HP Pavilion ZE5300

[Leary22]

The notebook that i am working on is a HP pavilion ZE5300 and when booting up it is saying that there is no operating found... i triedHard Drive Self-Test:::: and there was still nothing.was wondering if there anything else that i should try before trying to reinstall the OS. And also seeing if the hard drive is even still worth it.

[mjc]

What hard drive test?

From your post it isn't very clear...did the test actually see the drive?

If the test didn't see the drive, then there is a better than 90% chance the drive is toast...try it in another machine or an external enclosure.

[Sylvander]

This review (http://www.pcworld.com/article/111785/hp_pavilion_ze5300.html) says that a ZE5300 includes a FDD.
If so, try using this Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP or Server 2003 boot floppy disk (http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/) as a "System Disk".
Boot "FROM" it, and "TO" the Windows folder on the laptop HDD's "Boot partition".
When you boot the floppy you will be presented with 8 choices made up of 2 possible physical HDD's [choose the 1st] each with 4 possible partitions [try initially choosing the 1st].

If the laptop is running WinXP...
The Windows folder [on the partition holding the OS] should have the name Windows.
If it does, this should match the name used for the folder in the floppy boot.ini file, and if so all should be well.

Let's see if this works, and go from there. :)

[Leary22]

got it fixed thanks guys for the help

[Sylvander]

So what was the problem and how was it fixed?

[Leary22]

the HD ended up being defective... wiped clean and did another install and still not working... checked for disk errors..

[Sylvander]

So you fixed it by replacing the HDD with a new/good one?

[Leary22]

yes with a new one

[jerkto]

Can you believe that laptop (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1041565,00.asp) cost nearly $2k back in 2003? Laptop prices seem to mirror gas prices in the opposite direction :p