Burnt out from error error error! Time to go back to Paper.

You made two errors, step 5 and 6; See notations within snips.



And:



The reason you saw a list of CMD's after you entered partition 3 in the second pix is because it didn't match the first cmd. When that happens the cmd window will throw up a list to help guide you.
To use a metaphor; you were mixing apples (volumes in the first cmd) and oranges (partitions in the second).

I've made some changes in the steps, numbered them, and highlighted critical cmd's in blue to help clarify the procedure.

Step #6 still concerns me, keep my note in mind. Hopefully the list of partitions will say that partition 3 is recovery and you can type in Select PARTITION 3 and finish the last three steps.

Anak said:

The capitalized CMD's are to make it easier for you to see, they do not have to be capitalized.

1.) Boot with the repair disk you made.

2.) At the Command Prompt type; DISKPART

3.) After the prompt changes to DISKPART, type; LIST DISK You should see a list with your optical drive, the hard drive, and card reader ports.

4.) In order to be sure we are working with the hard drive (HDD) only, type; SELECT DISK 0 (That is a zero not a letter O). You should see; “Disk 0 is now the selected disk”.

5.) At the next DISKPART prompt, instead of List Volume type; LIST PARTITION

   Note

You should see a list of the partitions on the HP's hard drive disk (HDD). What we're after is that Volume E – Recovery volume, if the partition is not labeled as Recovery then the only thing you can go by is the size of the partition.

In your pix of the volumes in post #46 select the one that matches the 15 GB size of the Volume 3 E Recovery. The pix is showing Volume 3 as the third partition in descending order.

But, when I do it on my machine, my recovery is named recovery and it is listed as partition "1". If you are unsure take a screenshot and post it so we can look at it to make sure which one you need to select.

6.) You would type in; Select PARTITION 3 or ? - You should see; Partition 3 or ? is now the selected partition.

7.) At the next Diskpart prompt, type; ACTIVE - You should see; "Diskpart marked the current partition active".

8.) At the next Diskpart prompt, type Exit

The CMD window should close and bring you back to the repair disk screen, close it out and remove the repair disk from the optical drive. If everything is already closed out remove the repair disk.

9.) Restart the HP, and observe.

Since you mentioned in earlier conversation that you have already gone through the recovery process, watch to see if this restart looks like the recovery process you are used to. If anything looks abnormal please take screenshots and post them in your next reply, with providence the recovery will take and you will have your HP back.

Try booting Recovery partition now from the HP F11 or ESC Boot menu keys, or as shown in Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows 7) | HP® Support.

Had you earlier confirmed that the 199mb System Reserved partition was Active? We are getting a bit ahead of ourselves since these steps come later in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot but if HP Recovery will not boot after marking Active, I would move the Active flag back to Partition 1 and run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to try to start it. If that fails, move it to the Win7 partition and then try the 3 repairs again. If neither work it does not mean that its irreparable since you may need to fully disinfect or repair System files before it will be able to start.

And I will again remind you that you are only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic here since all of this effort is going to salvage the worst possible install of Win7 one can own, while what we specialize in here is the best possible install detailed in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Greg, I appreciate the help!

I don't know if Elljay tried the Ctrl+Alt+Del restart that she shows in her last screenshot or wouldn't it of helped if she tried it anyway?

Elljay, please answer Greg's question and then try his suggestions, if they don't work it looks like you'll have to do the: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

gregrocker said:

And I will again remind you that you are only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic here since all of this effort is going to salvage the worst possible install of Win7 one can own, while what we specialize in here is the best possible install detailed in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Hi gregrocker. I hear you loud and clear about the clean reinstall. In the past few weeks, I have read the tutorials a few times already and again yesterday. I have not proceeded because I'm a chicken. I am worried that it's going to be over my head. I have gone to the download links and have no idea what I am looking for.

Yes gregrocker and Anak, I did. I tried Ctrl+Alt+Del restart 4 times. The screen goes black and then back to BOOTMGR is missing.

No, I never confirmed that the 199mb System Reserved partition was Active. I have been trying to follow Anak's suggestions precisely because I really don't know what I am doing. I am just learning.

Ok, I will go back to Command Prompt and do that. I think I understand.
I type in diskpart again etc...and pick 199mb and make it ACTIVE.
Then EXIT and run REPAIR x3.

If this isn't what Anak intended then he can clarify it, but this is the reason Recovery would be marked Active.

Yes, that is what I intended.