System recovery

[ibshaw]

Hi everyone, been a long time since I've been on here. Need a bit of help - I've put this in this section although my problem didin't start like that. I have a HP Pavilion Slimline tower model s5615uk which was running Win 7 64-bit Premium edition. Over the last week the monitor randomly went blank as if it was going to sleep (orange light instead of normal blue) no matter what I seemed to be doing at the time and got progressively worse so I tried several things. Downloaded and installed the latest video driver from the HP support site - no change. Tried a different monitor - no change. Ran various antivirus/malware/spyware programs - no change. Restored the system to an earlier time - no change. In the end, decided to back up all my personal data (while the monitor was working) and do a recovery back to factory settings using the disks I had made when the system was new. You get the choice to run this from the disks or from the recovery partition on the hard disk - I chose the latter which I think was my mistake because not long into the process the monitor decided to go blank and now I am left with no way to recover the OS because even if I use a Win boot CD it says BOOTMGR missing as if it has started to overwrite the disk but not completed the recovery. Can you offer any suggestions as to how to get the OS recovered - would I need to buy a fresh Win 7 package as it it were a blank hard disk.?

Please help if you can.

Thank you.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Just for clarification, is all of this correct?

You've got an AMD processor with integrated graphics.

Your monitor intermittently goes blank and this remains the case even if you change monitors.

I'm a bit confused: you say you started a recovery from the built-in recovery partition and your monitor "decided to go blank". But you then say "it says BOOTMGR missing", indicating your screen is not blank.

Have you tried recovery from the disks you made rather than from the recovery partition?

Do you have a separate graphics card you could use temporarily?

Does your HP have a "COA" sticker on it, with a 25 character "Product Key"? If so, you could download a Windows ISO on another PC, burn it to a disc, and reinstall and activate Windows--without paying anything. But I don't know that that would solve your monitor issue.

Does the "bad" monitor perform well if attached to another PC?

Exactly what is this "Win boot CD" you refer to?

 

[ibshaw]

Many thanks for your quick reply - sorry if I have confused the issue. Yes AMD processor with integrated graphics. If I re-boot with a different monitor, it will last for a while then go blank randomly like the original monitor suggesting to me the problem is in the tower. I started the recovery choosing the recover partition instead of the disks (you get the choice) thinking it would be quicker - when the recovery stopped prematurely due to the screen going blank when I tried to reboot now using the disks, that is when I got he BOOTMGR missing message. I was not aware of the ability to download an ISO image if you have a COA sticker which, of course I do having bought the system new with pre-loaded OS. How do I do that - can you provide a link ? You are correct, it may not solve the monitor issue as I am beginning to think it may be in hardware that my problem lies - I don't have a separate graphics card I can install.

Thank you once again.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Wait for more comments from others.

I agree--there's no particular reason to think a Windows reinstall would help. It might, but....................

We can point you to the correct ISO download site if you decide to try a reinstall.

Do you have a separate graphics card you could use temporarily?

Does the "bad" monitor perform well if attached to another PC?

Exactly what is this "Win boot CD" you refer to?

 

[ibshaw]

Hi again, as I've just stated in my last reply I have no separate video card to try. The "bad" monitor behaves fine attached as an external monitor to my laptop and because another one attached showed the same problem as the original I have no reason to suspect it is monitor related. The boot CD I mentioned was just one I had labelled Win 7 64bit repair disk which I have no idea where it came from I just though I could get the system to boot with it. I will wait for other replies but would appreciate the link to the ISO so that, at least, I can get an OS working again.

Thank you.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

The ISOs are at the above link. You would need to download the EXACT match for whatever version is mentioned on your COA sticker. For instance, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit English is X17-58997.iso.

If you intend to install using one of these ISOs, you should follow the tutorial on this site---I haven't looked at it recently, but I think there is a caveat or two about HP computers that may be relevant to you. Nothing serious, but you should read it.

Can you even get to a command prompt when booting from this Windows repair disc that you have?

 

[ibshaw]

Hi, Again, many thanks for taking the time to help. No, cannot get to a command prompt with the boot disk, just a black screen with the message BOOTMGR is missing Ctr-alt-Del to continue which does not do anything. I'll obviously take your advice re the ISO download and read the comments you refer to and feed back results.

Update.... have just used your link to the English version of x64 Windows 7 Home Premium SP1-U ISO and got the message :
The Page or File You Requested Could Not Be Provided

It says that the license key provided was a pre-installed version of OS and to contact the manufacturer.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Windows 7 Direct Download Links, Official Disk Images from Digital River

The above link explains what apparently has happened--the old links have been taken down and they apparently are forcing you to go here:

Microsoft Software Recovery

where you have to enter your Product Key.

See if that works.

Others may have other suggestions re other locations. I haven't downloaded the ISO in the last year or so.

 

[ibshaw]

Thank you but unfortunately the Microsoft Software Recovery link only handles product keys that have been purchased through a retailer, it has rightly identified mine as having been installed with a product and so they say I need to contact the manufacturer.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

My next idea is to refer to this link:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

and then use the mentioned eicfg removal tool to unlock any other version of Win 7 you can download from the links mentioned earlier in this thread.

Since you have the Product Key, you are certainly entitled to a clean install, but MS is apparently making this difficult--for reasons unknown to me.

 

[ibshaw]

OK, thank you I will try this later.... I'll post back.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Here's the caveats re HP from that last link I provided:



Special notes for HP owners:

On newer models HP System Recovery may offer a Minimized OS Recovery option. This retains only the OS, Recovery Manager, HP Support Asst, HP Wireless LAN, drivers and activation, and is as close to a clean reinstall as you can get without doing one yourself. I would uninstall HP Wireless to use Win7's superior wireless manager.

If you format and reinstall only to C leaving all other partitions intact, F11 Recovery key should still work later if you need it. The helpful hardware diagnostics also listed on the ESC or F9 boot menu may also run after reinstall, so if they will run now from boot, I would save the small HP Tools partition to see if they remain bootable after install.

Problems with volume control lighting and HP Quick Launch buttons have been dealt with here and here.

Specific HP software which might be worth reimporting is discussed in HP Bloatware, or useful system utilities?

Some HP Recovery disks can have their files extracted to access favorite program installers using Accessing HP Recovery Disc Files.

 

[ibshaw]

Once again I am indebted to you for your help - I only hope the .iso image I am downloading and then having removed the .cfg file that the license key I have on the COA works so it will let me install it ?
As I read it you would obviously need the 32 or 64 bit versions to match your hardware but the removal of the .cfg file makes the image generic so any key would work - is that correct ?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Once again I am indebted to you for your help - I only hope the .iso image I am downloading and then having removed the .cfg file that the license key I have on the COA works so it will let me install it ?
As I read it you would obviously need the 32 or 64 bit versions to match your hardware but the removal of the .cfg file makes the image generic so any key would work - is that correct ?

I'm assuming based on what I've heard that that tool will allow you to install any version (Ultimate, Pro, Home Premium, etc) and activate it with your key that would otherwise be restricted to activating only ONE version.

Of course, you have to burn the ISO. That can go bad. If so, try again with another disc or burner.

Yes, I'd assume that you'd still have to download a 64 bit ISO if that's what you wanted to install.

You might also look at the last 2 posts in this thread, where I mentioned your problem. Note the final post from SIW2, which has another link that might be worthwhile.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a-13.html

I don't understand exactly what MS is up to by making these ISOs hard to get.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Ibshaw:

You can look at a discussion of what's going on with these ISOs here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...-river-win7-iso-servers-taken-down-again.html