Quickplay Master Boot Record (MBR)

The reason Quickplay does not work when you do a clean install is because the OS disk resets the MBR on your laptop. The MBR in its factory state has information about the QP partition. I found a program in the Quickplay software (after the softpaq extracts to the swsetup folder) that restores the MBR callled XSS. If you run the program and hit ok it appears to restore the MBR to the factory state.

If anybody is familiar with the MBR and run the XSS software than let us know what your experience is. I just deleted the partition because I don't need the software and needed the extra space. Is their a way to backup the factory MBR and restore it after doing a clean install? That would be even quicker.

 

Quickplay works even with the clean install of windows XP. I am using it with a retail Windows XP disc and all I needed to do was reinstall it and sure enough QP setup adds the correct entries to the default MBR.

 

That is all good if you have one partition, but I have two If you have more than one, it will not load the quickplay software onto your computer. I have more than two so I can reimage my computer without having to backup up all my documents, movies, and music

Plus you can leave the Quickplay partition alone, it appears you can run the XSS utility after a clean install and it will set the MBR back up. Therefore you can skip deleting the quickplay partition and having to setting up the one big partition again. If any of the clean installers want to get HP tech support to verify this utility than it would helpful to other people on here. If I do another clean install I might put quick play back on.

 

Here's one guy that you should contact, he appears to be WELL VERSED in how Quickplay works ,installs, affects the MBR (please state what versions you're talking about)

http://www.notebookforums.com/post2461969-581.html

 

Sometime ago I tried updating my QP so that it could play avi files...

After installing the updates, QP can play the avi files already, but sometimes it displayed the message "QP cannot play this file" when i try to play avi files without booting into windows. Hence, I tried many times to update the QP using the patch, it works fine at first but always keep coming back with the same problem. So I tried uninstalling and reinstalling QP, and now comes the problem. As of we know, QP needs 1Gb of free unformatted space at the end of the hardisk. I have clear the space before reinstalling it. but everytime after reinstalling (i tried couple of times), QP is still not working and it will automatically create another partition of 1Gb (visible in Windows Explorer) with a few folders like "Windows", "CL***"....

I think all of this have to do with the MBR thing. Anyone mind teaching me on what's it all about>

Thanks so much in advance.


Regards,
wanlin

 

Thats strange. Something must be going wrong during installation. What happens after you run setup and it takes a while to install stuff and asks you to restart the computer? Also while running setup have you disconnected all other drivers?

 

yes it does take up some time and while installing and if im running windows explorer, a new ? mark drive will appear (after restart will be named local disk) .....what do you mean by disconnected the drivers?

 

Oops, Sorry I meant 'external drives'(HDD). So the quickplay installation process does ot continue after the re-boot? Usually after it asks to reboot it should boot into QP and the installation should continue. At this point I would suggest doing a clean install of Windows and then try installing QP, obviously somethings messed up somewhere.

EDIT: You could try to fix the MBR and set it to default by booting with Windows XP CD and selecting the repair option and typiny 'fixmbr' at the command prompt. This should set the boot record to default and then try reinstalling QP. I would also suggest formatting the QP partition and then deleting it.

 

i shall try out the MBR method. thanks miner.

 

i failed while trying the repair option, and it said:

"setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program"

Can I use this program to fix the MBR? This program "MBRInstal.exe" is found in C:\SWSetup\HPQDP

 

does the MBR install program has anything to do with the failed repair option using XP cd? I did play with it abit after failed to install QP not long ago.

 

You have an Intel based system, so you'll need to disable SATA or use an external floppy to load the SATA drivers for Windows setup to recognise the HDD. See the re-installation guides sticky...So there probably isnt any connection betwen that & QP not working. I havent tried using the quickplay MBR setup program but if you have a backup of your files, then it might not hurt to try.

 

How to disable the SATA? Can it be done through bios?

 

i have pavilion dv6000 (model dv6011ea). i deleted all previous partitions (recovery, qp and windows) and now i have only one ntfs partition with windows xp pro on it. i installed Quick play for windows from swsetup directory.

but i don't know how to install Quick play to boot when computer is turned off. if i now press dvd button it boots in windows.

 

Quickplay Direct has a different setup program. Look under HPQPDP in the SWsetup folder. Ofcourse do remember to leave 1GB of unpartitioned space on your HDD otherwise the installation will fail.

 

miner, thank you for your quick anwser.

i have actually 2x dv6011ea in my room right now. one is from my sister, other from my cousin. third notebook in the picture is mine. i feel like in some freakin computer service





can i make partition for QP with partition magic 8? i think that it has to be the same size and have the same settings?

or maybe i can somehow copy it from other HP on which i have factory xp home and all other stuff. is this possible to do with partition magic 8? i would like to know before i continue to install fresh xp pro on second HP.

 

I guess restoring the MBR or using that utility won't work. It looks like it searches or adds files to the computer.

 

Partition Magic should do the trick. If that doesnt work try using GParted live CD. I have used gparted to partition my HDD several times and its pretty good plus its open source as well. Copying the info over from another system will not work. The best option is to do a re-partition and then re-install Quickplay from the folder I suggested in my previous post.

 

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This guy really knows how QuickPlay installs, operates, screws with the Master Boot Record...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1661552&postcount=4

Here's the QuickPlay thread... http://www.notebookforums.com/post2461969.html#post2461969


Quickplay 2.x is Windows XP Embedded, which is essentially WinXP stripped down to the essentials so that it boots faster and has less chances for the user to muck it up. Most HTPC builders just do the same thing themselves by stripping out unneccessary things and either using MCE or plain XP with a front-end (of which there are a lot to choose). If you look over at hometheaterforum you can find the latest and greatest front-end users I'm sure. If you don't want an HTPC but just QP functionality on a non-HP laptop then you still need another program since QP has only certain HP drivers builtin and no easy way to add more.




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