[Frustrated_HP_User]

I'm on my second set of CDs that I orderd from HP to do a Full System Recovery, thinking I had a bad set of CDs.

When I reboot (after setting CMOS to boot from CD), I get the following:

No operating system installed or partition corrupted.
Press R to perform a full system recovery.

(this is good, this is what I want..... so I press R)

(then I get the following )

Preparing Recovery Partition - Please wait

(and it puts the standard horizontal bar-graph for loading software at
the bottom of the screen, and it starts into it for about a half second,
then I get.)

Non-System disk or disk error, press any key to continue.


I'm stuck. I've tried restoring CMOS setting to default. Didn't work.
CMOS is seeing the CD drive with the "auto" setting. So I believe it's ok. Especially because when I reboot, it gets as far as it does with the prompts on the screen.

I tried fdisk and format of the hard drive with a Win98 floppy, and that worked fine. But I want to restore my XP Home edition. So I tried the restore CD again. It blew away the stuff I did for Win98, created a 5 Gig partition, but then dies.

Tech support at HP is clueless at this level. The best they can do is ask if my CD is placed in the drive properly and ask for more money for support.

Appreciate any thoughts and things to try....

[Advertisements]

Have you worked through the Repair XP guide at the top of this forum here:
http://www.geekstogo...ws_XP-t138.html

[austin_o]

Have you worked through the Repair XP guide at the top of this forum here:
http://www.geekstogo...ws_XP-t138.html

[Frustrated_HP_User]

The XP Repair Feature is nice... and I've used it a number of times to get things running again after the kids downloaded too many games from the Web.

But I've completely erased the hard disk when I did the Win98 Fdisk and Format C: last night, so there is nothing on the hard drive.

I'm still wondering if HP sent a "true" bootable CD as part of their CD Recovery Set. This is the second set of disks they sent me. The problem is that I can't get to the right person at HP who would really try the CDs to make sure they work. They just keep sending new CDs from some manufactured image that engineering created.

Would you think the CDs are bootable if they give me those first prompts to "Press R for a Full System Recovery" ?? and it starts into the "Preparing Paritition" part , but then dies.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[magusbuckley]

Try bypassing the recovery CD. Do you have a Windows CD?

[austin_o]

I have and old hp and I share your frustration with HP tech support because I have been there and done that. So, you can boot from the CD they sent? Are you able to get into the bios and check to make sure everyting is set up right? My old hp, and compaq (both hp now) came with recovery disks that had their recovery/restore software with the windows operating system included. I suspect that is what they sent you. Neither came with a Windows install CD. Are you able to navigate and explore that cd? Can you find XP setup on it? If you can find it and note the file name (probably setup.exe) you could try running that from the command prompt once it boots up from the cd.
That would be >"the file name you found" hit enter and see what happens.....

[Frustrated_HP_User]

I like your line of thinking (both Magusbuckley and Austin)


I wish I had the regular Windows CDs, then I'd be golden. But I just have their
Restore CDs.

I'm going to try and search through the other CDs in the set and see if I can find the setup.exe file somewhere.

Maybe I could copy all the files from the CDs to a partition that I create and format with Win98. And then try to run the setup.exe from there (if I can find it).


Thanks....

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

Suggest you take a look HERE for complete instructions on how to use the Recovery Cd's..

You may have "screwed up" when you fdisked the drive !!

Murray

[austin_o]

good link there, Murry! I would have thought HP tech support would have had him go there before sending multiple CD's but now days, we do good to get tech support that can speak english. Good luck Frustrated_HP_User.

My first computer was a Packard Bell Pentium I, back in 1995. They shipped it with a recover CD that had an error on it. First time I did a restore, it didn't work. I ended up calling tech support and they told me to repeat the process, then right at the end, I had to edit the value of some file and change the value from =1 to =0 or some such, and then re-boot. Next time I had to do a restore of windows 95, I just found the WIN95 setup and ran that at the dos prompt.

[njustice]

Hello,

Try this, turn the computer off and unplug the power cord. Open the case(touch the case with one hand to discharge any static) and remove the IDE ribbon and power plug from the hard drive. Then plug the IDE and power plug back in and close the case. I actually have seen Non-System disk or disk error happen to many HP computers.

[Frustrated_HP_User]

(ndjustice) Wow... I never would have believed it.

I unplugged the IDE cable, and then put it back.

I powered up.... tried loading from the Recovery CD, and it started to load!

No more "Non system disk error".


I'm really amazed. I'm an electrical engineer by trade, and I've never heard of this before. Do you know the technical reason why this worked? Does the HP Pavillion keep some sort of power (voltage) supplied to the drive even when the unit is off or goes through a power-cycle? And does this keep some sort of setup on the drive locked in?

Anyway... a big thanks for all who contributed. I'm back in the game.