Hard Disk Drive Space
HP Pavilion and HP Media Center Desktop PCs with the Windows XP operating system preinstalled may appear to have a hard disk drive smaller than what is stated in the product specifications, documentation, or on the box. Hard disk drives are described and advertised by manufacturers in terms of decimal (base
10)capacity. Windows and other programs, such as FDISK, use the binary (base 2) numbering system.
In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, and one gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. In the binary numbering system, one megabyte is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes. Because of the different measuring systems, you may see a difference between the size reported by Windows, and the size advertised. The storage capacity of the hard disk drive is as advertised.
Windows reports smaller capacity in the Windows Explorer tool and in the My Computer window because it only shows information about one partition on the hard disk drive at a time. The first partition contains the System Recovery information.
Troubleshooting
To address problems that may arise when you install your PC, refer to the following pages for possible solutions.
Symptom describes the sign or warning message for the type of problem.
Problem identifies one or more reasons why the symptom may have occurred.
Solution describes what you should do to try to solve the problem.
Look up the description of the symptom or problem, and try the solution listed.
Some of the symptoms listed may not apply to your PC. For problems relating specifically to the monitor or printer, refer to the equipment documentation.
The tables appear in this order:
•Audio
•
•Diskette (Floppy) Drive
•Display (Monitor)
•Hard Disk Drive
•Hardware Installation
•Internet Access
•Keyboard and Mouse
•Power
•Memory
•Miscellaneous
PC Troubleshooting and System Recovery Guide 7