Error loading Operating system

I have an HP Pavilion 7940 1 gig Intel CPU 256 ram 40 gig hd.

At boot up it does post fine, identifies CPU, counts ram, see's all devices HD CD etc, and then goes STRAIGHT to a blinking cursor and after 4 sec a DOS message appears that says "error loading operating system" and hangs there indefinetly. .

I went into Bios change boot order to Atapi CD rom first. I then load a bootable CD, and still same results!

I don't even hear the CD-Rom spin up, though the door will open and accept a bootable CD!

I tried clearing CMOS, but to no avail. The same message appears immediately after POST?

I swapped out a good hard drive that had a working copy of XP and still no luck

any suggestions?

Can you check your BIOS date and see if you can upgrade using this site:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv161en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=58464&os=228&lang=en

Next, can you try another CD-ROM and see if you can load any OS at all?

Even though you go through POST, may be you should remove the battery for a minute or over night and try again! It does seem to be strange but all we need is a few tests to get to the bottom of this.

Everything you said, points to either the board (including the state of the CMOS), CPU, memory or the PSU!!!

Let us know

pulled the battery and cleared cmos.

how can i upgrade cmos with out the computer booting up?

use floppy?

Ah ha I see from link that you do create a boot disk.

thanks

Could be just CMOS settings! Can you check the Boot Order? After the update you have to adjust some values anyway.

Let us know.

adjusted boot order to go to CD rom first no luck!

I had a stuborn sob like that one time so I just put the hd in another cpu and loaded the op sys.

It is still working arfter 5 years.

Cheers
Nadnic

Sounds like your IDE controller is going bad (onboard). Before replacing the entire motherboard, you should try an IDE controller card (PCI). These can be purchased quite cheaply. Try Newegg or eWiz.:mask:

It must be your cd rom driver or the bootable cd that you are using. Try another cd rom drive and/or another bootable cd.

changed cdrom and voila reformatted hd with new copy xp

thanks all

Good catch and thanks for letting us know.

Happy Computing!