New Laptop - Windows 7 WILL NOT LOAD!

Thanks Saltgrass. I was talking to my techy friend thru out the process, and she said exactly what you did. When the new laptop comes, do the updates one by one and make sure they are legit and that there aren't any problems with them.

Thanks for the links!

The only thing that still "scares" me is that so many people are having problems with the classpnp.sys file. That makes me think it's not necessarily the hard drive, but that particular file on the hard drive.

I do not know exactly what the classpnp.sys does, but the pnp part looks like plug and play, which could be related to a device driver that is not behaving.

I will keep doing research.

One more thing, just knowing a device driver loaded may not be enough. I always like to install those separately so the time is distinctive. If you go through the process from Microsoft, they mention the time installed could be important to help finding the right one. Also, you might even write down a device driver update so you would know which one was probably involved.

Woops, another one more thing. If you are going to replace the hard drive anyway, you basically have a license to steal and try just about anything you want. Maybe using the F12 key during boot would allow you to reinstall now. Remember the F keys may be set up differently. You may or may not have to use a function key with the key or enable the F keys somehow. Next time you boot, try just hitting the space bar continuously during boot.

Okay, I need to process that last post.

I'm in the middle of doing everything you posted last go 'round. I got the recovery info copied onto a disk and am trying to boot up the laptop with it now.....it's "searching for Windows installations...."

We'll see what happens.

I read thru the MS stuff, and I saw the timestamp stuff....I'll deal with that when I get to it.

...and as for the "one more thing," I already thought about that. Since I am getting a new laptop, I can play all I want to with this one w/o having to worry about anything....

Hey im also having the same problem as the OP but I'm not getting a new laptop. The only way i can even post this is using an ubuntu live cd! I can't reinstall windows 7 because i only have an upgrade from vista to 7. I also have a S.M.A.R.T. failure on my harddisk but from what I've read that should not prohibit the HD from starting.

Okay, I'm stuck again. I made the recovery disks and it seemed to be working, but now, it's at a window that says, "re-image your computer." It scans for what seems like an eternity, but it can't find any images to associate the computer with. It will let me navigate different drives. Any ideas how I should proceed from here?

Is this a window that is supposed to show a Windows 7 install with two possible choices and the bottom one saying restore from an image? It almost sounds like you are in an HP restore utility.

If you do not mind reinstalling, choose re-image. Most laptops come with a recovery partition in which they keep the original image that can be used to restore your system.

If this is the Windows 7 repair window with the restore from image on the bottom, select the top choice and then next.

Okay, here's what it is. It is a pop-up type window that is titled, "Re-image your computer."

"This computer will be restored using the system image. Everything on this computer will be replaced with the information in the system image."

Then, there are two options, but the first one is grayed out (Use the latest available system image (recommended). The 2nd options is, "Select a system image." Then, you click on Next.

Then, another box pops up that has you sort of browse to see where the image is or if you hit refresh, a smaller pop-up box appears that says, "Scanning for system image disks," and that is what keeps going on and on forever.

This is going to be hard if we can't figure out if you are working with a Win 7 repair or an HP recovery. Does your owner's manual give directions on how to do a recovery?

If you are coming to a window that has a dot at the top and says something like "repair Win 7 installs" with a window below that and another dot on the bottom with a "restore from image" type option, it is the Win 7 one. If that is correct, choosing the top dot and clicking next should take you to a repair screen or possibly a dialog box that says something is being fixed and you need to reboot. I will look for some pictures, but there may be some here in one of the stickies or tutorials.

If you get to the repair options screen, select start up repair and you may have to do that 2 or 3 times.

If your install has actually been corrupted and not caused by an update problem, the drive or something else in your system may have caused it.