Recovery Manager failing to restore factory image on HP Pavilion p6227uk [Windows 7]

[JRustles]

Hello

I am currently trying to reformat my HP Pavilion P6227uk, running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

I have reformatted this machine once before (a couple of years ago) using recovery disks created by the system. I have saved those same recovery disks for the reformat I am now attempting to complete.

So far I have been carrying out the steps in the same order as I did before - place CD1 in the drive, boot from CD, run a Factory Reset from the disk. First time I tried this, it came back with an error message almost immediately, saying it failed to reformat (or something to that end) with this error code: 0xe0ef0002, and instructions to 'contact HP support'. At 1AM? You must be joking.

I tried again, and got the exact same result. Deciding to leave it for another day when support would be around, I tried booting normally (with the disk out of the drive). This time, I got a black screen with white text printed in the top left:

BOOTMGR is missing

Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot

Oh good lord. I rebooted and tried to get to System Recovery. Nada, again BOOTMGR was missing. I put the recovery disk back into the drive and booted to Recovery Manager and proceeded to try every single diagnostic available to me. Nothing was going wrong, apparently, except not being able to boot into Windows. Getting slightly irritated (I have a disorder which leaves me prone to huge bursts of anger, this didn't help), I decided to try the Factory Reset again. Interestingly enough it didn't give me an error message, but seemed to be getting on with the 'Factory image restore'. 4%, then 8% - and it's been stuck on 8% for the last 12 hours at least. I don't particularly want to turn it off for risk of breaking something - even though Recovery Manager seems broken enough as it is. There is a blue arrow pointing at "Reformatting the Windows partition of your hard disk drive" and that's about it. No buttons are available (except the red X), nothing seems to be going anywhere. Extremely disappointed.

Any help would be much appreciated. I'll be phoning HP Support tomorrow to get some answers, although I don't have a particularly good history of keeping my temper level when talking with assistants, and waiting on emails isn't my thing either - I backed up important files to an internal HDD before starting (disconnected the HDD from the motherboard) and waiting hours and hours for email support isn't an option.

Thank you in advance, from the bottom of my heart. This could not have happened at a worse time.

-JR

[celavey]

You can check this article which might help you with your "BOOTMGR is missing" problem.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/bootmgr-is-missing.htm

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, JR:

While I can't help you with the specific recovery disk issue (and it is probably unsolvable anyway), I do have a way out of your dilemma...

If you can read the 25 character Microsoft windows 7 product key, you can download plain Windows 7 ISO files to burn to a DVD for the version of windows that came installed on your PC, and that is listed on the Microsoft COA sticker on your PC's case.

Burn the ISO using the Burn ISO option on your DVD burning program and burn at the slowest possible speed your program will allow. This will create a bootable DVD.

Use the 25 character product key on the PC to activate the installation.

The key will activate either a 32 or 64 bit installation.

Then go to the PC's support and driver page to install the drivers you need.

Link to the W7 ISO file downloads is below.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

Paul

[JRustles]

Many thanks for the replies.
Celavey - I tried most of the fixes on that page, interestingly Microsoft Startup Repair gave me a "Windows cannot repair this computer automatically" or something to that end.
Looks like burning a disk with the windows ISO is the only way forward at this point... The only problem now being I don't have any 3GB disks. Can I put Windows onto a Live USB, Linux-style?

Many thanks
-JR

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, JR:

You can do this...

Download the MS W7 USB installation tool, and read the instructions on the page for use.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

You may also need to do this mod like I did if the flash tool errors out.

Download the bootsect file form http://www.everettsporting.com/bootsect.zip

You will need to go to the control panel, select the large icon view, go to the folder options icon, View tab, and select the show hidden files and folders option.

Once downloaded, copy the BootSect.exe file to the same folder that includes the installed Windows7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool.exe file. The default install directory of that file in Windows 7 is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Apps\Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool\

Run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool application as indicated on the Microsoft Store web site. The end result will give you a bootable USB flash drive that contains everything you need to install the 64-bit version of Windows 7.

Paul

[JRustles]

Thanks Paul, I'd downloaded that tool in my quest for fixes and literally just finished installing Windows after getting rid of all the partitions on the HD. right now I'm finding all the drivers that I lost on the recovery disks - looks like the fight is finally over.

Thanks again for your help!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, JR.

If you get stuck finding a driver or two, please click on those that need drivers in the device manager. Then click on the Details tab.

You will now see a Properties drop down list. Drop down on that and select the second item (Hardware ID's).

Post the top string of characters you see in the window for each missing device and I will try and find the drivers you need for them.

Best regards,

Paul