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Calling for help - again !

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MerleOne:
Hi all,

After the hibernation problem I had a few weeks ago, successfully solved thanks to you, I have now another problem, a more serious one, yet I have the feeling the solution is close :

I just bought an entry level HP notebook for my Dad, a HP510, and I have the following problem : at first boot, a windows (low-res) appears asking me to chose between French or US Windows XP, French being selected by default.  I am supposed to be able to change the choice with up and down arrow keys, and validate with enter.  Alas none of these keys seem to be operative.

I have tried using an externel USB keyboard, same problem (enabling and disabling USB legacy support).  I finally booted with BartPE CD and observed that the keyboard was OK. 

I moved the content of the root folder to a backup dir, I moved the content of what seemed the French XP install files (including NTLDR, and similar critical files) and guess what : it started OK with a French XP and installation of Hp specific software seem to work.  But I may have missed something.  Anyone already encountered such a problem ?

app103:
If you can boot into a French XP, can you change the default language within Windows to US English?

In Control Panel it would be Regional and Language Options (at least that is what it is in English.)

I think the problem might be with the keyboard drivers not being loaded yet when you see that selection window. This happens sometimes with usb keyboards and mice...the drivers not being loaded till Windows loads. I don't recall it happening with laptop keyboards, at least not with my daughter's HP laptop.

Do the directional arrow keys work in the bios setup at all? Can you even access the bios setup? (I am thinking there could be a problem with that, if the keyboard won't work till you are in Windows.)

If there is a problem, is there any way to plug a ps/2 keyboard in? That might be a possible work around.

MerleOne:
Thanks for the quick reply.  Actually having a French XP, a German XP, or a US XP is quite different, you cannot simply change the default language.

Regarding the keyboard problem : the hardware is working fine : in BIOS, with BartCD as boot all is well, it's just with this pre-Windows environment.

There is no PS2 socket either, it's really a low-end PC.

For now the problem is solved thanks to the manual move of the XP files, but really would have avoided that.

XP is now installed, French version, the recovery partition has been created, all seem almost OK, I just have a bunch of files which are no longer useful (related to the pre-boot phase), I wish I could remove them...



If you can boot into a French XP, can you change the default language within Windows to US English?

In Control Panel it would be Regional and Language Options (at least that is what it is in English.)

I think the problem might be with the keyboard drivers not being loaded yet when you see that selection window. This happens sometimes with usb keyboards and mice...the drivers not being loaded till Windows loads. I don't recall it happening with laptop keyboards, at least not with my daughter's HP laptop.

Do the directional arrow keys work in the bios setup at all? Can you even access the bios setup? (I am thinking there could be a problem with that, if the keyboard won't work till you are in Windows.)

If there is a problem, is there any way to plug a ps/2 keyboard in? That might be a possible work around.

-app103 (May 23, 2007, 07:26 AM)
--- End quote ---

tomos:
at first boot, a windows (low-res) appears asking me to chose between French or US Windows XP, French being selected by default.  I am supposed to be able to change the choice with up and down arrow keys, and validate with enter.  Alas none of these keys seem to be operative.-MerleOne (May 23, 2007, 06:46 AM)
--- End quote ---

Actually having a French XP, a German XP, or a US XP is quite different, you cannot simply change the default language.
--- End quote ---

As you say you cant actually change the actual operating language unless you have two copies of XP installed -
I wonder in that case what that choice -between French or US Windows XP- actually was/is?

Maybe it shouldnt even be there - that being why it doesnt work?

Darwin:
I find the pre-windows environment on installing 2k or XP appalling - important options are hidden off screen, requiring you to have the wit to scroll down to find/select them, and things like partitioning the drive prior to install and selecting the parititon to load windows on is really flaky - most of the time it doesn't work! Basically, you can configure your drive and load your flavour of Windows NT onto any partition that you like, as long as it's C:\. But maybe it's just me...

As for merleone's problem - I don't have an answer. I've learned to live with whatever workarounds I can come up with for problems that I encounter when installing Windows.

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