Reinstall Windows on HP Pavilion with formatted Hard Drive

Hi
why you don't use USB disk to boot and install windows, and fixing the DVD problem later? you can create bootable USB disk to install windows by following these steps: (for sure you need another Laptop/PC to do it)
Create bootable USB for windows 7/8/10
1- You need to run an elevated command prompt. Start | type cmd | Right-click cmd (top of menu) | Run as Administrator
2- Next you will run Diskpart to prepare the disk for the OS  {question mark “?” below should be replaced with the disk number of the drive you are using}
•      diskpart
•      list disk
•      select disk ?
•      clean
•      create partition primary
•      select partition 1
•      active
•      format fs=ntfs quick label=”Win-Setup”
•      exit
Leaving DiskPart...
3- Now we need to copy the boot sector.  You should still be in the command prompt window
•      g:
•      cd boot
•      bootsect /nt60 g:
•      exit
•      xcopy g:\*.* h:\ /E /H /F
(assuming h: is USB drive)

what happened to the pc  that you needed to format the drive?  if the hardware is bad, you need to fix that first
did you run any diagnostics?

anyway, for reinstalling Windows, on a working PC -use this link  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
make a bootable usb stick for installing

A Windows 10 installation DVD will boot with secure boot enabled; but Knoppix or earlier versions of Windows won't.  The fact that you get to the "press any key" message proves that.
I think you need to create a Memtest CD, boot it, and let that run for a few hours as failing memory will do exactly what you describe.
https://www.memtest86.com/download.htm
P.S.  Google returns no results for the "500-0470cb" you posted.  On the same sticker as the serial number ought to be an entry for the part number which almost always ends in #ABA.  Can you post that, please?

Model is: 500-047c sorry for the typo earlier.
ABA# is: H5P71AA
The power supply is new / have tried both the original used one and this new one.
The DVD drive is new / have tried both the original used one and this new one.
The PC initially wouldn't start/boot.  Just a black screen. HD was externally formatted on request of the original owner.
Then the PC started to show better signs of life... and here we are.

I think I found the problem and now can get it to boot from a CD/DVD:
In this BIOS, the boot order menu includes UEFI and Legacy devices in separate lists as is typical.  
I had to disable the entire UEFI list - which, for me, is the opposite action I'd expected re: enabling Legacy.
So, it appears that the Windows install disk wouldn't boot until this was changed <<<<<<< !
It does now.
So, I'm going back to the UEFI enabled boot and try a new Windows install DVD.
........
OK.  So it will boot only if the UEFI boot list is disabled.

Thanks!
Now that it will boot, the keyboard and mouse lights go off when the boot begins and never come back on or work.
But they do work in the BIOS.

Davis McCarn:  "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" only appears if there's what should be a bootable disk in the optical drive.  I wasn't sure if this is what you meant.  Anyway, it didn't seem to prove anything to me.

Fred,
You don't even get that message until after the CD/DVD has started to boot and a genuine Microsoft Windows 10 installation DVD is both UEFI and secure bootable.  So are the newer versions of Memtest86.
P.S.  One of the nice things about Windows 10 is that, if you create new installation media after a major update, that version is included in the download.  The latest version is 1809 (for 2018, September) and I have started saving the ISO images using that version number in its name (i.e. Windows-10-x64-v1809.iso).  Windows 10 also gets its license from a Microsoft server so you can reinstall 5,000 times and it will automatically activate as soon as you connect to the internet.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Davis:  Yes, I do about the same thing.  
But, in this case, if the UEFI boot was enabled, then the message didn't appear at all and the system freezes on the Recovery screen.
If the Legacy boot is disabled, it doesn't matter.
If the Legacy boot is enabled and the UEFI boot disabled, then with a Windows install disk, the message doesn't appear and the disk starts running.
So, there are variations....

I finally reset the BIOS settings to the default and now it seems to be working - i.e. the mouse and keyboard after booting into the Windows install.

Then it's a peculiarity of that BIOS for that model HP as I have probably done at least 300 PC's without needing to touch the BIOS.

Yep!

Fred, you did not tell us what happened to the pc so it needed to be formatted ?

Fred,
I've seen several PC's from various manufacturers which have this issue -- the common denominator is an AMD chipset.

In general, you need to disable secure boot;  set the primary boot list to legacy;  set the first boot device to the hard drive and disable the 2nd, 3rd, and all subsequent boot devices (typically there are 5 or 6 of them);  save these changes to the BIOS;  then boot and press the appropriate key for a boot menu (this varies by PC … for an HP it's usually F9 or F10).

Then boot to your boot media, but be sure you select it in the legacy section and NOT the UEFI section.

You should then be able to install Windows 10 with no issue.    [Note:  I generally use a USB flash drive to do the install rather than a DVD, but it shouldn't matter as long as you choose it from the legacy list]

I prefer the ISO images for several reasons:
1.  I save them in a folder named ISO images so I can make more copies as needed.
2.  Once they are burned to a CD-R or DVD-R, they cannot become infected as further writing cannot happen.
3.  They boot with UEFI and Secure Boot enabled on most PCs.
4.  An ISO image is a recording of the track (spiral of ones and zeroes) so future copies are exactly the same.

nobus:

Fred, you did not tell us what happened to the pc so it needed to be formatted ?

The technical fact is that it was done.  "Why?" isn't a technical matter.  Anyway, I *did* answer earlier / above.  What's the point of the question?

>>  What's the point of the question?   <<   as i said in my first post, if the cause is bad hardwre, you need to fix that first

without the input from you, we don't know what to suggest
so if you can ask the customer if there were problems prior to the formatting, it helps
sorry if i troubled you

nobus:  ah yes.  I certainly agree.  In this case he just wanted all of his data removed in that manner.  So it wasn't a clue as to what was wrong thereafter.....

for removing data, or reinstalling the OS, you don't need to format the drive.
he is just complicating things imo

Formatting a hard disk drive does not overwrite the old data which is the only way to ensure it cannot be recovered.  I regularly recover virtually everything where a factory recovery has been done or the drive was formatted.  On floppy disks, formatting does rewrite every sector; but on hard disk drives and flash media, all it does is to blank out the root directory and the FAT tables if they exist.

>>  Formatting a hard disk drive does not overwrite the old data which is the only way to ensure it cannot be recovered  <<  i have read here that since windows 10, formatting a drive does make it unrecovereable; but i did not test it yet

This makes me wonder *how* Davis McCarn does the recovery..... Not something I know but would like to know.

Ever since the 1980's (!!!), the normal hard disk drive format creates new blank root directories and, in the days of FAT tables, new blank FATs.  Almost any decent undelete or data recovery package has only needed to scan the rest of the currently unused sectors on the hard disk drive in order to locate the missing files and folders.  It's easy folks and I've done it thousands of times!  Heck, with NTFS, each cluster used contains a pointer to the next piece.

What's your preferred undelete package?

GetDataBack by Runtime; though, I have used several others.

i also use GDB - not free though; but it lets you see the data it can recover for free - you only pay when you store it

I see it listed for $79.  But, in view of the comments, is that a one-time up-front price or how does the "pay when you store" work?  I'm a bit confused.

it is a pay once  - you can use it then on other pc's as well

The trial will let you test the recovery and preview some of the files; but, in order to actually recover the files, you have to buy the licensed version.