HP problems

[Rob Boudrie]

A locak shooter droipped off an HP Pavilion which is *just* out of warrantee, because it gets a "configuration error - contact service - code purple" error.

The outcome:

1. This is due to the "tatoo" on the mother board not reading properly. This HP bios feature is used to prevent the HP branded XP distribution from installing on other hardware. This is verified not only at install time, but at each boot up (apparantly so you cannot install on an HP and then move the disk to another chassis).

2. Any attempt to install via the distribution disks (order from HP for $23, since the owner did not burn the dist disks from the recovery image on the PC) results in an error "this recovery disk not for this hardware" (ie, consistent with the tatoo problem)

3. A non-HP copy of XP will install - it just costs a bit.

4. HP will not provide a free tatoo fix out of warrantee.

So, this system is broken because of functionality not present in other systems; not wanted by the customer; which offers no benefit whatsoever to the customer; and HP will not accept responsibility for installing a vulnerability not present on other systems.

I'll take a generic over an HP any day.

[SiG Lady]

Yep, I had a college teacher (and tech support type) recently who won't TOUCH 'em, tells everyone not to BUY 'em, and hates to HEAR things like this about 'em.

[EricW]

Oh the joys of the HP/Compaq merger. Proprietary hardware BS drove me away from Compaq after my very first experience with it.

[Putty]

The hardware is not exactly proprietary...it is knock off junk that is built by 3rd string companies and sold to HP, Dell, Micron etc at about $20 a board (stack em deep sell em cheap). You would be hard pressed to find the mobo manufacturer or any component label in a production machine, let alone revision numbers. It is proprietary in the sense that the "Branding" is CMOS or BIOS deep. That is to say, that the BIOS comes locked, with very few functional aspects to it. This keeps the average user from screwin up a machine and costing the parent co. alot of money. For us this sux as BIOS updates can be a chore if not impossible and about the only thing you can do is change your boot sequence. For BIOS' that are truly locked which HP is notorious for, there are programs that can Bypass this dysfunctional state. I dont use them as I will not work on production machines, but hear from other geeks that its a good tool.

Just have someone build you a computer, but do your homework. I wait for subsequent revisions to mobos and review all the forums related to specific manufacturers ...looking for whiners i.e. "cant get past P.O.S.T. 3 beep code" (ram incompatibility issue) or "system fails to recognize cpu speed" etc. etc. or I look for general peripheral hardware conflcits. It is not enough to read reviews/benchmarks on technical websites, as most tend a bias to manufacters that support them. Abit mobos have degraded in quality quite a bit as has MSI with Asus leading the way with the Socket 939. FYI.

True proprietary hardware is made by the computer manufactuer like Dell did on some of their GeForce vid-cards...but they still used the nvidia chipset made by another company using the reference design. But the substrate goo was theirs...hehe.

My Sys:

AMD 64 3500+

WD 160GB SATA RAID 0

Geforce 6800 ultra - Gigabyte

Asus A8V deluxe Mobo

OCZ Dual channel Platinum PC3200/2GB

OCZ 520 W Powerstream w/adjustable Rails

Lian LI aluminum Case

Plextor Optical drives

Customized XP Pro Installation

[shred]

1. This is due to the "tatoo" on the mother board not reading properly.  This HP bios feature is used to prevent the HP branded XP distribution from installing on other hardware.  This is verified not only at install time, but at each boot up (apparantly so you cannot install on an HP and then move the disk to another chassis).

2.  Any attempt to install via the distribution disks (order from HP for $23, since the owner did not burn the dist disks from the recovery image on the PC) results in an error "this recovery disk not for this hardware" (ie, consistent with the tatoo problem)

3.  A non-HP copy of XP will install - it just costs a bit.

Any "Major-brand" PC (HP, CPQ, Dell, IBM, etc) will come with XP media that is "locked" to the machine. Microsoft makes them do this so they can ship systems that don't require user activation. On non-HP systems, it's typically only a BIOS-lock, so you can use another same-brand system's CDs or move to a different MB from the same manufacturer.

[wgnoyes]

Any "Major-brand" PC (HP, CPQ, Dell, IBM, etc) will come with XP media that is "locked" to the machine.  Microsoft makes them do this so they can ship systems that don't require user activation.  On non-HP systems, it's typically only a BIOS-lock, so you can use another same-brand system's CDs or move to a different MB from the same manufacturer.

I find that Dell-branded versions of XP will install on ANY of my Dell boxes, regardless of whether that is the machine with which it is shipped.

Interesting twist, though. If you run Microsoft Virtual PC on a Dell-branded XP, the guest machines created are virtual American Megatrends BIOS "boxes" and a Dell-branded operating system will NOT install on that.

[Rob Boudrie]

1. This is due to the "tatoo" on the mother board not reading properly.  This HP bios feature is used to prevent the HP branded XP distribution from installing on other hardware.  This is verified not only at install time, but at each boot up (apparantly so you cannot install on an HP and then move the disk to another chassis).

2.  Any attempt to install via the distribution disks (order from HP for $23, since the owner did not burn the dist disks from the recovery image on the PC) results in an error "this recovery disk not for this hardware" (ie, consistent with the tatoo problem)

3.  A non-HP copy of XP will install - it just costs a bit.

Any "Major-brand" PC (HP, CPQ, Dell, IBM, etc) will come with XP media that is "locked" to the machine. Microsoft makes them do this so they can ship systems that don't require user activation. On non-HP systems, it's typically only a BIOS-lock, so you can use another same-brand system's CDs or move to a different MB from the same manufacturer.

That is no doubt true, but I have never received a report of a Dell losing its idendtity as a Dell while all other motherboard systems work nicely. From browsing hte web, I have learned that this is not unheard of on HPs.

Bottom line - the HP system I assisted with was broken due to a feature the customer did not want, which did not aid the customer in any way, and is not on generics ... and HP will not support this unwanted feature outside of warrantee.

[robomanusa]

A locak shooter droipped off an HP Pavilion which is *just* out of warrantee, because it gets a "configuration error - contact service - code purple" error.

The outcome:

1. This is due to the "tatoo" on the mother board not reading properly.  This HP bios feature is used to prevent the HP branded XP distribution from installing on other hardware.  This is verified not only at install time, but at each boot up (apparantly so you cannot install on an HP and then move the disk to another chassis).

2.  Any attempt to install via the distribution disks (order from HP for $23, since the owner did not burn the dist disks from the recovery image on the PC) results in an error "this recovery disk not for this hardware" (ie, consistent with the tatoo problem)

3.  A non-HP copy of XP will install - it just costs a bit.

4.  HP will not provide a free tatoo fix out of warrantee.

So, this system is broken because of functionality not present in other systems; not wanted by the customer;  which offers no benefit whatsoever to the customer; and HP will not accept responsibility for installing a vulnerability not present on other systems.

I'll take a generic over an HP any day.

Maybe attempted bios flash went haywire?. If the bios isnt totally fried go retrieve a bios flash from HP and retry.