[sussiba]

There's no forum that really fit my question so I tihnk this is the closest.

The original harddrive of my Asus K52F failed. So I replaced it. I tried using the recovery discs that I created when I purchased it. It "looks" like it is doing its thing (progress bar, asking for disc 2). But after it is all done and I reboot (without the recoveyr disc, I still get the message "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

I called Asus and they recommend for me to but the rescovery discs again from them ($50). Is it the right thing to do? I'd hate to spend $50 and still at the original problem.

Thanks.

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sussiba

Couple of questions for you if I may;

Is the new HDD detected/listed in the BIOS.
Have you changed the boot sequence in the BIOS to DVD/CD drive first, the HDD second, saved the new settings and exit.
Did you format the new HDD before writing data to it.

[phillpower2]

sussiba

Couple of questions for you if I may;

Is the new HDD detected/listed in the BIOS.
Have you changed the boot sequence in the BIOS to DVD/CD drive first, the HDD second, saved the new settings and exit.
Did you format the new HDD before writing data to it.

[sussiba]

To answer your questions:

Yes the harddrive is listed in the bios.
The boot sequence is harddrive and then dvd drive.
I am not sure if I formatted the new harddrive before recovery.

So to remedy the last question, I tried to install a fresh copy of Win7 on it just to make sure the drive itself is functional. After some hiccup (including the filesystem is somehow in RAW, and the windows installer cannot even detect a harddrive) I am able to successfully install win7 to it.

Then I tried my recovery disks again. I am back to the exact same message as the beginning.

It seems is me like the problem is with the recovery disks. I check with "diskpart" after recovery attempt and it seems to leave the harddrive with raw filesystem, even it previously had Win7 installed.

Your thoughts?

Edited by sussiba, 21 November 2012 - 11:59 PM.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update

I may have identified what is causing you problems based on the following details from your update;

The boot sequence is harddrive and then dvd drive.

This needs to be changed to DVD drive first and the HDD second, this will allow the information to be read from your Recovery Disks and then copied and stored on your HDD, in essence what is happening at present is once the disks are removed the information that they contain is gone with them, please see the canned speech below for a "how to"

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS;

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the appropriate button that allows you to access the BIOS (Del – F8 etc)
This will enter you into the BIOS/CMOS
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to DVD/ CD drive
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit.
Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

NB: For a clean install a full NTFS format of a new HDD is beneficial and helps things install correctly.

[sussiba]

I don't believe boot sequence is the problem. I did the recovery process again (for the 5th time at least) to ensure I do have the DVD drive as the top of the boot sequence. Exactly same result.

[phillpower2]

From your reply #3

The boot sequence is harddrive and then dvd drive.

If you check the boot sequence now is the DVD drive still set as the first boot device and the HDD second?

[sussiba]

We figured out the problem. The problem is that the recovery software EXPECTS a harddrive of the same size, 500G. I replaced the original drive with a smaller one and the recovery process does not know how to create a valid second partition. It created the first recovery partition correctly however.

We fixed the partition table with the minitool partition wizard. And then proceed to recover from the first partition (recovery partition) normally.

Edited by sussiba, 24 November 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update

Is the computer up and working now.

[sussiba]

Yes. We are still in the process of all the windows updates, but it is looking good Only took us a couple months...

[phillpower2]

Great news and I must say your perseverance is commendable

Updates are a pain but I know you will feel more confident when they are all downloaded and installed.