I can't *fully* recover my laptop... help!

redcreative

I have an HP Compaq nx7400 on which I run Windows XP. I've made my own backup in case I ever need to do an HP Recovery - so I have 2 CDs.

Yesterday, I decided to restore all the factory settings on my HP laptop so I went on and popped in the CD. (having been worried that a virus was slowing my laptop down as well)

The recovery was working fine at first...
I had to insert Disc 1 -- which I did -- and it loaded; THEN
I had to insert Disc 2 -- which I did -- and it loaded as well; THEN
I had to insert Disc 1 again - which I did ... it sounds like it runs for 2 seconds but then the CD tray opens and I get the same dialog:

Please insert Disc 1 to continue recovery...
It always rejects the 1st CD when I put it in for the 3rd time!!

I don't know what to do. Please help! Suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

Tipstaff

First up, welcome to the forums!

Question: what did you use for the backup? Ghost, or some other backup utility?

I know with Ghost, even though it's asking you for CD1 again, it could be just for verification, or most times it's just to bring up the "Completed" information box. What you might want to try is booting up your laptop as it might be finished.

redcreative

No, I didn´t use Ghost. HP requires you to make you own backup, by burning the Recovery on 2 blank DVD discs of your own. So, the program I was using was these 2 CDs, the laptop´s own. It´s HP Backup and Recovery Manager.

I had recovered my laptop with the same discs once, and I´ve never had a problem. Using the CDs I had burned previously worked like a charm. And now it´s giving me this problem

PangingJr

based on my past experience with similar problem and laptop's recovery disc, the CD drive was not working properly, it didn't seem like that, but it did. i just sent it to service center for a repair.

and from a quick google search i found this below, and it looks like he had the same experience...

Ed Foster's Gripelog || HP OS Recovery System Still Causes Grief
Recently had this problem with a Pavilion a705w model. Discs created from the recovery partition didn't work. Got the discs from HP and they didn't work. I told them the problem was with the CD ROM drive. They said it was the HD and sent me a new one. Problem remained until I hooked up a different CD ROM drive. Discs read fine and did what they were supposed to do. HP is sending a new CD ROM drive now. lol. There is a list (Manufacturers menu) when you insert disc 1 and re-boot, At the screen prompting you for "R", "F", or "Q" hold down the Ctrl key and hit Backspace. This will bring up the manufacturers menu. You can try scanning for a problem from here. There are also options to format (I know, you wanted non-destructive) and other options. If there is nothing in the manufacturers menu to help you, and if your PC is ejecting the tray and not recognizing the discs, it could be your rom drive. If you're getting an "NTLDR is missing" message, it could be the HD.

redcreative

Yes Panging Jr, I was thinking of taking it to the service centre cause I'm not really good with pcs and all that. I'll try some stuff from that article and see how it goes.

I hope it's not from the CD-Rom. I mean, it's never given me any problems before.

I was also looking at the HP website. Do you think I should try this out as well?

Recovering from the Recovery Discs

The Windows operating system (OS) can be reinstalled, using the recovery disks, without destroying any existing programs or user data. This action is normally only performed if the PC does not start properly or does not boot into the Windows operating system.

To preserve the user data, copy or backup the user data to an external storage device before performing this task.

Do the following actions to reinstall the operating system from the set of recovery disks.


Connect PC to the AC power adapter.

Open the disk drive, insert the first disk in the set of recovery disks, and close the disk drive.

Turn off the PC.

Press the Power button to start the PC and immediately press the F11 key.

The PC begins operation from the disk and performs tests on the hard drive. After a short delay, a black screen, with a message, is displayed. If the C:\ drive and the special recovery partition are intact, three options are available:


Press 'R' for standard System Recovery options .

Press 'F' to format the hard drive and reinstall the original factory settings. All data will be lost!

Press 'Q' to Quit this menu.


WARNING: If the disk tests indicate that the operating system is not installed or the drive is corrupted, the only option presented is 'R' perform a full system recovery. This option will reformat the drive and destroy all the user data. See Before reformatting the hard drive for more information.

Select the standard System Recovery option by pressing R.

The recovery process will check for the presence of the recovery partition on the hard drive.


If the partition and the recovery files exist, the rest of the recovery process is performed from the hard drive, and none of the recovery disks is requested.

If the partition or the recovery files do not exist, prompts are displayed to insert or exchange disks as needed from the set of recovery disks.

When the OS is reinstalled and the PC re-starts, the programs and data files exist on the hard drive; however, clicking on the menu icons will not start the program. It is necessary to reinstall the programs using the original product disks.

Tipstaff

My thoughts exactly on the cause, and nice info there, Panging.

There is an option to try. Since you know those discs work (as you've used them before), you may want to try copying them to another set of discs... preferably another brand. This is just to see if the drive is being.. well.. picky with those discs. If it doesn't work again, then it's very likely what Panging has posted.

On a side note... just in case it's dirty, be sure to check that your drives laser is clean of dust or debris. Also, to get around that the issue for the time being you could use an external USB optical drive (a dedicated one, or a 5 1/4 desktop drive hooked up via an IDE to USB adapter) to get things going while you wait to fix or replace the internal drive.

PangingJr

i like to try anything that is already available for me to try it, lol, so yes, i say try it out if that is also apply to your laptop.

redcreative

What should I use to clean the laser. I'm assuming it must be something very specific. I don't know all I have are LCD screen wipes and all the shops are closed atm.

Tipstaff

Preferably just a good blow from some compressed air, or swallow, pucker up, and blow. You can also use a very soft cloth (and I do mean soft cloth.. no toilet paper, no paper towel, no t-shirt, sand paper, or scouring pad) to do a quick brush or wipe of the lens. I don't recommend using the LCD wipes as they are usually wet paper. Personally, if I do have to wipe it I use a very soft microfiber cloth, however that's only after a quick blow from some compressed air to get rid of any surface dust/dirt.

If there are any hairs or something stuck in or near the assembly you can use a pair of tweezers to remove it. Just be careful not to scratch the lens in any case. It's not as fragile as I'm making it sound, but you can scratch it if you aren't careful.

redcreative

Ace. Thanks for that.

Things aren't looking as hopeful as I wished, so I think I'll take the pc for service on Monday. Urgh, I don't feel like it cause the store I bought it from seems to be getting a bad reputation from its customers lately. Cross fingers that the problem will be solved in due time.

Thanks for all the comments guys. I appreciate it.

Tipstaff

No problem, red. Let us know how things turn out.

redcreative

Hi. I took the laptop to the store where I bought it from. From the store, they told me to go to the HP agent to ask for HP's installation CDs since I had already started the recovery, there wasn't really anything they could do.

So I went to the HP agent and they recommended that I keep the laptop there so that when the technicians are at the office, they could take a look at it. This of course comes at a cost which is about 45 EUR an hour, but as it is a recovery problem, I was told that it shouldn't take more than an hour. So, I left it there with the intention that will take a look at it for less than an hour. .....

But now I am thinking to myself, what if they take more than that? I certainly don't want to pay double or triple that amount just because I wasn't there on site to see how long it had took them to fix my laptop... OR else it takes more than that to fix!!

When I asked them for the HP Recovery CDs of the nx7400, they told me that they didn't have them at their office . And I suppose if they were to bring them from abroad, they would surely attempt to charge me money for them... I don't see any reason why I should pay for the installation CDs when I SHOULD have had them in the first place... HP shouldn't just have relied on the user to make back up CDs themselves. If the Windows XP operation system was pre-installed in the laptop, then they should be DECENT enough to include the installation CDs along with the laptop.

I am going to phone the agents tomorrow to ask whether I could take the laptop back and do the recovery myself by getting those original HP recovery cds... cause why should I have to pay for a technician to probably over charge for more than 1 hour so that I could just complete the recovery myself? Considering that I can solve this problem by getting the cds from HP...

Seriously, I don't know what I'm going to do... I'm have little faith that my laptop will EVER start working again... Oh why couldn't they have just kept the installation process like the older days?

redcreative

And btw, I sincerely doubt that the problem is coming from the harddisk or the CD-ROM. They are working just fine.