BOOT MGR is missing and recovery media purchased from HP will not reset to factory, even though

[MikeNOTHPFAN]

Hello everyone, It has been a while since I had to setup a hard drive with partions, etc. to install an OS.  

I'm hoping someone can assist and point me in the right direction.  Windows 10 came in down off the intenet (without authorizion) and made my system unusable.  At least that is what I beleived at the time.  Come to find out the brightness was dim.  urgh...     

So I removed the hard drive and retrieved my data.  In the mean time, I ordered from HP the "Recovery Kit" on USB.  I reinstalled the hard drive, inserted the USB drive, powered up, hit esc, selected boot options, and booted to the USB.  HP Recovery dialog is displayed, explaining how the process would work. Asked me if I wanted erase all hard drive data, and reset to factory specifications. I selected Yes, and clicked NEXT.  The dialog title "Factory Image Recovery Prepartions" suggests that the USB Recovery is just what I needed!  yay!

The dialog stated,

-Reformating windows partion and gave % complete until done.

-Copying files required to RESTORE Hard Drive and gave % complete until done.

-Restoring files to hard drive

Received Error message

Windows cannot find 'E:\System.sav\util\rStone.exe' make sure you typed the name correctly and try again.

I did not type anything, just clicked.  

I clicked OK on the error message.  Then received message Recovery Prepartion is complete and after restart the recovery installtion will begin.  Clicked Continue - removed the USB dive.  Computer restarts and windows loading files is displayed at the bottom and starting windows is displayed...  yay!! 

Received another message that Recovery is Complete - Click finish to restart...  I did that.

Machine re-boots... im waiting... oh so excited... & then BAM!!!

BOOTMGR is missing press CTRL+ALT+DELETE....  

Please help

Thank you in advance!

Mike

[WAWood]

@MikeNOTHPFAN

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

Sorry about the USB recovery stick problem -- but you need to get HP to replace this with one that works.

We can not do that for you, so we have been directed to tell you to contact HP Customer Support, and tell them that the USB Recovery Stick is NEW and not working, and tell them the error message you are seeing.  They are then supposed to send you a new USB Recovery Stick.

If you live in the US or Canada, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/phone-assist.html#section1

If you live elsewhere, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

NOTE: After you get through, stay on the line until you are finally able to talk to some one -- it can take a while!

If you have trouble finding a phone number, then try: 1 (800) 474-6836

Good Luck

[MikeNOTHPFAN · Accepted solution]

I did call and they told me that it was a hardware issue, and that if I wanted to know more, because its out of warenty, I would have to pay $59.  I will go buy an ASUS before I purchase another HP!  AT least the ASUS recovery media works, without a problem, no matter how old the machine.

[CherylG]

@MikeNOTHPFAN You did an excellent job of desrcibing your issue and the details of the failed recovery. Unfortunately we have no magic bullet.

The only thing I might do differently is do Not remove the usb stck after files are copied and the machine needs to reboot-even though the screen may say so. Just allow the reboot with usb still inserted and see if you get different results.

[MikeNOTHPFAN]

@CherylG,

Thank you for the kind words.  It has been several years... in fact last century... lol since I have had to partition and build my own drives in prep for Win95, Win98, 2000, & XP OS.  With the Window Recovery, I have become unaware of the various new items that make the windows recovery process so easy.  Are there scripts/software that is available to setup an environment for the Windows Recovery?    

I have performed the steps outlined by Paul_Tikkanen here 

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/recovery-disk-error/m-p/5948643#...

However, during the boot process, I press the esc key to select my USB drive (built using the Win7 ISO and the WINDOWS 7 USB / DVD bootable drive builder) the screen will goes dark and no options to select bootable drive is available.  I can hear the hard drive spinning, but nothing happens.  What would this indicate?  A BIOS malfunction? A hard drive malfunction?  I have performed the detailed hard drive diagnostics, but there is nothing bad to report.  

Are there any software available on bootable USB drive (No CD/DVD on machine) that would rebuild the required partitions and place the BCD, BOOTMGR, etc?

I can shut down the system and use the HP recovery media, and after going through the entire process and leaving the media as you suggested to still receive the same error message.

I have had some luck using Kubuntu - unetbootin-windows-625 - on other machines to get the hard drive to "wake up" and accept an OS.  Even this does not work on this HP 4 Envy.  Any suggestions much appreciated. 

Mike

[MikeNOTHPFAN]

@WAWood,

Do you know, for sure that there could be issues with the recovery media from HP.  I called the day I received the media and the failure occured. I was on the phone for about 45 minutes before anyone answered.  The Service Rep indicated that I had a hardware problems, and that I would need to pay additional monies for additional information.  

The Rep indicated that there was a solution, but that I would have pay for the solution, while a tech walked me through the steps.  

Is there a way to access the recovery media in a different way other than the boot process?  If I had paid and a tech would have me walked through with their guidance, it seems as though a solution would be on the recovery media.

The rep could still not provide any guarantee that a fix would be possible, so I opted to not pay out the additional money.  

Thanks for your suggestions, and any other advise is much appreciated.

Mike 

[CherylG]

You seem pretty tech savvy so this tutorial on rebuiding the BCD may be of value:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-rebuild-the-bcd-in-windows-2624508

[MikeNOTHPFAN]

None the "Bootable devices" that I have created have been able to bring up a start up option for a "safe mode" with command prompt option.

I have discovered several sites that are talking about using these commands demonstrated in the supplied articles.

Thank you.

How do I ensure that my USB device will cause this HP 4 Envy to respond to these types of command options during the boot process, when the bios does not respond, and what seems to override the BIOS startup?

Is there a flash option for the hard drive controllers? During one of my 100 or so startups, there seems to be a raid setup or controller something going on... it was on for several hours and I'm not sure what started it, restarted and still received BOOM MGR error message.

Thank you for your help in understanding this "new" 🙂 tech....

Mike

[CherylG]

Have you tested the hard drive and memory? enter BIOS by tapping F10 key immediately after powering on. Look for Diagnostics and test hdd & memory.

[MikeNOTHPFAN]

I have tested the hard drive, but not memory... running it right now.