Windows xp recovery console

[darkstalker113]

i have a dual partition hard drive

it was
c: windows xp home
d: hp recovery partition

then i installed windows xp media center and kept the recovery partition

and now my setup is

c: hp recovery console
d: windows media center


and i want to reinstall windows xp home, which is in the recovery partition i believe

when i restart my computer, i hit f10 and nothing happens

does anyone have any ideas ?

 

[djnes]

It sounds like you blew away the boot records by installing MCE, which rendered your recovery partition useless. It also sounds like you didn't pay attention during the MCE install to see which partition was being assigned as C:. There is no fix for this, and if it was my system, I'd blow away to drive completely, including the recovery partition, and then install whichever version of XP I had legally (and had media for).

 

[Gatticus]

When you installed MCE it overwrote the mbr which is where HP put the F10 restore menu. Basically you are now screwed unless you have a recovery boot disk from HP. What's wrong with using MCE? If I was you I would delete both partitions and just install MCE again as that HP partition is no good to you now unless you have an HP boot disk that can access it. What's the extension of the HP image file?

edit: Oops, djnes posted the same thing almost the same time as me.

 

[bbz_Ghost]

We've had questions like this before in the past, and someone always says "It's impossible to fix" and they're always wrong.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=223188

Simple.

 

[djnes]

The reason why it's not suggested is because that fix has never been reported to work. Not that I should be the only person in the sample size, but I've tried that guide 4 times myself on friends' computers, and not once has the system been bootable afterwards. It's been suggested quite a few times, even led to a few flamefests, and yet not one person who's started a thread like this, has been able to do it successfully. Now, when you had in the fact that it's a new install, with no data to be backed up, it doesn't take very long to just re-install the OS.

 

[bbz_Ghost]

No, it doesn't, but if he loses that restore partition he's pretty much out of luck in that respect. Personally, and I know you'd probably agree with it djnes, I'm the type of guy that - if I bought an OEM machine (and I did recently, a Gateway Core 2 Duo laptop that I simply couldn't pass up for the price) - I'd get it home as I did, make sure it was functional as I did, hit it with True Image and save a perfect clone of the entire drive (both the C: system partition) and the recovery partition as well (you prefer Ghost, got that), then wipe that sucker completely clean and put whatever OS I choose on it and start fresh.

But it doesn't sound to me like darkstalker113 is either capable of doing that (meaning he doesn't have anyplace else to back the recovery partition up to before messing around with this level of tinkering) or doesn't have imaging software to save it all before going that extra step and just wiping the entire drive clean.

Gateway threw in a "recovery DVD" that I assumed - and we all know what happens when we assume things - would do a full factory restore of both the recovery partition and the MCE2005 system drive. Boy was I wrong. It only restores MCE2005 - and that takes 45 minutes to do a full restore and this is a Core 2 Duo laptop!!! Talk about lame. My god, I installed 15GB of stuff as already mentioned and imaged it in 17 mins and can restore it in 9. Why companies just don't license True Image or Ghost anymore is freakin' beyond me. 45 mins... sheesh.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like he's ready to take that step and just wipe the entire thing clean - which we both know is always the best route. I don't know how HP handles the recovery/restore process, but if it's anything like Gateway, if he gets rid of that recovery/restore partition, he could be screwed, blued, and tattooed before he even realizes it.

I'm always for the clean install with a bare drive, that's a given. Just not sure it's the solution in this case for this particular person. Hopefully he'll reply and provide some more info about the situation.

EDIT:
That "fix" has never failed for me, in several instances where it was used. Interesting... that's why I always post it because of my experience with it... odd.

 

[djnes]

I agree completely. I'm also making the assumption the OP doesn't have any restore media sitting around, at which point, HP could provide it to him for a shipping fee. You are right, that if the restore partition is gone, there's no hope, unless he made the discs from it before. I bought my sister an HP last year (woot for employee discounts) and she had a shortcut to create a restore CD set. 9 discs later, she had one.

I was assuming MCE was separate from this purchase, and could easily be reloaded to a clean, bare drive.

 

[bbz_Ghost]

Yeah, that's what I had to do with mine. I actually bought one Gateway laptop that was an amazing deal, got it home, did the "recovery DVD" creation process which just copied off all the original drivers in their installer formats, as well as all the original application software in installer format, and made a DVD of it. After that I wiped it, then did some testing with Vista, etc.

Went and put that Gateway supplied factory restore DVD in the drive, waited the 45 mins (!?!?!?!?!!!!!), then when it was done I was like, "Geezus, WTF... no drivers, no apps, nada... what a..." bleh.

So, when this Core 2 Duo model went on sale a week later I swapped it out for the older one, got home, was going to do the same thing for the new one but realized the only difference between the old one and new one was a different speed C2D processor, larger hard drive and double the RAM - it's the exact same hardware across the board, so that saved me the necessity of wasting another DVD for another restore disc.

Still pissed about how Gateway does their restore discs, and the fact that even when I did make the "restore DVD" from inside MCE2005, it still doesn't return the entire machine back to factory state. So, I ended up using my original True Image image (that had system drive C: and restore partition D: ) back on the old laptop when I returned it so it truly was in factory state. In fact, I made that image before I ever actually booted the first laptop fully to ensure it was really in the factory fresh out of the box state.

Bleh... sometimes I just wish I could use the computers and get some work done.