HP All-In-One passes HP Diagnostics but wiil not start

gregrocker said:

Did you look inside the various settings choices which must each be expanded to see the options?
Look at BIOS Boot order choices. If there are no UEFI devices offered we'll assume it is an BIOS system. Set the DVD drive to boot first, HDD second, save changes and exit.

In the BIOS Boot Order there is a heading labeled UEFI Boot Sources. Expanding that gives the selections USB Floppy/CD, USB Hard Drive and ATAPI CD/DVD Drive. There's a little arrow next to the ATAPI CD/DVD Drive.

The second heading under Boot Order is called Legacy Boot Sources. That has sub-headings of ATAPI CD/DVD Drive, USB Floppy/CD and Hard Drive SATAO.

I'm not embarassed to say I have no idea what to do with this information. I'm used to simplicity in boot order choices - you pick a hard drive, a CD, a USB stick and maybe a floppy, and put 'em in the boot order you want. I don't have a clue what USB Floppy/CD means even on it's own (to me these are 3 separate devices), let alone having that choice show up under UEFI Boot Sources and Legacy Boot Sources.

gregrocker said:

If the Win7 disk won't boot to confirm the Partition Marked Active and then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times try the other bit-version disk. You'll need to get the disk to boot. Inability to boot a disk is 90% of the time a user failure. How to Boot A Computer from CD or DVD - YouTube.

Every Windows 7 CD I own, whether it be 32 or 64 bit behaves the exact same way on booting - I get the 'Press any key to boot from CD', I press a key, then it says 'Windows is loading files', then the white horizontal bar fills from left to right. But as I said, I have no clue about the confusing array of choices presented on this machine. If anybody can sort this out for me it'll be you.

gregrocker said:

If that fails try booting into Partition Wizard bootable CD which will boot on its own, post back a camera snap of drive map so we can see if anything is obvious. But if you can't boot either Win7 disk to do Startup Repairs then I'd just highlight the HD number, from Disk tab do a Quick Wipe of the HD, which should force the Win7 installer to start to Clean Install Windows 7

I'll wait to hear back from you about the boot ordering, UEFI and Legacy quandary before downloading and burning the Partition Wizard CD.

If there are no other settings in the BIOS indicating you have a UEFI vs. Legacy install now, then we'll assume it's a normal Legacy BIOS.

For that you'll insert the Win7 disk and choose the the Legacy DVD drive choice. Have you tried that yet to run Startup Repair ? Try it now.

If you want to not waste time trying to repair a bloated HP factory preinstalled Win7 which is the worst install one can have to begin with, then I'd go ahead and do the Clean Install Windows 7.

gregrocker said:

If there are no other settings in the BIOS indicating you have a UEFI vs. Legacy install now, then we'll assume it's a normal Legacy BIOS.

For that you'll insert the Win7 disk and choose the the Legacy DVD drive choice. Have you tried that yet to run Startup Repair ? Try it now.

Actually when I go into the Boot Menu (F9) off the Startup Menu, although the UEFI heading displays, none of the choices from the BIOS Boot are available. Only Legacy boot sources are listed. Choosing the Legacy DVD drive does what always happens -Press any key, Loading files, Starting Windows and then it freezes. Same as always.

As an aside, when I opened up this monstrosity, trying to get at the battery to clear the CMOS (never did find the battery), I somehow dislodged the faceplate of the optical drive. ?I can't find that faceplate now, and am unable to open the drive, so I've been using a CD ROM player with a USB connector. I know it's reading the disk because when I put in the Spotmau Power Suite CD and reboot, the Spotmau menu displays. But when the PC freezes when booting from a W7 CD I notice that the disk in the player is no longer spinning. I know it's booting from the CD because of the 'Press any key...' msg.

It's like no matter what I try - normal boot, Boot from CD, or F11 Recovery - the PC just hits the 'Starting Windows' screen and freezes.

I'd love to do a clean reinstall, but being unable to use any Windows 7 disk makes it impossible.

Windows 7 is on a DVD, not a CD.

You'll need to get the DVD drive working so you can boot the disk for reinstall. If not write the ISO provided in Step 1 of Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to flash stick with the tool provided in Step 2, boot under USB, Removable or HD's.

Back at 10 am EST.

I'm sorry... It's a Targus DVD-ROM Drive, Model ADV01US. I've used this in the past to install Vista on one of those little netbooks that don't have an optical drive.

I once again self medicated and booted with a BitDefender Rescue CD. After toggling to English I get
loading /caspar/vmlinuz ......................................................................
loading /caspar/initrd.gz ................................................

The dots take up about half the page before the screen goes dark gray.

Despite the unit passing all the diagnostic tests there seems to be something wrong at a basic level with this computer. Why else would it simply freeze up on F11 Recovery?

What about the onboard Diagnostics on the ESC menu? What happens when you try to run them?

Recovery often will not boot to run, for a number of reason. It may have lost its hotkey link. If you keep it onboard to do a Clean Reinstall to C, then later you can add it to a Dual Boot menu to Boot Recovery Partition using EasyBCD. I would not do so since the HP factory preinstalled Win7 is the worst possible install one can have of Win7 due to the worst load of bloatware in the industry.

Try a flash stick installer from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

gregrocker said:

What about the onboard Diagnostics on the ESC menu? What happens when you try to run them?

The F2 option for diagnostics:

• CPU Test - passed
• Hard Drive Connection Test - passed
• Boot Test - passed
• S.M.A.R.T Test - passed
• Memory Test - passed

And as I mentioned, the DPS Self Test, accessible from the BIOS. also completed successfully.

gregrocker said:

Recovery often will not boot to run, for a number of reason. It may have lost its hotkey link. If you keep it onboard to do a Clean Reinstall to C, then later you can add it to a Dual Boot menu to Boot Recovery Partition using EasyBCD. I would not do so since the HP factory preinstalled Win7 is the worst possible install one can have of Win7 due to the worst load of bloatware in the industry.

Try a flash stick installer from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

I'll have clear off a thumb drive. What should be changed in the Boot Order to get this to work? Under Legacy Boot Sources the choices are ATAPI CD/DVD Drive, USB Floppy/CD and Hard Drive SATAO. Should it be changed to USB Floppy/CD?

Additionally, is there any way to determine whether this is 32 or 64 bit?

Look at the RAM sticks closely, or google their serial to find out how much RAM you have. With less than 4gb I always install 32 bit for better performance. It doesn't matter what it had because the machine will probably be getting its first optimal Win7 install if you stick with the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 . Look them over closely to make sure you understand what works best.

With the diagnostics partition working, once you can boot the installer following the illustrated steps for Clean Install Windows 7 I would just delete System Reserved and C, create and format a new Partition there for install. If it errors report back the exact error text.

gregrocker said:

Look at the RAM sticks closely, or google their serial to find out how much RAM you have. With less than 4gb I always install 32 bit for better performance. It doesn't matter what it had because the machine will probably be getting its first optimal Win7 install if you stick with the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 . Look them over closely to make sure you understand what works best.

I went to the HP Support, entered the product no. and model no. and determined that this was built with 4GB of RAM on a 64 bit base (My uncle would not have added more memory). I always assumed that when reinstalling, the product key had to exactly match the OS, ie. I can't use a Windows 8 key to install Windows 7 (although when going to an older OS I think it should be allowed). I figured that the W7 key on this Omni was not only for this specific version of Windows 7, but also for this specific bit type.

And regarding your suggestion to look at the RAM sticks, have you ever opened one of these units? I never could find the CMOS battery, haven't a clue where the memory sticks are hidden, and my last attempt at disassembly lost me the CD faceplate. I like a nice thumbscrew, pull back on the cover and everything is revealed. Even once you go to the trouble to open this up everything remains hidden by metal plates and covers.

gregrocker said:

With the diagnostics partition working, once you can boot the installer following the illustrated steps for Clean Install Windows 7 I would just delete System Reserved and C, create and format a new Partition there for install. If it errors report back the exact error text.

You can use any bit version with the same Product Key. Confirm now the Product Key is readable.
You'd want to be trying repairs with the 64 bit disk, and can reinstall with that disk or the 32 bit - your choice. I get better performance with 32 bit on 4gb RAM or less, but I am a purist.

If you haven't yet I would download the latest official ISO from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to write to stick or burn to disk with tool also provided. Burning a new disk might help.

Put the faceplate back on the DVD drive or figure out how to open it without it. There should be an aluminum contact point which works when the faceplate goes south. I can't look at the Manual since you didn't mention the model, but it is also on the Support Downloads webpage and HP's often show disassembly processes.