My OS disk is now D. Laptop keeps on restarting.

[Cash]

Greetings,

I have a Dell Inspiron 15R 5520 running Windows Home Premium x64. I recently tried a key my friend gave me to upgrade to Ultimate. When I found out it was blocked, I resorted to Windows Loader and this happened. I know I shouldn't have done that and I'd like to revert back to the out of box state.

My problem is that my OS disk is now on D. My recovery disc(which is hidden) is now set as primary on C. My laptop keeps on restarting and I couldn't even get the menu to come up by pressing F8. Any ideas how I can fix this? I've tried settings on BIOS and there's nothing I can do to solve it. I think it's booting C drive but C contains my hidden recovery partition.

Before

C - OS

After

C - Hidden Recovery Disk
D - OS


I checked by running my WinXP disc and getting to the point where you have to format and partition drives. It says C is set as Primary but it contains my recovery disk.

EDIT: I then recently performed this tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html. I marked the recovery disk as inactive as well. Then when I restarted, it said bootmgr was missing. press ctrl alt del. Then I performed this tut: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/104341-bootmgr-missing-fix.html

 

[gregrocker]

What are you judging the drive letter change by? In WinRE drive letters are different than in Windows. Do you have blue screen non-geniune lockout message? That can be a slipped drive letter corrected using Paragon Rescue -change drive letters

Otherwise wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command then Clean Reinstall using the steps to rescue your files if necessary.

Activate Win7 with a legal product key which came with PC or you buy retail, and refrain from further criminal activity.

 

[Cash]

What are you judging the drive letter change by? In WinRE drive letters are different than in Windows. Do you have blue screen non-geniune lockout message? That can be a slipped drive letter corrected using Paragon Rescue -change drive letters

Otherwise wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command then Clean Reinstall using the steps to rescue your files if necessary.

Activate Win7 with a legal product key which came with PC or you buy retail, and refrain from further criminal activity.

I did a clean reinstall of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. I also installed all drivers for it. Everything's fine now but I'd like the out of box state so my mind will be at ease. I suspected that the recovery partition isn't recognized because it was created by dell datasafe. I downloaded and installed dell datasafe. I was right. When I open the program and chose restore, it shows me that I have a restore point to June 26, 2012 which was I assume, the out of box state. Also, the recover disk is now hidden and back to it's normal state. One last problem below. When I proceed to restore, it restarts and takes me to system recovery.

Mine looks like this now:
http://i.imgur.com/6uEur.png

It should have this:
http://i.imgur.com/gOnXB.jpg

How can I restore the option on the second image? I think that's the only thing I'm missing so I can restore the recovery disk to C.

 

[theog]

Boot the DVD & open a Command Prompt.

1. Click Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options window.
2. In the Administrator window, type the following lines, pressing <Enter> after each line.
path d:\windows;d:\windows\system32
d:
CD Tools
PCRestore
3. In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.
4. In the Confirm Data Deletion window, click to select Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition, and then click Next. The message Factory image successfully restored! appears when the process is complete.
5. Click Finish to restart the system.

 

[Cash]

In case somebody encounters the same problem, this is what I did to restore using Dell DataSafe Image Restore. This is ofcourse assuming that your recovery partition is untouched and undamaged.

1.) Downloaded and Installed my original OS version. Windows 7 Home Premium x64 in my case.
2.) Installed all necessary drivers.
3.) Installed Dell DataSafe software.
4.) Made a backup using my USB Flash Drive.
5.) Restored using the bootable flash drive.


Problem over. Thanks for all the help. Do not rely on Dell's support even if they can help with basic stuff. They even tried to refer me to this website for help.

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks for reporting back. But per Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 did you allow all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates to run after enabling Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) first before importing any drivers?

Win7 is not XP, but the first driver-complete OS. It will decide what drivers it wants and should not be second guessed unless issues present that point to a driver - which we can help you determine using Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

Since you're doing the Clean Reinstall there's no need to use Dells Datasafe crapware since Win7 has built-in backup imaging which can reimage your customized installation in 20 minutes to the OS/Programs partition, while your data can be waiting safe and current in its own data partition. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery
Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums - copy Users folders to separate data partition, rightclick each to add to related Library, delete User folder content on C but leave it in the Library to monitor if anything lands in it.

 

[Cash]

After I did a clean re-install, I ran dell's image restore thing and now it's in the out of box state. What do you recommend?

 

[gregrocker]

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand.

Did you say you did a Clean Reinstall and then ran Factory Recovery over it?

Why would you even do the Clean Reinstall then if you run Factory Recovery to wipe it out with all the bloatware?

 

[Cash]

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand.

Did you say you did a Clean Reinstall and then ran Factory Recovery over it?

Why would you even do the Clean Reinstall then if you run Factory Recovery to wipe it out with all the bloatware?

I didn't trust the drivers I downloaded and installed. I thought I'd trust the drivers Dell installed with it. I just uninstalled all the bloatware again and reinstalled software that I need.

EDIT: I had to reinstall because the laptop wouldn't boot, then I reinstalled dell datasafe and ran the factory recovery.

 

[gregrocker]

Did you read what I wrote about drivers? Are you under the impression Win7 is the same as XP? It is not. It is the first driver-complete OS. In Win8 you dont' even interact with drivers - it's all done in the background - which are advances that were developed in Win7.

I would start over and get the perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. You had these steps in hand but for some reason ignored them. Why would you ask for our advice and then ignore it, especially in a specialty for which we are the top resource on the web?

If you decide to stick with the bloatware install then at least Clean Up Factory Bloatware

 

[Cash]

I do apologize for my posts. I am used to XP and have been using it until I received this laptop last December. I prefer clean reinstalls in the first place as long as I have the right drivers for everything. I'll make a clean reinstall(and delete the recovery partition?) and run windows update first thing.

 

[gregrocker]

Dell Recovery won't run after a reinstall since the F8 menu is also reinstalled so not sure how you ran it from partition.

I'd also earlier suggested you get the cleanest possible reinstall by first running Diskpart Clean Command. However you will lose bootable Dell Diagnostics via F12 so run that now to test hardware and whether it runs. It's tests are available online at http://www.dell.com/support/Diagnostics/us/en/04.

In countless Dells we've helped Clean Reinstall here I've never heard a single complaint about drivers or anything else. There are Special Notes for Dell Owners at the end of Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

 

[Cash]

Dell Recovery won't run after a reinstall since the F8 menu is also reinstalled so not sure how you ran it from partition.

I'd also earlier suggested you get the cleanest possible reinstall by first running Diskpart Clean Command. However you will lose bootable Dell Diagnostics via F12 so run that now to test hardware and whether it runs. It's tests are available online at Dell PC Diagnostics | Dell US.

In countless Dells we've helped Clean Reinstall here I've never heard a single complaint about drivers or anything else. There are Special Notes for Dell Owners at the end of Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Since I didn't touch the recovery partition when I reinstalled, it's still in it's original state. After the reinstalled, I downloaded dell datasafe and made a USB backup of it using the software and performed the restore. It was quite educational for me even if it was time consuming.

Just to make sure I understand this, I should check if diags work even though they have it online? I think it works yesterday. I can't check now because I'm making recovery discs of the factory image using dell datasafe. I'll be keeping this as a last resort. Then I perform the diskpart tutorial before I do a clean install?

 

[gregrocker]

I mentioned Diagnostics so you'd know that you will lose it if you wipe the HD along with the Recovery partition. I think getting the cleanest slate possible for reinstall is more important myself, but others may want the Diagnostics tools and Recovery partition onboard. We try not to limit User's options with their property without fully outlining them.

 

[Cash]

I mentioned Diagnostics so you'd know that you will lose it if you wipe the HD along with the Recovery partition. I think getting the cleanest slate possible for reinstall is more important myself, but others may want the Diagnostics tools and Recovery partition onboard. We try not to limit User's options with their property without fully outlining them.

So far, one disc failed in the backup. If this fails one more time, I'm going to keep the recovery partition and proceed to cleaning the C drive using the diskpart tut you linked in your previous posts and perform a clean install.

 

[gregrocker]

What "disk failed in the backup?"

Use an external or another internal HD to save the Win7 backup after Clean Reinstall. The only disks you need are the Win7 installation DVD provided in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 so you know you have the latest official ISO and tool to burn it.

If the Dell Reinstallation DVD says SP1 you can use it to also gain self-activation and a Dell logo on System page.

Please mark thread "Unsolved" at top so others will look in on it while I am taking my dog to the beach.

 

[Cash]

Not disk. I meant CD. While I was backing up the factory image using dell datasafe, the process on CD 2 failed. I had to put in another CD and continue. I'm on the 3rd and last CD now.

I already made a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium OEM on another CD for safe keeping as well as my serial for it.