replacement drive for HP pavilion model P6610t

[135790]

Hello,

I was given an HP pavilion P6610t to see if it is fixable. The drive is inoperative.

I would like to get a replacement drive and install a retail edition of windows 7 on this. Is this doable or do I need hardware and software from HP for this task?

Thank you,

135790

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Why are you going back to W7 from W10?  W10 is far superior to W7 and you are digitally registered with MS so there is no cost to the W10 license.

You do have a retail license for the W7 media, right?

If yes, then locate a Windows 7 sp1 installation media. Stick with a 3.5" SATA III HD that is less than 2 TB if you want to use W7.

[135790]

Are you certain that the rebuild will be okay without hardware and media having digital HP signatures? I’ve run into the need for hp digitally signed drives and OS software before with HP computers, but don't know if they still do that.

[135790]

Hello, Anyone have an answer?

[APG73 · Accepted solution]

A little background...

This PC is a 2010 model and was never tested with Windows 10.  The OS that shipped on this PC was Windows 7 64-Bit.  HP does not have any Windows 10 drivers for this model. 

Now, that being said, I was wondering if you had HP recovery media for this PC?   I checked the HP website on the Pavilion p6610t product page/drivers and HP no longer offers recovery media for this PC. 

Product Specs: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-p6600-desktop-pc-series/4269976/model/5033551/docum...

Drivers: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-p6600-desktop-pc-series/4269976/model/5...

To your questions...

You can replace the HDD but installing a retail version of Windows will result in a PC that will function but not all SW or HW features will be present as it shipped from the factory. 

A HDD replacement with appropriate recovery media should return full functionality to this PC.  I have done this several times and just because a PC is old does not mean it is not fixable or useful.  

If the HDD has failed - Test it to be sure (see Recommendations below)

Your best bet is to replace the HDD and use HP recovery media.  HP recovery media uses the DMI information in BIOS to enable SW and functionality not available with a retail install of Windows. 

My Questions:

When you say the HDD does not work, what does that mean?  No boot?  Does BIOS show the HDD?  Not really sure. 

Can you boot the PC to BIOS? 

Can you boot the PC to Recovery Manager?  This might allow you to make recovery media.  I say "might" because I am not sure what process was used to upgrade this PC to Windows 10 as you stated.  If this was a custom/clean install of Win 10, you probably cannot make recovery media since the entire HDD was probably wiped clean during the install.    

Recommendation(s):

1. If you can get into BIOS and the HDD is present - run a test on the HDD.  It may be good but the OS is just not bootable.

2. If you replace the HDD, buy recovery media specifically for this PC that will use the DMI information in BIOS. 

3. HP no longer offers recovery media for this PC but a simple Google search "Recovery Media for Pavilion p6610t" will return non-HP vendors that will sell recovery media for this PC.  HP does not endorse or have any business relationship with these vendors whatsoever. 

Not sure if this helps at all but it is the best I can offer given the limited information. 

[135790]

> You can replace the HDD but installing a retail version of Windows will result in a PC that will function but not all SW or HW features will be present as it shipped from the factory.

Understood, and that's not necessarily a bad thing! Glad to know HP is not still straight jacketing the hardware/software as of 2010 anyway…..

I’m an IT guy with about 30 years of near daily practice. The means of restoring or recovering have been exhausted. The computer was upgraded to Windows 10 before it came into my care and the owner has no other content but for the computer itself. Drive recovery failed as did mounting the drive on another workstation and going after files by various means. She’s deed keptin! Not even a little surprising for a drive after about 8 years in service...

I have restored all kinds of old platforms to functionality. The system boards often remain reliable for 15 years or more, providing batteries, power supplies, fans and of course hard drives are replaced periodically.

Thanks for the detailed reply and research!! It was kind and  thoughtful of you to provide such a detailed reply. May good karma come your way……………

[APG73]

Amen brother...

I have a PC in the garage that I use for House/Car/Other maintenance tracking connected to a LaserJet 2500, both are 10 years old - yet, still functioning.  

[135790]

Here too. My oldest running platforms are a roughly 14 year old Dell desktop that exists mostly to run windows media player and is used as music server with about 1200 hours of music on it. I have another generic clone box in the same garage that is a video surveylence server and has been running nearly 24x7 since 2002. It is on it's 2nd primary drive and also 2nd external drive which is the repository for the images.

If the equipment is kept cool to cold  it is not unusual to double or triple typical service life spans.

[APG73]

Reminds me of old college days...

Thermal rule of thumb... for every 10C increase in temp., decreases the service life by 50% for almost any heat producing electronic or mechanical device. 

Keeping the fans and case clean, replacing the thermal paste and testing temps with a thermal gun/scanner will prevent premature failures.  Not really difficult but I have seen over the years, even in the cleanest house, the amount of dust/dirt/grime that gloms (is that a real word?) onto internal PC mechanicals causes long term damage and premature fails. 

[135790]

10 degrees celsius sounds so innocent, but in fahrenheit terminology that the difference between freezing and 82 degrees. Really, keeping computer electronics in the 60 degree range or cooler will substantially prolong the service life. One of my customers followed this closely and keeps their server room at about 60 degrees, year round. The result is that their servers routinely run up to 10+ years. They were one of my last to retire some relics running NT4. Ultimately the NT4 machines were retired because newer editions of windows server platforms didn’t get along with NT4. The machinery was still doing great.

But in typical office environments here in western washington state, swapping drives and cleaning dust from the chassis and especially the fans after about 4 years will go a long way to insure no surprises occur.

Been a pleasure chatting with you!