Can I use the recovery disks with a NEW hard drive?

[JonBeckwith]

And if not, how do I format the new hard drive so that I can use my recovery disks?  

My recovery disks don't boot.

DV6806US, Vista-32bit

Thanks experts!

[wes_notebooks]

Yes, recovery discs work with new hard drives.  If they aren't working you may need to order a set from HP.

-wes

[JonBeckwith]

Hi wes, thanks.  This is a set I ordered from HP.  There's a story involved, but basically I have a new HD I purchased from Best Buy and want to use that in my laptop.  How do I format and partition this hard drive so I can do that?  Again, when I attempt to boot from my recovery disks, it plain and simply doesn't work.  I'm a very experienced pc user.

[Bryan_N]

Hi Jon,

The recovery discs will boot the PC, and the recovery process will format and partition the hard drive.

First press F10 at boot, go to Diagnostics tab, and ensure that the Short Drive self test will launch and run. This ensures that the PC can 'see' the new hard drive.

If the PC isn't booting from the discs,  try ensuring your boot order is set - Press F9 when booting, and select the CD/DVD drive as a one-time boot option.

If that doesn't work, it is possible the discs are bad, or much more rare, that the optical drive is bad.

To test the discs, put disc one into another PC and ensure the PC is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive. The discs will startup, and eventually provide a message that the discs "are not for this PC".  If you do NOT get this message on another PC, then order a fresh set of discs.

If you DO get this message, then you may want to try and re-seat your optical drive. Review your "service and maintenance guide" for diagram, available for your model from hp.com/go/customercare (enter in your model number, select "manuals" and then Service and Maintenance guide)

[JonBeckwith]

First press F10 at boot, go to Diagnostics tab, and ensure that the Short Drive self test will launch and run. This ensures that the PC can 'see' the new hard drive.

> Ran the test, it passed

If the PC isn't booting from the discs,  try ensuring your boot order is set - Press F9 when booting, and select the CD/DVD drive as a one-time boot option.

If that doesn't work, it is possible the discs are bad, or much more rare, that the optical drive is bad.

To test the discs, put disc one into another PC and ensure the PC is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive. The discs will startup, and eventually provide a message that the discs "are not for this PC".  If you do NOT get this message on another PC, then order a fresh set of discs.

> On another HP laptop, I see windows is loading files... which tells me that they are working

If you DO get this message, then you may want to try and re-seat your optical drive. Review your "service and maintenance guide" for diagram, available for your model from hp.com/go/customercare (enter in your model number, select "manuals" and then Service and Maintenance guide)

> I am able to boot my Ultimate Boot CD.  I've attached an image showing the files on the recovery DVD's.  Could this be a BIOS or MBR issue?  I'm really at a loss here...

[JonBeckwith]

I'll check the service guide as you recommended, but here's one other thing I just noticed.  When I put the recovery disc 1 into the new HP laptop and it gave me the "doesn't work with this laptop" error, after I clicked OK, I noticed another window behind it.  This one said:

Restore7.exe Application Error:

Instruction 0x744605ef referenced memory 0x00000114.  The memory could not be read.

Click OK

Is this related to the fact that it's an invalid set of discs for that laptop, or are the discs themselves bad?

Thanks again!

[Bryan_N]

Thank you for the detailed info - please check your private messages,I have a few more options

[Jon_Beckwith]

I apparently lost my login information.  Please send it again so I can reply.

Thanks!

[MCM68]

Bryn could you help with my problem with my Pavilion dv6:

I jus installed a new Hard Drive and run the HP System Recovery DVD windows 7 but at the end of installation I got this message:

"Windows cannot find c:\System.sav\Uti\RStone.exe. Make sure you typed the..... and try again

Now after that everytime I turned on the computer  I got these screen now:

                                                                                         Windows Boot Manager

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be  cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your windows installation disc and restar your computer.

2. Choose your laguage settings, and then click "Next"

3. Click "Repair your computer"

If you do not have this disc, contact youe system administrator or computer manufacturer forassistance.

File: \Boot\BCD

Status: 0xc000000f

Info: An error ocurred while attemting to read the boot configuration data.

How can i fix that, could you help please, Thanks so much.