HP Envy 14 Beats Edition - Windows 7 Boots But Won't Function - Recovery Won't Work

[knobley]

Hello,

I have been trying for two days now to recover this laptop. For some reason it will not fully boot Windows 7. I have tried using F11 recovery, HP Recovery Disks, and a Windows 7 Install Thumb drive. In each case I get past the "Starting Windows 7" screen. With any of the HP versions of recovery listed above I get to a blue screen with a white sunburst at the top. I get a functioning mouse icon (i.e. moving the mouse moves the cursor) however nothing else works. With the WIndows 7 install thumb drive, I get past the language selection screen to "Install Windows 7 Now" screen. If I choose the recover option the text disappears and it permanently hangs, if I choose "Install Windows 7 Now" it changes to "Starting Setup Now" and then hangs at that point.

Clearly the issue appears to be a harddrive read error. I've started pressed Escape and run the diagnostic tests. All show harddrive errors. If I launch into the BIOS and run the Harddrive test there, I get an error saying the drive is Full. If I run Ubuntu's Disk Utility and Self Test, I get "Current Pending Sector Count" errors showing 27 bad sectors.

What I really don't get is that the HP recovery CD hangs at the same place as the harddrive. I'm certain I could format the harddrive with Linux, but then my understanding is that all bets are off with the HP recovery software.

Oddly enough, I can boot the computer from a unetbootin Live Ubuntu installation and it works just fine. I can see the harddrive and have successfully backed up all my data. I can see 4 partitions and their contents (System, NTFS, Recovery, and HP_Tools). Ubuntu works like a champ from the thumb drive (I'm posting this in Firefox from the laptop now).

If it were my laptop I'd install Ubuntu and throw the Windows 7 stuff in the trash. However, it's my wife's and she's not at all keen on using Linux (I tried that once before when Linux was much too immature).

Thanks for any suggestions.

Blessings,

Lee

[knobley]

Solved my own problem.

Booted from Linux-live thumb drive to gain access to drive. Backed up files.

Used Linux Disk Utility to format C: partition.

Used Restore discs I previously made to restore system to factory.

Seems like another case of I was lucky enough to have a sector go bad that contained some very important Windows 7 file so the drive suddenly became unwritable by Windows. Linux could mount and read/write the drive, but Windows refused. Some days I hate computers.

Blessings!

[cool_darsh2]

if u have the recovery cd ..can u send me please.I also want it and i m unable to get it ...so u can send me via email or something?? if u send the cd i wil pay for that cd..