Hi all,

Starting up my HP Pavilion 8415 I got a message that the Win.com file could not be located. I ran the HP Recovery CD and thought that re-formatting the computer would solve the problem, only that half way through it aborted and I could not proceed. (It's a second computer and I don't have any vital info saved on it.)

I ran the recovery disk manually and went through step by step, only I get a message at the same recovery point each time saying "Bad memory image in FAT detected". I ran the HP diagnostics feature and it indicated errors in the computers memory.

Now I have a hard drive that has been wiped and no way of running the recovery CD and problems with the memory. What is going on? Is this something that can be relatively easy to resolve or does this computer require major surgery??

Appreciate any help.

Michael

I'd test the memory of your PC with Memtest86 first, then test the hard drive's integrity with the software from the respective manufacturer's software ie Maxblast for Maxtors, Data Lifeguard for Western Digitals etc.

Even ScanDisk may reveal some bad sectors on the drive and if on any sectors near the beginning of the drive, they may have ruined a pertinent file(s) needed by your OS to function.

Possibly booting to Knoppix and testing the drive from there can provide some answers as well.

Cheers FTT