Cannot Access Recovery Partition - HP Pavillion 1

[cyberspace]

Bit of background - new pc was bought with Vista on but then had Server 2k3 installed.

Anyway i've been asked to put it back to factory settings. When you turn the machine on it prompts the usual stuff ie. esc for boot options, and also includes F11 to access system recovery

However, pressing F11 results in...nothing...and 2k3 boots up.

it's not the keyboard as i've tried 2 and the other options show without issue.

I've used BartPE and the partition is still there, but i'm just a bit stumped as to how to invoke it if it won't accept F11? We don't have a vista disc either.

Thanks in advance

'When all else fails.......read the manual'

 

[linney]

Not much help for you, but you might have to contact HP.

This is what their site says on the matter.

"Do one of the following actions depending on how Windows Vista was installed:
If Windows Vista came pre-installed on your computer, press the F11 key repeatedly when the first screen opens (the logo screen), until Recovery Manager program opens on the screen.
If your computer was upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista, press the F10 key repeatedly when the first screen opens (the logo screen) until Recovery Manager program opens on the screen.
If Recovery Manager does not open, a set of recovery discs is needed to perform a System Recovery. "

Starting the recovery from power up

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=12455&docname=c00814731

Is there any options to create Recovery Disks from the hidden partition using HP software?

 

[cyberspace]

Thanks linney. I also posted this in the PC Hardware General forum and got some good answers there too.

F11 and F10 don't work - I don't have any HP software but as it turns out I can get my hands on a Vista disc. So if that doesn't work i will have to pay HP for recovery cd's!

Frankly i'm loathed to do it but if that's the only legit option then so be it. They should be providing these discs with the machines IMO, but that's another story!

'When all else fails.......read the manual'

 

[linney]

You may be lucky and have HP supply you one for free, but you need to contact them first.

 

[dilettante]

Well they do provide the option of burning recovery CDs/DVDs from the recovery partition. Of course you'll want to do this before tampering with the installation.

 

[dilettante]

I'll plug this procedure again too:

Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION.

No, it isn't a piracy technique. It's about getting rid of the preinstalled crapware. Worked great for me.

Note:

BURN RECOVERY DISCS. If you don't do this you aren't nearly as clever as you think you are, and probably much less so. Do not use the recovery discs you bought from HP!!! Use the recovery manager tool to burn them yourself!!! Burning them yourself is the preferred method to obtain the recovery discs, and many people have found that there are bugs in the HP discs that cause the recovery to fail. DO NOT USE THEM!

 

[cyberspace]

Well they do provide the option of burning recovery CDs/DVDs from the recovery partition. Of course you'll want to do this before tampering with the installation.

I know that - alas it wasn't me who tampered with the installation, I have just inherited the resulting problem.

As for the above post - I can only burn the discs myself if i can boot into Vista. And since Vista isn't installed anymore....there is a slight issue with that!

'When all else fails.......read the manual'

 

[dilettante]

Good old Catch 22!

In a sense the answer is to just throw it away, buy a fresh one, and try not to "break it" this time. I assume it isn't under warranty or extended warranty yet? And yes, I know YOU didn't "break it." ;-)

Or obtain a DVD set (I think there are 2) from HP and hold your nose and hope for the best.

Or you might try to find somebody else with precisely the same model (and serial number range) of laptop and ask to copy their DVDs - assuming they created any.

Or give up on factory settings and download driver packages from HP, install a clean copy of Vista, and hope most of the hardware doodads still actually work.


I won't defend HP here. In my opinion caveat emptor always applies with computer stuff and whenever actual "customer service" is observed it is something to marvel at. The equivalent of Ebenezer Scrooge handing out a fat Christmas goose.

 

[linney]

Would it be possible using any third party boot manager software to boot into the recovery partition, or is there any amending of the Boot.ini file that would have the same outcome? A bit vague, but I tend to avoid purchasing machines with recovery partitions, preferring to have a CD in my possession.

http://www.google.com/search?q=free+boot+managers+windows&rls=com.microsoft:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=free boot managers+windows&rls=com.microsoft

 

[dilettante]

The recovery partition is said to contain an encrypted compressed image. It might not be fruitful to obtain access to it even if you can from outside of the HP Recovery Manager utility.


I did find this tidbit, but it gives no source:

F11, F11, F11, F11,... doesn't work. POST screen lists others but not F11. Googling suggests that the HP boot-time recovery tool is not a BIOS feature but a boot loader on the recovery partition and the active partition is set wrong if F11 doesn't work.

Still Recovering

 

[cyberspace]

thanks for the above

I'd already tried editing boot.ini when i booted with BartPE, no luck..having said that however, I may have edited the file incorrectly...

the main hard drive partition was shown as (2), so i just copied and pasted this..changed the comment to "recovery" and put 1 in the brackets instead.

Going to go for a clean install and then get the drivers from HP, just going to try it with a different DVD drive

What a pain!

'When all else fails.......read the manual'

 

[culiptist]

If F11 doesn't work you can manually reboot from a vista recovery partition.

1.What I did was reinstalled Vista from a friend. You don't have to activate it so don't work about it. Next open you recovery partition is should be either D: or E: and search for ".wim" files. There should be a series of them that have similar file names. Like base.wim, base1.wim, and so on. There should also be one that doesn't not follow the same name structure. Write down or remember it's location.

2.Download Easybcd.

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

It's free. Once you've down it run the application. It should ask you to back up registry I just skipped that part and got to the application. It should look some this like this.

http://neosmart.net/gallery/d/4970-1/Main+EasyBCD+Screen.png

3. Next just click on "Add/Remove Entries" Should look like this.

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3784/easybcdus1.jpg

Click the tab that's directly right of the "NeoGrub". You looking for the WinPe tab. Once opened Select the correct drive that the recovery partition is in then, look for an option to select a .wim file. Find the location of the .wim file you found early and select it. Now in the "Name box just type "Recovery". Last click update entry and you should now see it along with the windows vista entry.

4.Now close Easybcd and reboot. After the manufactor screen you will now see a black screen with 2 lines of words at the top. One should say some thing like "Windows Vista......" and the other should say "Recovery" Press the arrows keys up or down and select "Recovery" by pressing enter. You should now see another black screen with white bar at the bottom saying "Load windows files" or something like that. From here on the Recovery partition should be started. If boot back into vista by selecting "Windows Vista...." instead of "Recovery" at the boot. Then open EasyBcd and try another .wim file. I would start with what you think is logicaly the first one. The should be only a total of maybe 8 to 15 .wim files in the recovery partition. You might have try all of them. When do go in and edit winpe in easybcd every thing is the same expect the new file your selecting.

I hope this helps.

 

[TeZkO]

there are not visible wmi files in the recoery partition.

help please!!

 

[linney]

I can't help you with missing .wim, or .wmi files, but I did see this link that maybe might help you?

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

Have a look at Vista's Startup Repair.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx#EX

 

[pcangelo]

Hi,
Usually the F11 thing is recorded in partition table. It is a small code to boot from the HP_RECOVERY partition.
On my laptop I have some duplicates/backups (made by HP) on sector 2 and 3. I'm not sure if this is a rule for all notebooks.
To use/reactivate the old code you can try to copy only the code from the backup copy into your partition table or, if you didn't modified anything in partition table, copy/restore the backup.
(Even if is not very easy, I prefer to do these modifications from a linux liveCD distribution using 'dd'. parted is very nice. If the linux shutdowns at boot (on amd780G chipset will do that) use: hpet=no noacpi options on boot or nohpet noacpi for some 64bit linuxes)