When using recovery cd's, is there anything special steps you need to take? What does format or reformat mean?

Question

Are the drivers on the recovery cd's? Help?? I'm new at this and I'm doing this for someone else-(kinda scarey), this is my mom's pc. Do you simply insert the cd's? What do people mean by format or re-format and install? Is that what fdisk means? I already used system recovery twice tonight and it didn't correct the problem.

(When trying to play a video in Media Center it says: "Files needed to display video are not installed or not working properly")

**I've tried system recovery, system restore, codec pack, various virus/spyware scan's, Called HP technical support twice, and I still have the same problem-seems like using the recovery cd's is the only choice left, but I've never done this before. Help.....

Answer 1

Ok it sounds like the drivers for the video card dont seem to be installed or if you are trying to play a DVD then you will need a DVD software or the codec pack for it which I can give you. If it is a MPEG file then you can download those or I can supply those as well.

I would first try going to microsoft and see if that might solve your problem for you. To do this... Click Start, All Programs then click Windows Update. Then you will see a screen that has two buttons, One says express and another says Custom.

Click Custom then look in the Hardware and Software Update for anything that might go to the video.. if you read the description it will explain exactly what it does.
Also try looking for a Media Player Update.

Now after doing your updates it is still failing to start up then you will need to go into the Device Manager and make sure that there are no conflicts with your system drivers.

To get there go to Start, My Computer ( RIGHT CLICK ) go to Properties, Then the Hardware Tab then the Device Manager button. You will be looking for any Red X marks, Yellow question marks or exclmation points.

If you find these then you will be able to right click on those and click re-install the driver or update driver.

if still no luck there then please contact me for free tech support and I will be happy to help you get it fixed quickly with as little headache as possible.

Now in answer to your question about the Recovery CD it will l have the basic driver set on it as well as all the factory installed software like if AOL Online was offered with it.. programs like that.

Normally you install the CD in the drive and it will walk you thru it.

To Format or Re Format is the same thing.. It means to clean or Delete the Hard Drive of all information on it. So do take caution if you decide to go that route cause you will loose all info saved on there. HOWEVER!!!! your recovery disk WILL NOT contain the operating system. You will need the windows Install Disk for that.

The FDisk in question does two things.. it checks for disk errors and trys to repair them as well as format the drive.

PLEASE if you have any questions or are not sure what to do about your problem then dont proceed without seeking advice. I offer free help to anyone who needs it.. I also carry a very large collection of Drivers and Software that I dont charge for.

Good Luck to you in your quest.

Big G

PS. If you decide to contact me you can reach me thru my site listed below.

Answer 2

Be very careful, using recovery cd's WIPES OFF EVERYTHING, then sets up the pc just like when you first bought it. You lose ALL your files, everything.

Using the recovery disks is a last ditch effort to get things working again.

The message you are getting is simply Media Center saying one of the codecs is probably missing. You can have them reinstall, or go to a site to get the missing codec. Doing a recovery won't fix this issue.

Answer 3

Stick the first recovery CD in and then you need to go into the computer setup (also known as the BIOS) and change the boot options to boot from the CDROM drive first. When the computer boots look on the "splash" screen that displays the computer manufacturer's logo for something like "Setup=F2" , hit that key to enter setup (you may have to restart a second time to catch it). Remember to set it back to the harddrive when finished with the recovery.
--- There may possibly be a seperate key just to change the boot options for the one time ("Boot options=F12") , all the better. You won't have to remember to set it back to the harddrive when you're done using the second way.

Select the option to do a complete recovery (as opposed to a repair). It'll give you instructions to change the CDs.

You needn't worry about formatting or reformatting, the recovery process will do that automatically.

The drivers will be included, although if the computer is a little old you may want to check the HP site for updated drivers. It should work fine with what's included with the CDs though.

Answer 4

It sounds like you need to install and video codec. Get the Divx Codec from www.divx.com.

You should be able to play most video files out there.

Also check to be sure you have the latest video drivers.

Uhhh, last guess, what monitor are you outputing to in Media center? It allows for Svideo, Rca, and Video out display.

Answer 5

Hp has an online live chat function... I would try that here > http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/contact/chat_1.html

There is a media player "like" windows media player out there called "media player classic" that usually plays everything for me.

Dont go reformating your pc That wipes out everything.

Also there is a live chat here http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/forums.html It is a computer help site that just helps people for free. Look for the "live chat" link around the top right of the page

Answer 6

No, do no longer so it the restoration CD has particular information on a particular computing device kind. the different computer boot equipment could malfunction as quickly as you celeb up living house windows, so do no longer do it! That pre-put in application works in common terms with the computer that it got here alongside with