HP Vista install hangs at 'do not turn off your pc during this one-time setup process' message [ Edited ]

[mikenowo]

I have a Pavilion A6200N computer running Vista 32bit (Home).

The seagate 335gb hd was starting to die so I attached a seagate 250gb drive I had until I can get a new one. I then opened the package that contained the Recovery disks that came with the computer (they have never been used before). I started the PC and the disk booted fine and started the install process. It rebooted several times and eventually said it was completing and then shutdown/off the PC. I then turned the PC back on and it went to the desktop BUT yet again said it was still installing with the message 'do not turn off your pc during this one-time setup process'. I let it go for a number of hours but it just sat at that message and the green bar cotinued to move. I could click on the start menu and see programs available there but could not get to the desktop past this message to do anything. I then tried using the shutdown option and it did shut the computer off. After rebooting same issue again.. stuck at the message. I've done countless installs in my 30 years as a computer professional without this kind of problem. Checking the net I saw articles mentioning to disconnect everything (USB, etc) but monitor, keyboard and mouse. I have done this and am rerunning the install overnight.

I see tons of people on this forum mentioning the same problem but no solution that seems to truly work. What's the deal with these recovery disks? Why would it reach the complete message then restart and get stuck at a message saying it's installing again. Ridiculous.The install even reformatted the drive on it's own so it was completely clean.

I even got to the Bind 2.O screen and for a long time after saw an animation showing two folders and the motion of copying from one to another until it finally shut the computer off. I could even see the desktop for a bit before it shutdown.

Any suggestions what else to do if this 2nd attempt with minimal devices connected does not work? I don't see why an install should have so many problems since all the devices but the new harddrive are exactly the same.

Thx.

[CherylG]

First thing that stands out is the new hdd is smaller than what the Recovery is expecting.Has been known to cause problems. I also wouldn't click the Start button or anything else while it is running.Hard I know when it seems to be taking an eternity but just leave it running overnight.

Good luck!

[CherylG]

If still no joy,try booting with a utilty cd to remove partitions, create 1 partition & format hdd. I have had good results with the free Partition Wizard .Download the Bootable CD iso here .Get ImgBurn here to burn the image to cd.

[mikenowo]

Well, the entire drive was reformatted by the recovery utility so there are no partitions to deal with. As for the drive being smaller that would be silly, vista hardly needs 250+ gb to install.

And since it gets to the part where it says it completed then why does it show the desktop fleetingly then go back to saying it's installing again. That's ridiculous. Seems to me these recovery disks aren't worth the plastic theyre burnt onto ;-p

HP should really just provide a proper windows install disk. And the recovery disks should be an extra.

In any event, I am letting it run overnight to see if it is still stuck tomorrow. Any suggestions what to try next? The question really is WHY is it stuck. What exactly is it trying to do when the install already said it was complete. Truly makes no sense as it should simply be booting to the desktop at this point.

[mikenowo]

The message was still up after letting it run overnight, as it turns out it is the HP recovery itself at fault.

When I saw that the message that was blocking the desktop was still up I used Ctrl-alt-del to get to task manager and saw 3 apps running. ONE was the window that was hidden BEHIND the giant message screen that I couldn't get to to continue the process. Once I clicked that it continued and rebooted a few more times. THEN yet again the message screen blocking the desktop. Used task manager again to get to the desktop and NOW saw a small box up top left with the message "waiting for a block". Turns out this program that puts up this message and the one that puts up the Giant blocking message from hell are the culprits. I ran MSCONFIG from the "start search" box on the taskbar and in the Startup tab I disabled 'BlockTracker' and 'Fullscreen' from the list and can now boot fine. I don't know what these two HP programs are trying to do but they seem NOT to complete and hang around blocking the desktop and causing a general nuisance.

They no longer appear now at bootup and I can continue updating vista.


FYI re the programs:
-Blocktracker:     If present on a HP machine it tracks all the processes and logs them to a blocklog.txt file
-Fullscreen: C:\hp\bin\flexbuild\FullScreen\fullscreen.exe


Just when you thought Microsoft couldn’t make an install more annoying HP adds to the mess. *sigh*


[rdondelinger]

@mikenowo:

Thanks for the timely information!  I had a similar issue with the "DO NOT turn off your PC..." splash screen, after restoring a HP TouchSmart 300 PC with HP system recovery discs.  This PC has Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

As you had pointed out, apparently all this 'FullScreen' splash screen does is hide or cover over the Windows Desktop screen and any other operational windows that would normally be displayed.

For everyone else..

The files that creates the splash screen are in a hidden folder:    C:\hp\bin\flexbuild\FullScreen

The FullScreen splash screen is executed at Windows Startup by its Windows Registry key.  For Windows 7, look for a FullScreen key entry at:    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

As mikenowo suggested, run the Windows command MSCONFIG.  If needed, you can run MSCONFIG from within Windows Safe Mode as well.

When MSCONFIG is running, go into its System Configuration=>Startup tab, and disable the startup item {FullScreen}.

Close out of MSCONFIG, reboot your PC, and continue with troubleshooting without the annoying FullScreen splash screen blocking your view.  Good luck!

[mirthagallegos]

thanks for your help, but I can not find " full screen" help meeeeeeeeee

---

rdondelinger wrote:

@mikenowo:

Thanks for the timely information!  I had a similar issue with the "DO NOT turn off your PC..." splash screen, after restoring a HP TouchSmart 300 PC with HP system recovery discs.  This PC has Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

As you had pointed out, apparently all this 'FullScreen' splash screen does is hide or cover over the Windows Desktop screen and any other operational windows that would normally be displayed.

For everyone else..

The files that creates the splash screen are in a hidden folder:    C:\hp\bin\flexbuild\FullScreen

The FullScreen splash screen is executed at Windows Startup by its Windows Registry key.  For Windows 7, look for a FullScreen key entry at:    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

As mikenowo suggested, run the Windows command MSCONFIG.  If needed, you can run MSCONFIG from within Windows Safe Mode as well.

When MSCONFIG is running, go into its System Configuration=>Startup tab, and disable the startup item {FullScreen}.

Close out of MSCONFIG, reboot your PC, and continue with troubleshooting without the annoying FullScreen splash screen blocking your view.  Good luck!

---

---

rdondelinger wrote:

@mikenowo:

Thanks for the timely information!  I had a similar issue with the "DO NOT turn off your PC..." splash screen, after restoring a HP TouchSmart 300 PC with HP system recovery discs.  This PC has Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

As you had pointed out, apparently all this 'FullScreen' splash screen does is hide or cover over the Windows Desktop screen and any other operational windows that would normally be displayed.

For everyone else..

The files that creates the splash screen are in a hidden folder:    C:\hp\bin\flexbuild\FullScreen

The FullScreen splash screen is executed at Windows Startup by its Windows Registry key.  For Windows 7, look for a FullScreen key entry at:    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

As mikenowo suggested, run the Windows command MSCONFIG.  If needed, you can run MSCONFIG from within Windows Safe Mode as well.

When MSCONFIG is running, go into its System Configuration=>Startup tab, and disable the startup item {FullScreen}.

Close out of MSCONFIG, reboot your PC, and continue with troubleshooting without the annoying FullScreen splash screen blocking your view.  Good luck!

---

[mirthagallegos]

When MSCONFIG is running, go into its System Configuration=>Startup tab, and disable the startup item {FullScreen}...........this is my problem I can not find (startup (fullScreen.)

[Lee69]

Mike.  THANK YOU.  It is all ways the simplest thing.  CTRL-ALT-DELETE helped me remove the splash screen and get to normal.  Can't wait to get a new system, which will NOT be an HP.  You rock, man.

Lee.