HP Doesn't Stand behind their Products

[Art Vandelay]

I bought a HP media center 4 years ago (yes I know 4 years) and I have been pretty happy with it. I had a problem with itunes saying to unistall and reinstall but kept getting ewrrors so i thought OK it is restore time 9didn't work) now it is recovery time. I used the partition section of the HDD where all the software/operatings system is and when the PC reboots I get a message saying my a XP configeration error (Code Purple) to contact HP. I thought well when I bought the PC I made the back up software that came with it by using the HP software for the 3 DVD's. I get the same messge. I do this, i spend 1.5 hrs on the phone with a nice fells from India and his supervisor. They tell me upfront that Code Purple is an error relating to the BIOS and it will be covered by it is a recall item dealing with the mother board, they know about it it is HP's screw up. I say to them, well i did install 2 new GB of RAM, a 2nd HDD and a new CPU fan since the original one was making losts of strange noise (grinding). They tell me that those items won't make a diference and they are going to get my address to send a box and I need to send it to HP for some update to the Mother Board so I can use it. Well 5 days goes by and no box arrives so I call againe and i get a nice guy in the USA who said it definetly relates to the fasct I installed more RAM and a 2nd HDD. Yes my configeration has changed. He talks it over with 3 senior people and say that i have altered the original satate of the PC so I am on my own.

I said well I went to the HP website and looked at my model of computer saw the link that shows how to add more RAM and a 2nd HDD all with real nice videos to make it real easy. Then told the guys in India and the USA that I have returned the PC to it's original state. I removed the 2 GB of RAM and the 2nd HDD. The only things missing is the new CPU fan becsue the original one failed and was taken away by the garbage man 2 months ago so I can't put it back in. Bottom line, the PC has changed they tell me. So I say so HP PC can't be upgraded or have any parts replace that fail because if you need to reinstall the software that came on the PC you can't becasuse it will seee these configeration changes and stop you and give the CODE PURPLE messge.

Blue/Chewy are you out there, do you have a solution for me?

[MilesAhead]

It's frustrating trying to deal with unrealistic "escape clauses" used by some support units. Do you need a specific program that comes with HP preinstalled or is it the OS? If you just need the OS what I would do is search for an .iso image of the MS Windows OS you want to install and burn it. Then install without entering any product key. This gives you use of the OS for an evaluation period.

Not the perfect solution, but it is legal and would give you time to argue with the support
people while you have an OS to run your system.

Also you can extend the evaluation period a limited number of times using the "rearm" method. Still legal. Just google "rearm" extending the evaluation period. Just make sure when it asks you if you want to activate, click NO.

At least you'll have a few months to decide what to do or convince HP to fix you up.

edit: btw don't bother with an OEM image. Get the retail MS Windows install DVD .iso. Windows Seven is probably the easiest to find now. I'd also search around for W7 drivers for your hardware in case you need any that don't happen to be on the W7 install DVD.

[doctorhardware]

Try resetting the bios by pulling the bios battery. That may solve your issue. Changing the CPU fan has no bearing of what the OS see hardware wise. The hardware that the os sees is the HD, memory optical drives. Speaking of crappy computer companies Alienware has really gone down hill, several people I know their $2500 dollar computers died a day after the warranty expired. And Alienware will not cover the computer under warranty.

[MilesAhead]

Ok, it looks like I read the OP wrong. The BIOS issue popping up was not caused by OS reinstall. That's the original problem. The other thing I would check where the PC is 4 years old is a new CMOS battery. Usually they last longer than that, but if you have Time service running to auto adjust the clock you may not notice it if the real time clock is losing time due to weak/dying battery.

I would try the doctor's suggestion first though.

But if it is the recall issue then there's prolly no other fix but to get HP to ante up.

[UncasMS]

i should think that changing the mainboard could be a solution, which is not that expensive but requires installing OS and programs again

[Art Vandelay]

found some information online but I know nothing about DOS and navigating around to find the file like these 2 sites have mentioned scares the He*l out of me.

It seems to be a HP situation since windows makes them tattoo something to the mother board so the software that was on the PC only is installed on that PC. When it starts up it now sees that my configeration has changed because of the new heat sink fan installed. It was installed because the original one failed. the RAM and 2nd HDD have been removed also.

1 guy says HP was sued in the USA over this and lost? i don't know.

http://www.billoblog.com/?p=152

http://www.techimo.com/forum/applications-operating-systems/50892-xp-configuration-error-code-purple.html

[UncasMS]

a MAJOR change in your hardware configuration often requires a new registration of windows but changing nothing but a cpu heatsink + fan can NOT lead to this

i have never heard of any such case but HP may be inventive *g*

++++

i followed the first link and read SOME of what has been said there so the question is: have you tried any of it?

it sounds like all you have to do is:
run your pc from a bootable media (i guess it must not necessarily be a floopy which hardly anyone uses anymore but could also be usb or cd) and the edit the mentioned BAT file - i.e. erase its content and keep an empty BAT file as it will be checked/needed.

[UncasMS]

I have tried to create some stept-by-step guide on one of my test machines for you:

1. download the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows.
Burn the image and boot the system from this cd!

2. when you get to the point "Network support" press NO as it is not needed.
c.f. picture 001.jpg

3. start "Free Commander" - c.f. 002

4. change its setting according to 003

5. navigate (in either the left or right window inside freecommander) to whereever the BAT file is. your link says it is located here: C:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck\cfgchk.bat

6. next i want you to make a backup/copy of the bat file we are going to edit, so you are on the safe side.
in order to so make sure that the second half of freecommander's window (the second/opposite half) refers to the SAME directory as the half inside which you navigated to your bat file before!
this can be done very easily by simply clicking on the DRIVE LETTER above the file structure. it should be drive c you will have to click.

7. now that your two halves of freecommander should be identical and should list the BAT file click ONCE (not a doubleclick) on the file in order to MARK it!
now press "F5" which is the copy command in freecomannd (coming from good old Norton COmmander) and you should see another window popping up similar to my picture 004.
Now please change the name in any way you want - c.f. 004 - and press OK!

8. you should now have the original BAT and a second one with a name slightly changed.
Now click once/select the original BAT file, which we will have to edit/erase its content - c.f. 005

having selected the file press "F4".

++++

to be continued in the next post

[UncasMS]

another windows will pop up with the content of the bat file. select all and delete it - c.f. 006

afterwards exit and SAVE the changed bat file


9. in case the instructions on this code purple issues were correct you may now want to restart your system WITHOUT the cd and keep your fingers crossed it will work!


good luck

[Art Vandelay]

Is this the XP solution because I think the Vista solution was not the same? My OS is XP in the PC in question. One other thing to mention is that over the 4 years of owning this PC I have had all the windows updates, and Nvidia video drives and chipset drivers. The PC is up to date. I wonder if the chipset driver update may have did this? i went to the the Nvidia site and used their software to determing my chipset and then install it. The HP guy in the USA said it was because of the CPU fan but I find that hard to believe. the guy in India and hsi supervisor said it was HP's fault and their screwup. I will wait for you to confirm that this is the XP solution, I will then give it a try as I have downloaded the windows repair software from the link, i will put it on a CD-RW and boot with it.

[UncasMS]

The admin talking in his blog about that pc he had to repair over xmas refered to XP and said to erase the content of the BAT file which is said to be located here:
C:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck\cfgchk.bat

So what he said solved the issue was to delete the content (not the file itself) of that BAT file.

In order to do say, Art, you will have to start the entire system from something like a Boot CD and after booting into something usable you will have to search for and edit that BAT file.

Since you said you were not too familiar with DOS I thought that a tool repository which looks like Windows might help you accomplish the task.

Thus I used the Ultimate Boot CD 4 WIN (which differs from the Ultimate Boot CD that admin refered to) as it has a couple of decent tools like for example that Norton Commander Clone called freeCommander, which is quite helpful for this job.


Donwload, burn and run it and try to navigate to the place: C:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck\cfgchk.bat

Make a backup of the BAT file and then delete the content of the original Bat file, save and reboot your system.

Ideally (if the information are correct in that blog you linked) this should be all you have to do.

I'm not sure, however, if your HP will boot from a CD as a first Boot device. Maybe the bios will have to changed:

[Art Vandelay]

The file I downloaded is a UBCD4WinV350.exe is a exe file. How do I boot the messed up PC from that? I thought it may be a ISO that I could put of a CD and the PC would boot from it.

[UncasMS]

sorry, it was quite a while ago that i built that boot cd and i thought one could download and burn an IMAGE but it is an application/exe which must be installed and run on a XP pc and only then can you build a bootable cd

do you have access to a XP pc to install this download and build and burn a bootable image?

[Art Vandelay]

well the PC i have been using since is my old Pentium 2 with Windows ME and 192MB of RAM. OH yes it is slow but e-mail is OK. Could it be done with this Windows ME PC? I could install the .exe on it? But how do you then make a bootable CD from the file i downloaded?

[doctorhardware]

Art is it possible for you to give us the motherboard model and manufacturer. We might be able to try to load the bios from the manufacturer of the motherboard and get around the HP crap in the bios. Just a thought, it might just work.

I know in xp there was an option to make the CD bootable. There should be an option in Nero also to make the disk bootable.