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Help needed with Vista recovery MBR


comcc

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Thanks for the ideas Jaclaz. I will give this a try and post my results.

EDIT:

I tried both of the examples you suggested and neither one was able to boot - just a blinking cursor and no response from the keyboard. Reading through the MAN pages for mkisofs I did not see anything that I thought might have a better chance of working than what you recommended so I went all the way and burned them to CD instead of installing Virtualization sotware. The .iso was created without any problems other than a warning about -rock being the same as another option on my platform, so I think that part was a success. I read several times that the SoftThinks software uses some type of hardware key so maybe I would need a dongle of some sort for this to work. I also looked into the MBRInst program (same as is used with HP QuickPlay partitions) but after scanning through the program with a hex editor I did not see anything that looked like it was able to support the F11 keypress (F10 was there) so I don't think that is going to be able to help me fix my problem.

I also spent some time looking at the Logical drive boot sectors on both the working and non-working drives to see if there was anything there that looked promising. So far I have not seen anything that I could tell had anything to do with this problem, but I am still not ready to admit defeat.

Edited by comcc
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Another attempt:

in the file you posted, at offset 18944 Dec/0x04A00

there is a chunk of data that seems VERY like a "standard" MBR.

immediately before, at offset 18432 Dec/0x04800 Hex

there is another 512 bytes that could well be the "ST Master Boot Record" but there is a text reference to F10, not F11 :unsure:

and before yet, at offset 16384 Dec / 0x04000 Hex

there is a 2048 bytes that do look like a "no-emulation" CD boot sector (invoking BOO.MGR and BOOTFIX.BIN)

I would try (in a VM) to create a standard hard disk image, with a "simple" OS, like DOS, on a partition on it, then replace the MBR CODE with either of the TWO MBR codes found.

Then, if it works "normally" I would try replacing on the "real" hard disk the MBR code with code from the second one, keeping of course DATA and replicating Disk Signature.

Reference to Standard 2K/Xp/2003 MBR and Disk Signature:

http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/Win2kmbr.htm

Another thing to try would be to test the found 2048 bytes as "no-emulation" bootsector on a .iso, given that somewhere you have a "BOO.MGR" file or that you can find something that could be it. :unsure:

jaclaz

Rule of the thumb to find bootsectors or MBR's embedded in files:

1) search for the "Magic Number" 55AA (more chances of it being an actual boot record signature if it's "aligned" to the right of the hex editor view)

2) check the 64 bytes immediately before:

- if they are 00's chances are that it is a MBR

- if there is some text "related" to booting, like "No OS", "invalid boot", "non system disk", or the like, chances are that it is a partition bootsector

- if there is the text "BOOT" search around 2000 bytes before, if there is the text "CDBOOT" chances are that it is a no-emulation CD boot sector

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Thanks again jaclaz! I will be trying this tonight and tomorrow and will report back. I really appreciate you taking the time with this.

EDIT:

OK, I found the bootfix.bin and boo.mgr files, put them in a CD .iso image file with the 2048 byte MBR you refer to at offset 0x04000 (hex) and tried to boot Vitual PC with the image. No luck. I also tried using the other boot code you point out to boot the virtual HDD, trying to get the F11 function to work. That was also unsuccessful. I did find a .pdf file from HP that talks about how older versions of HP computers "tattoo" the DMI information on the PCs. In searching through the various logs, .ini files, and other files I have been able to access on both the user partition and the recovery partition, I have found that most of the data I should have in the MBR is still there and intact. At this point I just need a bit of luck (or help) finding the right combination of pieces needed to make this work properly.

Edited by comcc
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Yes, F10 is the default setting for SoftThinks.

Also, don't worry about whats in the DMI. That has nothing to do with the recovery partition. We use that same method of putting stuff in the DMI as well, but the recovery partition does not read from there, as evident that I can take an image to totally different hardware and run the recovery just fine.

If you are interested in the DMI stuff, check out the Intel Integrator Toolkit. As far as other manufacturers, we get custom BIOS versions to get stuff in the DMI.

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Since you can access and use your Vista install, why not get the OEM key from the registry, save the xm-rms certificate file to another location, borrow a Vista DVD and add those back? It would allow you to install a clean and legal copy. You can then image that with imagex to get an activated DVD for your machine.

I know you want to recover the blown recovery partition, but maybe that's more troube than it's worth.

Just a thought.

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@Tripredacus

Thanks for the info. I was not sure what specific conditions were tested when the F11 key is pressed at boot time to start the recovery, so I am grateful for the knowledge you have been kind enough to share. That is good news, as it means I have one less thing to consider.

@MrCobra

I understand what you are suggesting and I plan to take those steps as well, but I am one of those stubborn people that likes for things to work the way they were intended to. I also want to know "how" the recovery software works (to bad I never learned assembly language). I am also very annoyed that I am now unable to make the factory recovery disks. I can order them, but I don't believe that I should have to (after all, didn't HP LOOSE a legal case about just that). I am not in a position to take Compaq (HP) to court over this at this time, but it sure does make me angry that they don't feel they are at all responsible for providing their customers with a way to maintain their PCs. With all of the viruses, rootkits, and malware, etc. out there... And what if I decided to replace the hard drive?

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Have you tried setting your recovery partition to active and rebooting? From some of the stuff I've been looking at concerning this (not quite like your situation), others seemed to have fixed the problem with F10/F11/F12 keys not working by doing this.

Another post suggests using MBRInst.exe /ini [path_to_ini]MBR.ini /r /q to fix this.

/r = force recovery boot on next system start

/q = do not display anything

Edited by MrCobra
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I understand what you are suggesting and I plan to take those steps as well, but I am one of those stubborn people that likes for things to work the way they were intended to. I also want to know "how" the recovery software works (to bad I never learned assembly language).

RIGHT attitude! :thumbup

jaclaz

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Sorry I took so long getting back, but I was out of town for several days. Happy Thanksgiving to all, BTW!

@MrCobra

I did set the recovery partition to active and I was able to boot into it without problems. I ran a restore from there and all went well. Unfortunately, running the restore did not fix the F11 problem. I am considering clearing all of the MBR except the partition table and the standard Vista boot sector, make the recovery partition active and run a restore again to see if that will rewrite the needed data to the MBR. If that does no fix it I can still use the MBR backups I have to get back to where I am now.

The MBRInst.exe program that I have is an older one (for XP?) that has the F10 key ability but not the F11 key. As this is a Compaq, F10 takes me into the BIOS, so I need something else.

EDIT:

Clearing the MBR and restoring did not do it. It is starting to look like I will have to go to HP and get those disks from them.

@jaclaz

Thanks for the approval. It is rare these days to find someone who understands the desire to "get it right" instead of wanting to quit when things are "good enough".

I was able to get the boot.img (along with boo.mgr and bootfix.bin, although perhaps not the correct ones) burned to a CD in a format that was bootable by both Virtual PC and the PC. They both returned an error of 0xc000000f (see attachment for a screen shot.)

I found some HP tools to add the DMI information to the hard drive, but they are also for older systems and do not place the correct data in the correct location.

post-219056-1227897267_thumb.jpg

Edited by comcc
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