ahmad2080

FROM HIS NOTEBOOK: DIR /s D:\ : D.txt] DIR /s C:\system.sav : Systemsav.txt I want to note that I've copied all contents of : -The D partition. -The C:\Windows\SMINST folder. -The -The C:\Windows\boot folder. -The C:\boot folder -The C:\Hp folder -The C:\system.sav folder

I assumed that bleeblebrox is not compatable with vista because its main page says: "Beeblebrox is a partition table editor for Windows 95/98 or NT ", no VISTA there. I'll backup both, zip and post soon. Sorry for not referring to the google link; I was in a rush. Anyway, here it is: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...t=0&start=0 And his name was 'comcc' not 'comess'; sorry for that too. On my friends notebook, I captured a screenshot for Diskpart. Here it is: Just like mine (excluding the additional partitions he created). and here is the dir /s on his X:\ : http://rapidshare.com/files/217979585/_X.txt.html All log files in SMINST (His SMINST folder is in C:\windows not C:\ProgramFiles): LOGS2.rar Note: You can find also the : Testing Drive D:\ End of IsISOPartion : 0Entering IsISOPartition ...... End of IsISOPartion : 0RP not found. Trying to mount it. Error Execute : 2 End of FindRP : 0 In his Logs too. Info: He already burned the recovery Disks and his RecoveryPartition is working properly as well as his F11 hotkey function. DIR /s D:\ --> I forgot to send the file to my USBStick so I'll post it latter.

Thanks Jaclaz for all of your help here. I do appreciate your assistance. Yes, I tried to run the CD creator but it keeps showing the error message. That's why you found the recent dates in the LOG flie. There maybe another source that we can get benefit from; a friend of mine has a similar(not identical ) notebook.[There are some hardware differences, but I beleive that the software is the same. His recovery partition is visible too from factory] Can I capture his MBR and install it on mine? If yes, what software should I use? Should both harddisks be equal in size to do that? As I understood from Tripredacus that he tried to do something similar but it didn't work. Latter, I'll provide results of [DIR /s] on my friend's notebook in several locations (X:\,D:\,C:\system.sav). Until then, is there anything else that I can do? I've read an old topic similar to mine that I found from a google search. The google LINK led me here to MSFN. Both jaclaz & Tripredacus participated and provided plenty of information to solve the topic starter's issue (he was comess or something like that). Was that problem solved?

I noticed the SOFTHINKS MBR part, that's why I thought it'd be useful. Here are the LOG files & MBRINST.BT_ and MBRINST.VBS LOGS.rar MBRINST.rar

The X:\ partition appears when I boot from the recovery partition. It's 31 MB in size. Yes, MBR.INI in both paths and the one in X:\ are identical. DIR /S of C:\system.sav\Util\ : uTIL.TXT DIR /S of C:\Program Files\SMINST\: sminst.TXT EDIT: I found something Interesting: The Patch.cmd has a log file in systerm.sav, that log file was created 04/02/2009 ,although I ran the patch today. Anyway the patch when it was executed in 04/02/2009 [ not by me] seemed to work perfectly. I'll attach the correct LOG in 04/02/2009 and the LOG created when I ran it today. PATCH_CMD_correct_.txt PATCH_CMD_errors_.txt I don't know why the new LOG didn't overwright the old one.

The exact error message about MBR is : "Master Boot Record Strings too long! Your strings are 30 Bytes but the Master Boot Record has only 18 Bytes for strings" It appeared again while I ran the PATCH.CMD file in X:\windows\system32 About the recovery from F8: F8 opens the advanced boot menu, then I choose "Repair My computer" which opens "system recovery options" which has some recovery tools (Startup Repair , System restore, command prompt,......and RECOVERY MANAGER). From the RECOVERY MANAGER I can perform a full recovery.

I didn't understand most of your post. I'm not familiar with partition IDs. Here is the result of DIR /s in (X:\) : http://rapidshare.com/files/217362289/booot.txt.html This is the MBR.INI file in (X:\): MBR.INI These are all MBR files that I could find in both partitions C & D : MBR.INI in C:\system.sav\Util MBR.ini in C:\ program Files\SMINST MBRINST.VBS (Script file) in C:\system.sav\Util MBRINST.BT_ in C:\system.sav\Util MBEINST.LOG in C:\system.sav\Logs --> ( has only one line in it "MBRInst returned 0 " ) MBR.DLL in C:\Program Files

Yes I need this step, I want to make the Recovery partition the first partition using Diskpart [Maybe this is what confused partition magic; it saw the OS partition as partition number 2 and it decided that it was an error in the partition table that it had to fix, which made the recovery partition dissapear. Is that a good thoery?] I've attached a screenshot showing the List Disk ,List Vol & List Part commands on my notebook. In the (List part) there is an offset field (what is offset?)showing 288GB for partition2 (recovery partition) Is that fine? What's the next step?

I'll restate everything to make sure everybody understands everything: 1-Everything works perfectly 2-Executed RecoveryDisk creation but didn't burn the dvds 3-Installed PM --> Recovery partition became invisible. 4-Installed HP tool --> Recovery partition became visible. 5-RecoveryDisk creation software doesn't work (The recovery partition could not be found) & the F11 function key became disabled. 6-Tried some programs to undo all of this.[Acronis,EasyBCD,MBRInst,..]With no +ve results. 7-Used F8(advanced boot loader) to apply a full system recovery, which was done perfectly except an error about MBR--> "MBR string is too long 30 bytes.It should be 16 bytes" 8-Tried the F11 function --> still doesn't work. 9-RecoveryDisk creation software still doesn't work (The recovery partition could not be found) My condition now: 10-can perform a full sytem recovery using F8(advanced boot loader) then "Repair my computer" then "Recovery manager" 11- F11 at start up doesn't make the recovery manager begin ( as before in 1) 12-can't create recovery disks because of the error message (The recovery partition could not be found) I think that both [11 &12] are related to the MBR. So if I could fix the MBR as it was before, the f11 will work & the SoftThinks software will see the partition as a recovery partition. [and that's all what I need] NOTES: -If fixing MBR fixed [11] and didn't fix [12] then the HP technican was right about the one-time execution, so I'll order the recovery disks. -If fixing MBR fixed [12] and didn't fix [11] I'll be satisfied. -If fixing MBR didn't fix anything -----> I GIVE UP. -If fixing MBR made things worse.....I'll format the whole harddisk and install windows XP. Tools that I have: 13- MBRInst.exe & DiskPart.exe & Patch.cmd &other .cmd &.exe files that exist in the boot partition. 14- can read any log file 15- can access any partition through cmd prompt in system recovery options [ from F8 & repair my computer] I hope that this gives you all a pretty good picture on my current situation.

Can MBRbatch really fix the whole problem? EDIT: the DIR /s command on X:\ gave me a 1MB file (about 500 lines) which I can't Upload due to the 200 kb limitation.

To be fair , it was you that caused the trouble by using improperly a tool, no offence intended to you, rest assured, but the guys at Symantec are already busy enough attempting to add some more bloat in the Norton "line" of antivirii that they cannot actually produce some accurate documentation about Powerquest Norton Partition Magic, explaining to the less experienced user that it is a dangerous app if used improperly. :whistling: jaclaz mmm, yeah that's fair. So you suggest to use the tool given by submix8c ? EDIT: The tool that you gave me jaclaz : http://students.cs.byu.edu/~codyb/ is not comaptable with vista.

No, they don't exist in the Normal partition(c:\).When I said that I was able to log into the recovery partition I was wrong. When I set the recovery partition as Active (or using F8) I do log into the recovery manager, but when I opened a cmd there I found that I was standing on [X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32] Beside the X:\ partition (which is called the boot partition) there are C: & D: (My original partitions) so the MBRinst.exe file that I showed you was from the boot partition not the recovery partition. I don't know from where did the boot partition come from and what is its relation to the recovery partition, but I can list all of its contents [alot of .exe &.cmd files].

Maybe the file that says that the recovey disk creation has been execyted lies in the Recovery partition, so it'll be untouched even with a full recovery. No, I can set my recovery partition as Active and when I restart I can begin the recovery process.My problem is to make the recovery disk creation software on Vista to see the recovery partition so I can make the recovery disks. Thanks for the links but I can't trust symantec any more. It caused all of this trouble.

Tripredacus: Let me first ask a question before trying that on the softhinks partition: Is the problem that I have completly related to the MBR? Is the MBR the primary reason why Softhinks can't see the partition? I got in contact with HP online chat & with HP E-mail service but both didn't help. they just keep saying that I have to buy the disks if I need them. I tried to make them tell me how to solve the problem technically but the only result was getting me on my nerves. When I was chatting with their technican explaining the whole problem, I realized that I forgot to say (here in MSFN) that I once (before Partition magic and HP tool) executed the Recovery Disk creation and it showed how many DVD's I needed. At that time I didn't have the required empty DVD's so I simply exited the program. The HP technican told me that the program was designed to be executed and burn DVD's only one time. I don't beleive the 'one time execution' part, but let's assume that this is right. Then the problem of creating disks has nothing to do with PM & HP tool (Maybe they only affected the F11 function at start up) If that is correct then MBR programs won't solve the problem. Right? So if anyone tried to execute the Recovery disk creation twice and succeeded to reach the page where it tells how many DVD's are required, it'll make me sure that the problem cause is the MBR. Then I'll proceed Tripredacus's idea.

jaclaz: You must have replied while I was editing the post.Check it up again plz.

The recovery partition is D: too in my case. When i typed that command the result was dissapointing [ACESS DENIED]. I don't know why. I guess that you are right, It's not an option. EDIT: I've lost my mind......totally. I forget to run cmd as administrator. Any way I attached the results. me.txt

I tried the mbrinst as i said...it made no difference. It just kept saying : !warning the recovery partition could not be located. I tried other .exe &.cmd files......no desired results were obtained.. The only choise left was the full recovery......and because of all this time-wasting I was frustrated...I recovered the system without backing up my files...[ It doesn't matter anymore] After a while, an error message popped up saying that the MBR is too long like 30 bits while should be 16 or something like that. Anyway the recovery procedure continiued. What happened next still didn't happen yet. I'm still waiting for the process to complete, so I thought to invest the time and give some feedback on the situation. EDIT: I'm Screwed.......The recovery process completed and I ofcourse lost all my files. That would have been an acceptable sacrifice if I was able to create the recovery disks, but the problem is still there. Somehow, the partition can perform a complete recovery but lost the link with the softthinks software. Now I'm done with all my available options. Anybody has a solution to recover the link between softthinks and recovery partition?.....There is only one option left that I'll choose soon : GIVE UP.

The instructions on the Italian site are consistent with these: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=653972 though it seems like the used MBRINST.EXE is the one in the Recovery Partition. I beleive that there are some differences here. The path of mbrinst.exe is completely different so the command given didn't work. Even if I know the correct path, I don't think that it will be accessable. But if the purpose of that command is to restore mbr from mbr.ini, I can do that from mbrinst.exe right? I'll try some options in the mbrinst window and report the results.

I really appreciate your concern Tripredacus. Actually, your last post was a shock. I thought that I just solved the problem by finding the mbrinst.exe file. Should I give it a shot and try mbrinst ( It may work with me.. )? does it have sideeffects?? What options should I choose on the mbrinst screen? I didn't think that it's complicated like it seems to be. Anyway, there are some other .exe & .cmd executable files in the recovery partition that might be useful. My digital camera (the only way to take screenshots from another comp. )is not with me now.....so I'll attach screenshots of these files later, but let ask in advance if they would make any difference.

Well, I was able to log in the recovery partition and execute the MBRINST.exe file. It opened a window that had some options in it. I'm not sure what to do exactly(I don't want to mess things up) I've attached a picture that shows the options in that window. There are interesting options there. I was going to choose "Show and mount recovery partition" & in partition table field --> " Recovery part. first" and one of the HP F11 choices, but I preferred to ask the experts first…. The question now is: Can that tool fix the problem? Great news, thanks. If MBRINST.exe didn't fix the problem.......I'll be pretty cool with the full recovery option.

So I can't fix the Softthinks software ( or what ever it its) to make the recovery disks. And I can't (won't) mess with MBR to restore F11 function. What if I restored my system as DigeratiPrime suggested, Will everything return to normal? will I be able to create the recoverydisks & restore the f11 function at booting? I have another question: What if I made the recovery partition the Active partition? would that fix anything?

Thanks for your reply Tripredacus, What do you mean by recreating???do you mean formatting the partition and updating the partition table?

What modifications on MBR do you suggest? and how can I modify it?

To be more specific: I need to know what should be done to restore the precovery partition without doing a complete recovery to the system. What if the recovery process failed in the middle of its progress? then I'll not be able to recover anything at all [no recovery disks and no recovery partition]. There must be a way to get that 'Recovery manager' back to see the recovery partition as before. What exactly did PM do?? How can I undo it?? I want to solve the problem & learn something new. I don't like to follow: Do you want the problem to be solved?? YES.........Then recover your whole system. It's like reinstalling the OS because of an error message that pops up at startup.!!!!! I want to know why the error message "The recovery partition could not be found" shows up...and how to make it dissapear. I feel that the problem can be solved easily, but some knowledge is needed....That's what I'm seeking here. F8 was a great hint, but it'll be my last option to use it.

Actually I didn't try to do a complete PC Restore......I will have to backup all my data (about 100GB)..... I think that it would work if I tried. Is this my only and last option to fix the problem???