Pavilion HP a1610n - Media Edition 2005 --- crashed after loading SP3 completely destroyed Samsung Hard drive -- unable to recover. Just purchased new in Oct 2006 was a great computer until SP3 -- was told because of AMD processor. I am buying a new computer because don't want to invest in installing more memory & hard drive & Windows XP

remove hard disk from pc and check your hard disk on other PC and take your all data

Preforming a system recovery to return the computer to its original condition may be necessary if the operating system is damaged, or the hard drive is corrupted, or the computer is infected by a virus.

___Also look this> HP expanded the battery pack recall on May 19, 2010. Click here to validate your battery. Performing a system recovery removes all software and files saved to the hard drive, reinstalls the original operating system, and then configures the settings for the default programs. Since the merger of Compaq and HP, several different recovery tools and processes Names for these tools include: Recovery Solution, Recovery Manager, F11, Recovery Disc, Driver and Application Recovery Disc, Roxio BackOntrack, Microsoft Backup & Restore. have been provided for recovering notebook PCs to their original operating condition. To help you select the correct recovery process, the table below identifies the different models, the time frame when they were produced and sold, plus the originally configured operating systems. Click on the name of the document in the right column for detailed information. Choose the Correct Recovery Process for Your Notebook Notebook description Recovery procedure information HP and Compaq Notebook PCs and Mini PCs shipped with a Windows 7 operating system. Recover Windows 7 Operating System Using HP Recovery HP and Compaq PCs using the Microsoft recovery feature for Windows 7 instead of an HP solution. Recover Windows 7 Operating System Using Microsoft Windows Backup and Restore Presario, Pavilion, and HP Compaq Business PCs shipped with a Windows Vista operating system. Recover Windows Vista Operating System Using HP Recovery HP and Compaq PCs using the Microsoft recovery feature for Vista instead of an HP solution. Recover Windows Vista Operating System Using Microsoft Windows Backup and Restore HP and Compaq Mini with Windows XP using the HP solution. Recover Windows XP Operating System On Mini Notebook Using HP Recovery HP and Compaq Mini with Windows XP using the Roxio recovery feature instead of the HP solution. Recover Windows XP Operating System Using Roxio BackOn Track HP and Compaq Mini with Mobile Internet Environment (MIE ). Recover Windows MIE Operating System On Mini Notebook Using HP Recovery Presario, Pavilion, and HP Compaq Business PCs manufactured and sold in 2006 or later . Recover Windows XP Operating System Using HP Recovery (2006 or Later)

Presario and Pavilion PCs manufactured from 2001 and 2005 . Recover Windows XP Operating System Using XP Operating System Discs (2001 to 2005)

And

Recover Applications Using Drivers and Applications Recovery Disc (2001 to 2005) Pavilion PCs with Windows Media Center edition of XP manufactured from 2001 to 2005 . Recover Windows XP Media Center Edition Operating System on HP Pavilion PCs Using HP Recovery (2001 to 2005) Compaq Presario PCs supplied with a Compaq Recovery CD and manufactured from 2001 to 2005 . Recover Windows XP Operating System on Compaq Presario PCs Using HP Recovery (2001 to 2005) Omnibook and certain Pavilion PCs manufactured pre-2001 . Recover Windows XP Operating System and Applications on HP Omnibook and Pavilion models Using HP Recovery (Pre 2001)

It's not available for download from web. You can try open office, it's free and you can download it from the web. just Google.

The arm that controls the head has malfunctioned. Your hard drive is probably toast. The more you run it though the more chance you have of not being able to recover the data on it. I have a Tip and Trick for trying to recover some of the data. You can read it here.
Please share it with your friends.
http://www.fixya.com/support/r3584465-bad_hard_drives_and_data_recovery

Make sure that your source disc is compatible with your drive. if it has a dvd, then you can use dvd disc.

Also, try to download and install the DVD/CD driver for your laptop.

if its your motherboard that crashed then ther is no problem with your hard disk. connect your hard disk to any other computer and you can access all the files in it.
if it is your harddsik that crashed then try recovery utilities like western digital data storege manger or any other disk recovery tool available for free. if still it fails then you can recover your data if you hand over your hard disk to the nearest service centre. but recover from a hard disk only if its very valuable. thay will charge you per MB of data recovered

You have to call the company that did the repair or HP, what they forgot to do is put the asset tag back in. which tells the cd what kind of computer you have

You need to run a hard drive diagnostic disk in dos,(before windows starts) First check with HP, You can also use a program called HDD Regenerator 1.51. This will check the drive for bad sectors, and then you can try and repair them. This way you might
be able to see some of the data you want. If the sectors that where
repaired had the operating system on them, you should just get a new drive,(if not under warranty) then after you have a new OS installed on the new drive, you can plug in the old drive and see what you can recover.

There is option in BIOS called something about automated SATA recognition or similar - disable it. It is under System configuration. And if you are putting new drive in then run full test from BIOS (Hard drive selftest - takes about 79min.)
I tried to reinstall Windows Media center on my HP dv6000 because my previous hdd crashed - When I put in installation cd - it said that it can't find hdd. I spent week to figuring that out. The thing is - as far as you haven't disabled that SATA thing in BIOS - PC doesn't recognize hdd. But only with Windows media center edition. With all other windows xp - there is no such problems. Strange.

DIAGNOSTICS DOWNLOAD HIREN BOOT CD, WRITE IT TO CD THEN BOOT FROM IT http://rapidshare.com/files/33987018/NYU_Hiren_s.BootCD.9.1.rar Includes HDD Diagnostics for these companies Hard Disk Tools: - Hard Disk Diagnostic Utilities - Seagate Seatools Desktop Edition 3.02 - Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools - Western Digital Diagnostics (DLGDIAG) 5.04f - Maxtor PowerMax 4.23 - Maxtor amset utility 4.0 - Maxtor(or any Hdd) Low Level Formatter 1.1 - Fujitsu HDD Diagnostic Tool 6.61 - Fujitsu IDE Low Level Format 1.0 - Samsung HDD Utility(HUTIL) 2.02 - Samsung Disk Diagnose (SHDIAG) 1.28 - IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test 4.08 - IBM/Hitachi Feature Tool 2.03 - Gateway GwScan 3.15 - ExcelStor's ESTest 3.80 - MHDD 4.6 - WDClear 1.30 - Toshiba Hard Disk Diagnostic 2.00b - SeaTools for Dos 1.08 - HDD Regenerator 1.51 - to recover a bad hard drive - Ontrack Disk Manager 9.57 - Disk Test/Format/Maintenance tool. - Norton Disk Doctor 2002 - a tool to repair a damaged disk, or to diagnose your hard drive. - Norton Disk Editor 2002 - a powerful disk editing, manual data recovery tool. - Active Kill Disk 3.1 - Securely overwrites and destroys all data on physical drive. - HDAT2 4.5.2 - main function is testing and repair (regenerates) bad sectors for devices - SmartUDM 2.00 - Hard Disk Drive S.M.A.R.T. Viewer. - Victoria 3.33 - a freeware program for low-level HDD diagnostics Hope this helps ====================== If you are having trouble with Newly bought items save your self from headaches by returning them and demand a replacement or a refund! You may have purchased a reconditioned\repaired\factory defect product.