Packard Bell Smart Recovery Using Ubuntu?

[LeeRiley]

So basically to cut a very long story short, I've got Windows 7 installed on my Packard Bell, I can't boot it (keep getting stuck at the 'Windows Starting' boot) but, I have however managed to boot Ubuntu from disc.

What I want to know is, can I locate the recovery folder, to be used by Smart Recovery from Packard Bell, and recover whilst being booted in Ubuntu?

Any help on this would be amazing as I really really don't want to have to do a full restore, simply based on the fact I cannot afford to go out and purchase Windows 7.

Thanks in advance,
LR!

 

[DeaconFrost]

Packard Bell? Didn't they go out of business over a decade ago?

First, you don't need to buy a new license when doing a restore. Second, isn't there a key to press to get into the recovery mode before Windows would have booted?

That all being said, just boot from your Windows 7 disc and run a repair.

 

[LeeRiley]

It's impossible for me to run a Windows 7 repair as I don't own a disc. I've downloaded and booted up Unbuntu. Trying to install Wine Doors so I can run the Recover.exe and recover whilst running Ubuntu.

Basically I've got a persistent root kit and whilst trying to remove the file I've somehow allowed the program to delete a start-up file. Windows loads with a cursor only, the last screen I visibly see is the 'Starting Windows' screen with the boot logo.

If anyone has an alternative to what I'm doing, please do provide me with an insight on your ideas.

Thanks again,
LR!

 

[Layback Bear]

Have you ever had Windows 7 run properly on this old computer. I recommend using this little program from Microsoft. It will let you know whether your hardware is correct for Windows 7.
Download: Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

 

[LeeRiley]

I needn't check the specifications as The PC came with 7 pre-installed. The recovery files are right there staring at me, accessing them is my problem. I can boot in safe mode but get stuck at the same point (after boot logo).

 

[Bongo]

Where did you purchase a Packard Bell with Windows 7 installed on it?

 

[LeeRiley]

The story I made short I should have told in full. The desktop is a friends. I don't know when he purchased or where from all I know is the problems it's currently going through and that it came installed with 7. It has the legitimate serial number on the back and has the printed Windows 7 logo on the front, along side a nVidia and an Intel sticker.

Sorry again, I should've been a little more intricate with my description.

 

[Layback Bear]

You haven't answered the question. Have you ever had this P.B. computer working properly with Windows 7 on it? It would have to of had major hardware replacement to be able to use Windows 7. I my self have no idea without a disc to help you.

 

[LeeRiley]

I never said it was a HP? It's not old either, it's less that 2 years old and yes Windows 7 was running perfectly fine up until a few days ago.

 

[whs]

http://www.ehow.com/how_7444438_access-restore-partition-packard-bell.html

 

[Layback Bear]

From post #1.
Windows 7 installed on my Packard Bell,

 

[LeeRiley]

Yeah Packard Bell being correct, HP is a Hewlett Packard, different companies pal.

 

[DavidUK]

can I locate the recovery folder, to be used by Smart Recovery from Packard Bell, and recover whilst being booted in Ubuntu?

Hello Lee

As the previous poster has linked to, there is a key command which bypasses the normal boot chain and runs the recovery function. This would be the simplest and safest method, though you might need to research which keys apply to the PC in question.

However, to respond to your question about access via linux (very handy - I always carry a linux live USB stick for tricky situations)......

1) The Ubuntu forum is to be highly recommended. Geek heaven.

2) Yes, you can use your Ubuntu live CD to help. I don't think you can make the recovery function 'run' under linux, but you can activate it thus:

a) Boot from Ubuntu live CD
b) System>admin>GParted
c) /dev/sda will probably be the first hard drive, and therefore likely to contain both Win7 and the recovery partition.
d) Under 'flags' in the right hand column, you'll see a partition labeled as 'boot'. This is the 'active' partition - i.e. the one that boots up when you start the PC. This will be your normal Win7 partition.
e) Look for another small NTFS partition. Mine (acer netbook) is number one - 12G with 7.8 used. This is likely to be the recovery partition.
f) Right-click it in the flag column>manage flags> tick 'boot' to change it to the active partition.
g) Shut down and reboot. Upon restart the recovery function should run. If you have booted the wrong partition, use linux again and try another. Keep notes as you go along so you can undo any wrong moves.

However, these steps *should* simply replicate what happens when you use the key commands to recover at boot up. If your boot chain is totally messed up and you can't even get the recovery partition to boot, then you are going to need more expert help, and probably a Win7 disc.....

Good luck
David

 

[Layback Bear]

You are correct they are different companies. Have a nice day.

 

[LeeRiley]

David thank you, that's pretty much what I wanted to hear. When getting to the PB boot screen I get 2 options,

'DEL - setup'

and

'F12 - boot options'

I've frantically search both sections of this and tried pressing different variations of several keys at boot, however, I haven't tried the combination you've just prompted me to.

Going back to Unbuntu, I read that Wine Doors is an application that allows you to execute nearly any Windows executable file. With this my idea was to run the Recovery program from 'Program Files' on the hard drive whilst running the Live CD.

Honestly I'm a little (a lot!) out of my depth here but where I'd usually given up, I'm determined to carry on!

Thanks again!

 

[DavidUK]

I read that Wine Doors is an application that allows you to execute nearly any Windows executable file. With this my idea was to run the Recovery program from 'Program Files' on the hard drive whilst running the Live CD.

I understand your thinking, I'd be very interested to know if this would work. I use WINE a lot to run windows .exe files. Things to consider would include:

1) You'll need to mount the windows partitions from the ubuntu disc. Search terms like, "mount windows filesystem from ubuntu live cd". It doesn't just let you browse the files as you would expect. You'll need to type a few lines of code from the terminal (equivalent of windows command line) to access them first. Which leads to....

2) ...This is likely to be the big fail. Presumably you would have to have correctly mounted and granted the correct read/write permissions to all the windows partitions in order for it to run the app and write the windows image to the correct partition. Remember that it is linux trying to do the job in this scenario, not windows and that makes things tricky. You may well need the help of one of the Ubuntu chaps to assist with this as it is a bit of a dark art to most of us.

3) Usually, when I try to run a .exe it fails with an error along the lines of ... not marked as executable, or executable bit missing... Don't panic, if I remember correctly, right-click on it>permissions tab>tick 'make executable' or similar sounding option. Then it opens by double click as you'd expect.

Regards

Oh, BTW, I'm sure you've seen it, but I have read in passing that f8 at boot up into advanced boot settings > repair opens up recovery functions, I don't know if it is the same as the other recovery function but might be worth a look. It might be aimed at recovery discs perhaps.

 

[LeeRiley]

Today is the first time I've EVER used anything besides Windows so I know absolutely nothing apart from what I've just told you. I'll keep you posted from this thread as to how it goes and if my method works or not.

Thanks again!

 

[DavidUK]

Actually Lee, thinking about it again with a fresher mind this morning - booting with Ubuntu and trying to run the windows restoration won't work. Windows and Linux have different systems for labelling partitions. When you run the windows .exe it will look for a partition labelled hd0,0 (or similar) to write to. But because you are booted in linux, that partition will be labelled sda1 (the linux system) so it will fail immediately.
There may be someone who can advise you on how to manually copy from the backup partition to the win7 partition. In itself an easy function in linux and if it's just a matter of copying from an image (.iso) file the 'dd' command in linux would make it a breeze.

It might also be worth considering this approach: If the boot chain has been broken, as long as the system has a standard setup of Win7 installed on the first HDD and labelled as the C: drive, one could potentially just copy the boot chain files from another Win7 pc by using your ubuntu CD and a usb stick. I'm not familiar with the Win7 boot chain but someone will be (if not here, perhaps on the computerforum site). If it fails to boot with just a flashing cursor my gut feeling is that it is the boot.ini file (or Win7 equivalent of it) that's corrupt. However this is well into geek territory.

Have you managed to access the recovery function at power-on?

 

[LeeRiley]

David you've been a massive help pal and filled me with confidence that it is in-fact possible to fix this mess and I'd like to thank you before I continue!

Thanks!

Back to the topic, I've managed to access the recovery upon boot using this,

http://www.ehow.com/how_7444438_access-restore-partition-packard-bell.html

It's restoring as I'm writing this message. I spent the night thinking wether it was possible to extract the files from the recovery folder, stored on my HDD, and burning them to a bootable disc. Lucky enough this has worked for me and all is back to normal. I plan on creating several backup DVDs so if the bloke ever comes across any problems again, the job will be a little more simple the next time round.

Again, thanks David and whs for the tutorial, clearly you can search the web better than myself

 

[DeaconFrost]

So download the corresponding disc to the platform and version you have. No one should be running a computer without a plain vanilla disc nearby. They are too important to have.

Windows 7 Digital River direct links: Multiple Languages; X86 & X64 - Page 60