Pavilion se5470us Repair Nightmare

Hello!

I have a old Pavilion se5470us with 512mb of RAM and a Pentium IV i'm
trying to get working again and running Windows 2000. I've already
formatted the drive, wiping out the broken XP Home install.

My problems started when for some reason the machine didn't like
booting off of my 2000 disk, but booted off my ME disk fine. Okay,
i'll install ME then install 2000 from ME. When the installer prompted
me to reset, i did and booted off the hard drive to finish the
installation only to be greeted with the following rude little
message:

"Disk I/O Error - Replace the disk and press any key"

Oh, sure. disassemble the laptop and replace the hard disc whilst the
laptop is running. Anyway, i booted off of a Boot floppy i made on my
main machine (4gb RAM, Core 2 quad) and did a CD and DIR on C:\. So,
the hard drive isn't corrupt or dead but the laptop is acting like it
is. great.

Now, i wouldn't dare try to open a laptop after all the horror stories
i've heard, so is there anywhere i can send the se5470us to be
repaired? would a friend of mine who knows a bit more about working
with hardware and replacing components than i do be able to replace
the hard drive or coax the machine into knowing it's not bad?

....Now it's not recognizing the charger at all. of course, the charger
and the port were pretty messed up, but i could get them to cooperate
a while ago...

Once i get this working, i'm going to upgrade the RAM to 1gb
(2x512mb), get a bigger hard drive if i can and replace the keyboard.

PoopskinTheLiar wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I have a old Pavilion se5470us with 512mb of RAM and a Pentium IV i'm
> trying to get working again and running Windows 2000. I've already
> formatted the drive, wiping out the broken XP Home install.
>
> My problems started when for some reason the machine didn't like
> booting off of my 2000 disk, but booted off my ME disk fine. Okay,
> i'll install ME then install 2000 from ME. When the installer prompted
> me to reset, i did and booted off the hard drive to finish the
> installation only to be greeted with the following rude little
> message:
>
> "Disk I/O Error - Replace the disk and press any key"
>
> Oh, sure. disassemble the laptop and replace the hard disc whilst the
> laptop is running. Anyway, i booted off of a Boot floppy i made on my
> main machine (4gb RAM, Core 2 quad) and did a CD and DIR on C:\. So,
> the hard drive isn't corrupt or dead but the laptop is acting like it
> is. great.
>
> Now, i wouldn't dare try to open a laptop after all the horror stories
> i've heard, so is there anywhere i can send the se5470us to be
> repaired? would a friend of mine who knows a bit more about working
> with hardware and replacing components than i do be able to replace
> the hard drive or coax the machine into knowing it's not bad?
>
> ...Now it's not recognizing the charger at all. of course, the charger
> and the port were pretty messed up, but i could get them to cooperate
> a while ago...
>
> Once i get this working, i'm going to upgrade the RAM to 1gb
> (2x512mb), get a bigger hard drive if i can and replace the keyboard.

If you are having disk I/O errors, the hard drive is likely bad. Trying
to install any OS may prove futile. Determine the brand of hard drive
and download the manufacturer's drive testing utility. Some disk
utility software (e.g. Hitachi, Seagate, WD) allows for the repair of
defective sectors. I consider this sort of repair to be temporary,
because bad sectors are the sign of still more hard drive problems in
the future... Ben Myers

On Aug 2, 3:06*pm, Ben Myers <ben_my...@charter.net> wrote:
> If you are having disk I/O errors, the hard drive is likely bad. *Trying
> to install any OS may prove futile. *Determine the brand of hard drive
> and download the manufacturer's drive testing utility. *Some disk
> utility software (e.g. Hitachi, Seagate, WD) allows for the repair of
> defective sectors. *I consider this sort of repair to be temporary,
> because bad sectors are the sign of still more hard drive problems in
> the future... Ben Myers

Yeah, i intend to replace it as soon as i have money to. I figured
from past experience and some books that i read that Even if i could
get the drive working, it'd irrevocably fail sooner or later. Now, if
only i could figure out what screws to undo so i can acess the HD...

PoopskinTheLiar wrote:
> On Aug 2, 3:06 pm, Ben Myers <ben_my...@charter.net> wrote:
>> If you are having disk I/O errors, the hard drive is likely bad. Trying
>> to install any OS may prove futile. Determine the brand of hard drive
>> and download the manufacturer's drive testing utility. Some disk
>> utility software (e.g. Hitachi, Seagate, WD) allows for the repair of
>> defective sectors. I consider this sort of repair to be temporary,
>> because bad sectors are the sign of still more hard drive problems in
>> the future... Ben Myers
>
> Yeah, i intend to replace it as soon as i have money to. I figured
> from past experience and some books that i read that Even if i could
> get the drive working, it'd irrevocably fail sooner or later. Now, if
> only i could figure out what screws to undo so i can acess the HD...

I stumbled across this link which you may find helpful:

http://vsslfpro.zcce.compaq.com/plmc...ML/default.htm

For the most part, access to the hard drive on a recent HP Pavilion
laptop is from the bottom of the chassis. First, remove the battery.
Next, look for a rectangular panel about the size of a hard drive (2.5"
x ~4"). It should have a pair of screws holding it in place. Loosen or
remove the screws with a small Philips head screwdriver, then remove the
panel. The hard drive is underneath... Ben Myers

On Aug 2, 6:27*pm, Ben Myers <ben_my...@charter.net> wrote:
> PoopskinTheLiar wrote:
> > On Aug 2, 3:06 pm, Ben Myers <ben_my...@charter.net> wrote:
> >> If you are having disk I/O errors, the hard drive is likely bad. *Trying
> >> to install any OS may prove futile. *Determine the brand of hard drive
> >> and download the manufacturer's drive testing utility. *Some disk
> >> utility software (e.g. Hitachi, Seagate, WD) allows for the repair of
> >> defective sectors. *I consider this sort of repair to be temporary,
> >> because bad sectors are the sign of still more hard drive problems in
> >> the future... Ben Myers
>
> > Yeah, i intend to replace it as soon as i have money to. I figured
> > from past experience and some books that i read that Even if i could
> > get the drive working, it'd irrevocably fail sooner or later. Now, if
> > only i could figure out what screws to undo so i can acess the HD...
>
> I stumbled across this link which you may find helpful:
>
> http://vsslfpro.zcce.compaq.com/plmc...ML/default.htm
>
> For the most part, access to the hard drive on a recent HP Pavilion
> laptop is from the bottom of the chassis. *First, remove the battery.
> Next, look for a rectangular panel about the size of a hard drive (2.5"
> x ~4"). *It should have a pair of screws holding it in place. *Loosenor
> remove the screws with a small Philips head screwdriver, then remove the
> panel. *The hard drive is underneath... Ben Myers

Ah. before i can run any diagnostics, though, i have to get the thing
to charge. it seems to hate the charger, as the charger is badly
frayed and the AC port is in pretty rough shape itself.