Hard drive no good - find replacement

[sidney1994]

HP Pavilion P6510f

Windows 7 64-bit

My computer recently stopped starting up. I was originally getting a "BOOTMGR is missing" message, went through several customer service reps, and it was decided that I needed a new hard drive and recovery discs. I initially had a hard time with the parts department, and was not able to locate the replacement hard drive (part# 303487-074). In the meantime I received my recovery discs, and just for fun, wiped the hard drive clean and reinstalled whatever is on the discs. The hard drive was able to start up many times, but eventually would just freeze, so I know it still doesn't work. I guess my question is do I need to keep searching for that exact part number, or are there equivalents that will work, or even an upgrade that would be better?

I'm just hoping for an answer here because calling tech support is always an unpleasant adventure for me.

Thanks! 

[erico · Accepted solution]

All that you need is a SATA2 hard disk that is at least 750GB in capacity to replace the original hard disk.

 It really is as simple as that. Just go to your local computer store. It will fit in the same place the original disk was. You can use the same bracket and screws from the old hard drive.

The brand of hard disk you purchase is not that important. HP generally uses SeaGate hard disks,but my own preference is Western Digital, Samsung or Fujitsu.  

[sidney1994]

And there is also no problem if I wanted to go higher than 750GB? No conflicts with that particular model's configurations or anything?

[erico]

---

sidney1994 wrote:

And there is also no problem if I wanted to go higher than 750GB? No conflicts with that particular model's configurations or anything?

---

I wouldn't try anything larger than a 1 TB hard disk. It is more a matter of BIOS support than configuration. When your PC hit the market there weren't many disks larger than that available. 

[sidney1994]

I purchased a new hard drive, installed it, and went through all the system recovery steps. The computer seemed to be working once restored, but then not long into my setting everything up, it froze and I had to restart. It has never stayed on for more than 10 minutes at a time since then, and just this last time I even got a message similar to my original problem - BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot.

[erico]

Did you perform a factory image recovery and then install all required drivers?

Do you have access to a standard Windows installation DVD?

It does not have to be your own but has to be the same operating system and version (32 or 64-bit).

What you need to do is use Windows startup repair utility that is on the installation disk. That is how to fix a corrupt boot manager.  Select the DVD drive as the first boot option in BIOS.  Power up your PC with the disk in the your DVD drive and choose startup repair.

[sidney1994]

I used the system recovery CDs sent to me from HP.

The hard drive came with a CD, but I did not think I needed to use it.

I will try the startup repair when I get home.

Thanks again.

[erico]

Once you do the factory image recovery you must reinstall the drivers. Without installation of the chipset and proper SATA storage driver you will always face issues. Here is what remains to be done after a recovery. It sounds as if you did not do a complete recovery.

[raybug42]

I have been trying to install 2 tb into an a 6400f and so far it is not working.  Anyone know the maximum for the a6400f hard drive capacity?

[wb2001]

check the BIOS and see if the drive is listed

BTW> please re-post this as a "new" post. Your adding to a 6month+ message.