recovery partition with function key access at boot?

sorry i am not sure if it has failed, it just looks like it because it used to play L4D2 fine. one day it decides not to play.

yes it does have the function and before i tried that i tried the startup repair.
after that i tried changing the unattend.xml file (didnt change anything in the end)
and then someone recommended opening task mgr and closing the audit.exe

this time, i just closed the audit.exe and now Windows loads with a new problem.

my c:\ partition is only 58 GB?? (it should be 451 GB) should i just extend the volume to the 394 GB that is unallocated right beside the c drive?

and what else should i look after to be safe? (from the error it seems that this is an incomplete OS as whenever i restart, the audit error comes up again (windows installation error ))

Assuming you can still access your PC.
Go to Diskmanagement
Use the snipping tool post a (full) screenshot of your HDD.
I don't recommend you do anything to your disk unless you feel very confident in what you're doing.

here is the photo

btw here's what's happening. the administrator account is mine now (although i would like to rename it .. )

and whenever the system starts, it keeps saying "Setup is preparing for first use" and then the error message of windows not being able to be installed comes up. i always have to close audit.exe. how can i fix this??

i also changed the admin's password so the computer assuming that the password is still "" tries to enter with that and it says "Password incorrect" and i ahve to enter mine. how can i prevent the computer from logging it in on its own as if it's its own account?

Somehow a large region of unallocated space has been created on your HDD.
Do you know how this happened?
Basically you can only have 4 primary partitions. Your HP was configured that way so you only have one decent size partition for your operating system, programs and data.
Now what you must not do is attempt to do create another partition with that unallocated space. That will turn your disk into a "dynamic" disk which is a pain in the neck to deal with.
Your C: partition needs to be extended back to the right into the unallocated space.

You should start by simply backing up all your data (personal files, photos etc.). Make an image if you know how to onto an external HDD of you current c: partition.
Deactivate any paid programs which allow you to reactivate later.


Your HDD has a recovery partition which you should be able to use to do a Factory restore/recovery which ideally puts the PC back in the condition when bought. Find out what the F (function key) for factory restore for your PC.

I am assuming that you never bought a retail operating system, just the one that came loaded on the PC.

joseph10444 said:

sorry i am not sure if it has failed, it just looks like it because it used to play L4D2 fine. one day it decides not to play.

yes it does have the function and before i tried that i tried the startup repair.
after that i tried changing the unattend.xml file (didnt change anything in the end)
and then someone recommended opening task mgr and closing the audit.exe

this time, i just closed the audit.exe and now Windows loads with a new problem.

my c:\ partition is only 58 GB?? (it should be 451 GB) should i just extend the volume to the 394 GB that is unallocated right beside the c drive?

and what else should i look after to be safe? (from the error it seems that this is an incomplete OS as whenever i restart, the audit error comes up again (windows installation error ))

First BACKUP, BACKUP.

When you reload Windows with HP recovery, you were asked what size partition, you said 58 gb.

What type of HP Recovery are you using, Recovery Partition or Recovery DVD's?

Read my Post #6 again - I've stressed the importance of backup.

Then Disk management will give you the easy option to extend C: into the unallocated region (right click on C: from Disk management). Remember you can only have 4 primary partitions. Also, the factory restore may want the partitions back in the state they were in originally.

I strongly recommend against attempting the so called Clean Install at this stage. That is getting install disks from somewhere and using your COA sticker.
You are complicating your problem and it may not work.
(There is a gregrocker link to cleaning up HP bloatware which I can't find at the moment. You can do this later).

i did Backup all my personal files and everything to redownload when i reinstall windows.
it's just that windows isn't reinstalling... and it never gave me an option to set my C:\ drive size. i had a recovery cd process previously and it automatically partitioned my c to be 451 GB

this morning i activated windows through the phone and the sticker under the laptop and had a quick look at this thread on the newly installed computer itself and then i went to sleep mode. upon returning from sleep mode right now, i used the password i set on the administrator and it said "account has been disabled please contact administrator". i was surprised... so i shut it down

and now a worse problem, when i hit the powerbutton, the screen stays off. no hp logo, no bios access, screen is off. but the screen was working perfectly a few seconds ago! no cd access or anything. fan works, hp laptop light works, keyboard light works, cd drive opens but nothihng.
WTh is happening?

it doesnt matter if i do a recovery partition/cd or clean install, i need windows 7 back.
now i cant do that because of this retarded screen.