VISTA KILLED MY BIOS...what do I do next?

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I installed just vista on my laptop...well it froze up and I rebooted..into
nothingness...BIOS says the hard drive is not connected and then it does not
find an OS...So I installed the Vista DVD...no luck...it cannot load
vista...So then I stuck in the XP CD that came with my computer....the
startup CD finds the hard drive...lets me format it, and load up the startup
files...Upon removing the XP CD and letting the computer reboot...it cannot
find the hard drive...and back to square one...So I do the diagnostics for
the hard drive with the XP CD...(it finds the partitioned hard drive, but
with some faults on it) So, am I correct to blame Vista for killing my BIOS
(and my hard drive probably).....This system is not meant to be installed on
laptops...maybe someone has a solution? My laptop is a compaq presario 2199US
with a BIOS Program Phoenix KAM 1.59. The BIOS does not find the hard drive
either...(only the XP recovery CD does for some reason) The hard drive is a
Seagate model ST94019A. If this OS has a tendency to modify the BIOS or
harddrive remains to be seen...But that is my experience with the 32 bit
build 5384 of vista...
 
matasvytautas said:
I installed just vista on my laptop...well it froze up and I
rebooted..into nothingness...BIOS says the hard drive is not
connected and then it does not find an OS...So I installed the Vista
DVD...no luck...it cannot load vista...So then I stuck in the XP CD
that came with my computer....the startup CD finds the hard
drive...lets me format it, and load up the startup files...Upon
removing the XP CD and letting the computer reboot...it cannot find
the hard drive...and back to square one...So I do the diagnostics for
the hard drive with the XP CD...(it finds the partitioned hard drive,
but with some faults on it) So, am I correct to blame Vista for
killing my BIOS (and my hard drive probably).....This system is not
meant to be installed on laptops...maybe someone has a solution? My
laptop is a compaq presario 2199US with a BIOS Program Phoenix KAM
1.59. The BIOS does not find the hard drive either...(only the XP
recovery CD does for some reason) The hard drive is a Seagate model
ST94019A. If this OS has a tendency to modify the BIOS or harddrive
remains to be seen...But that is my experience with the 32 bit build
5384 of vista...
Click to expand...

Does your notebook have a factory restore partition? Is there an option on
boot to press a function key to get into the factory restore mode? If the
answer to either of these questions is yes then trying to remove Vista may
have damaged this function. Installing Vista overwrites the boot sector. The
BIOS of computers using this restore method may then get mixed up if you try
to remove Vista. You'll have to check with Compaq support for a fix if this
is the case.
 
Kerry,

Thanks for your reply, but Compaq does not support Vista in any
way..yet..and the computer that I installed it on is too old for them to care
about..which says a lot about HP....So I would like to know if microsoft has
a solution for this problem...maybe reinstalling the BIOS? Maybe there is a
trick to making the computer recognize the hard drive and then installing
Vista again? Hmmm....anybody have any ideas??
 
matasvytautas said:
Kerry,

Thanks for your reply, but Compaq does not support Vista in any
way..yet..and the computer that I installed it on is too old for them
to care about..which says a lot about HP....So I would like to know
if microsoft has a solution for this problem...maybe reinstalling the
BIOS? Maybe there is a trick to making the computer recognize the
hard drive and then installing Vista again? Hmmm....anybody have any
ideas??
Click to expand...

If the scenario I suggested is the case then you will need a utlilty from
HP/Compaq to repair the boot sector. It has nothing to do with Vista at this
point. It doesn't matter if Vista is supported or not by them. There are
many other reasons for the boot sector to become corrupted. Most
manufacturers that have a hidden restore partition and an option to press a
function key at boot to access it have a utility to do this. If this is not
the case then download a utility from the drive manufacturer to zero fill
the hard drive. This will overwrite the boot sector effectively erasing
everything on the drive including the diagnostic or recovery partitions if
they exist. This should allow Windows XP to install. If it still doesn't
then you may need to load a device driver for your hard drive controller
with the F6 option during the XP install. Please note what I said about the
zero fill option erasing all partitions including the diagnostic and
recovery partitions if they exist. Do you have the recovery CD/DVDs that
came with the notebook?
 
from your xp cd, go into the recovery console (select R at the option page)
and execute the fixmbr command and fixboot command. reboot and see if you
see your drive.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the Vista DVD also has a restore / recovery function.
Also, I don't think Vista "killed" your BIOS, just the Hard Disk Controller.
So, if you could reinstall that, probably with the Windows XP cd, BIOS
should recognize the hard drive again.
 
matasvytautas said:
I installed just vista on my laptop...well it froze up and I rebooted..into
nothingness...BIOS says the hard drive is not connected and then it does
not
find an OS...So I installed the Vista DVD...no luck...it cannot load
vista...So then I stuck in the XP CD that came with my computer.... * the
startup CD finds the hard drive...lets me format it, and load up the
startup
files...Upon removing the XP CD and letting the computer reboot...it
cannot
find the hard drive...and back to square one...So I do the diagnostics for
the hard drive with the XP CD...(it finds the partitioned hard drive, but
Click to expand...

Have you actually completed a full install of Windows XP or just formatted
the drive?
Likely the boot files are not yet aboard.

Have yet to see an O/S that modifies the comp BIOS.
Maybe your Compaq/ HP has a hidden boot/ pre-load/ hibernate partition?
HP probably WILL help restore XP as it's supported.
 
To all those concerned as this may happen to others...

I simply flashed the BIOS with a boot CD with a version that then allowed me
to install windows xp..So if you decide to erase the Vista OS after
installing only Vista on the computer it MAY also affect the BIOS in such a
way that you will not be able to install windows xp on the SAME computer
after that UNLESS you flash the BIOS with a boot BIOS CD...(because my
computer does not have a floppy-like most laptops nowadays..) I know that
this is not a serious problem for most...but it will hurt sales if it becomes
habitual...But this is only the BETA version, so perhaps it will be
resolved...Nevertheless I will not install it on any computer that I own (and
am reluctant to uninstal it from one computer that I do own because I do not
have a BIOS CD for that computer-...So I will have to reinstall XP on
top...And then some LINUX version just to be safe...I'm glad that the web
page www.driverheaven.net was able to help me..because this forum is full of
people that work for microsoft...but can't offer a plain solution...

Solution...

1.Create boot CD of BIOS version for your computer...and use it..
2. Check computer memory (memtest or something similiar (but not the dreaded
Vista CD which can do the same thing...but stay away from vista)
3.Erase all data on hard disk (my case Seagate-from their webpage easy to
find)
3.Instal LINUX product...
4.Forget about Vista...
5.Use other web sites..e.g. www.driverheaven.net to solve these types of
problems for REAL SOLUTIONS...BECAUSE HP and MICROSOFT imply that it is MY
FAULT for what happened..and do not offer ANY CONCRETE SOLUTIONS or crappy
waste of time answers...
6. Mr. Bill Gates should hire and pay lots of cash to the guy on the
driverheaven.net page to solve customer's problems...I think he is worth
it...and i don't even know the guy real name (Randomness is his pseudonym)
7. Whatever company he works for is really getting their money's worth out
of him..

So I have given my feedback on Vista to microsoft, but when I asked them to
help me solve a simple problem..I got the wrong answers and wrong attitude
from them and HP...(well of HP it was to be expected, but microsoft?)
8.Hire me to work for microsoft and answer questions based on these types of
problems so consumers will actually feel that they are important and
therefore reccomend your product to others...(I will not reccomend anyone
Vista at this time

Enough for now...

Your company is too big to solve the little problems....so eventually the
little ones will become big enough to make an impact...(but they all learn
this lesson too late)

Maybe Iwas foolish to think otherwise...
 
Do you really think that Vista modified your BIOS? Let's see, that would
mean that Vista could have to be modified (patched) everytime there were
changes to the thousands of BIOS's out there. Guess that explains why you
are comfortable in your Linux blankie.
 
Gee, did I make the people who work for Microsoft irrate? Since this is a
beta version it is supposed to have glitches..The XP operating system has
NEVER MODIFIED MY BIOS IN SUCH A WAY AS TO HAVE THE COMPUTER ENTER A PREBOOT
ENVIRONMENT. But why waste time telling you all this....someone else already
helped me get my computer back up and running without being "uppity" about
it. This OS will flop big time for Microsoft. People will only switch over
when forced to for hardware issues. Too bad, I was expecting something
better. Yeah and LINUX works just fine on my computer. Unlike VISTA...You
guys have the communist mentality-only one OS...others are evil....but you
could learn from them...and from us. But since you don't like me posting what
actuallly happened...then that's fine with me..
 
you just get back what you seeded (by telling everybody to not waste their
time with it). Vista will not modify your bios, period. I can see that it
messes up your partition table and mbr, which would lead to the listed
problems.

but bios, if that was true, then hats off to MS.
 
:-))


Hilmar said:
you just get back what you seeded (by telling everybody to not waste their
time with it). Vista will not modify your bios, period. I can see that it
messes up your partition table and mbr, which would lead to the listed
problems.

but bios, if that was true, then hats off to MS.
Click to expand...
 
What actually happened is as such, I decided to wipe out the hard drive and
did so accordingly. However, uninstalling Vista using this method did indeed
modify my BIOS. It could no longer find the hard drive. The fix was simple.
Flash the BIOS and everything works fine. When I wrote to this forum, I
though (silly me) that I would get a quick and accurate reply since my
problem was not complicated to resolve, but required knowledge that I lacked.
Since I am testing Vista and this is the place to try to find answers to my
problems (a bug in the OS if you ask me) then I tried to find the answer
here...but this is a problem that many people could encounter..and could
cause the same problems for them also. So that is why I pointed out the
problem..
 
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