HP Pavilion dv8000 Hard Drive Only Sometimes Boots Windows 7

[Paul678]

Ok, I got this one without a harddrive, but checked it with Knoppix,
and it appeared to function normally.

Got a used IDE laptop HD, and installed Windows 7 successfully, but then when I turn it off completely, and turn it on, it only boots up Windows about maybe 40% of the time. The rest of the time, it hangs up with the cursor in the upper left corner (this is after I had disabled the network adaptor in the BIOS boot order). I have 2 devices in the Boot order: CD-ROM, and then the primary HD.

I'm pretty sure it's not the hard drive, because when it does boot up Windows, it works perfectly. Additionally, I repeated the installation with another IDE HD, and I get the same problem. Knoppix was able to see
the drive only sometimes.

The guys who sold me the HD said, "It is possible that the IDE controller has gone bad on your system board."

So I tried re-soldering the IDE connector, just in case there was a bad
connection, but still the same problem.

But before I put this unit on Ebay as a "for parts" unit, I wanna make sure
I'm not missing something.

Advice is greatly appreciated....

[Paul678]

Re: HP Pavilion dv8000 Hard Drive Only Sometimes Boots Windows 7

Ok, I got this one without a harddrive, but checked it with Knoppix,
and it appeared to function normally.

Got a used IDE laptop HD, and installed Windows 7 successfully, but then when I turn it off completely, and turn it on, it only boots up Windows about maybe 40% of the time. The rest of the time, it hangs up with the cursor in the upper left corner (this is after I had disabled the network adaptor in the BIOS boot order). I have 2 devices in the Boot order: CD-ROM, and then the primary HD.

I'm pretty sure it's not the hard drive, because when it does boot up Windows, it works perfectly. Additionally, I repeated the installation with another IDE HD, and I get the same problem. Knoppix was able to see
the drive only sometimes.

The guys who sold me the HD said, "It is possible that the IDE controller has gone bad on your system board."

So I tried re-soldering the IDE connector, just in case there was a bad
connection, but still the same problem.

But before I put this unit on Ebay as a "for parts" unit, I wanna make sure
I'm not missing something.

Advice is greatly appreciated....

Nobody?

I guess this one's gonna get Ebayed!!!

haha!