Booting problem on HP dc7900 USFF

Yes, each unit has one HDD. I will try the memtest and removing the RAM later on today or tomorrow and get back to you. Meantime, 2 questions please? I am not understanding what difference it would make using an external drive to load the OS since windows was installed without any visible problems using the internal drive? Next, since this unit is a 64-bit system, any reason why I should try a 32-bit windows install please?

 

Thanks so in my case, no reason to try the 32-bit, is this correct?

 

No when you say its a 64 bit pc are you certain every component is 64 bit compatible because only 1 component has to cause a failure and I would bet considering the age of this pc it really should have been installed with 32 bit is what I am saying. It may have seemed to install but if you could not boot it then it didn't install properly. Also it is possible the dvd drive is really NG so I only suggested external drive in case you don't have another internal dvd drive to try.
In almost every case a bad drive either hdd or dvd would pop an error message during installo but I have seen where on rarae occasions it seems to install but really didn't.

 

So I should attempt to reload windows from one of my USB external drives and also try the 32-bit version of win7?

 

Alright, I will give it a shot, get back to you guys, thanks!

 

This works so far guys [thanks] but there's a few things I would like to clear up here guys for my knowledge if ok? I guess I won't know what solved this problem, the external DVD or 32-bit version of win7 but I will know the answer soon when I go to the back up as I will use the external dvd and load the 64-bit version of win7 so for now let me start with the external dvd issue? Can anyone tell me why the external would make the difference if the OS shows as successfully installed using the internal DVD?

 

Nah sorry, it did not work when I restarted for the 4th time, I am now getting "non-system disk error" so I will go to the next experiment, meantime, my question again please, can anyone tell me why the external would make the difference if the OS (Operating System) shows as successfully installed using the internal DVD?

 

Yes, I did that right away once it was installed

 

Oh sorry Rich, I just re-read your post, no worries then on using the external. Just noticed something guys, I had changed the boot order from the F9 option but did not do so in the BIOS screen so I went there and chose the HDD 3 times and checked after restarting 3 times and my selcetion does not stick, it always reverts back to the CD-Rom, can this be the problem?

 

Hey guys, I took out the 2 memory sticks and powered on, got 5 continuous beeps, running memtest now

 

Well then we are back to you needing a cmos battery on the motherboard as that is what holds the computer settings.

 

I purchased the batteries over the weekend, should be here by this weekend. So should I stop the memtest now, it's gone through 2 passes with zero errors.

 

Let the test continue, it won't do any harm and hopefully show it is OK.
I know it is a bit late now as you have ordered, but those batteries are usually obtainable in most bigger stores that sell a large selection of batteries, as those CR2032's are also used in camera's and many other applications, and cheap, nothing like the price you first found. You could have picked one up locally without having to wait for an order to arrive is all I am saying.

Nev.

 

No immediate rush on my end which is why I ordered online. I should have it before or by this weekend, I'll let you guys know what happens. Meantime, I will create another thread for the 32 vs 64 bit situation.

 

Do at least 8 passes or 1 full test.

 

I left it on overnight, 19 passes no errors.

 

Then ram is not the issue.