Computer Crashed... System Restore Question

My computer crashed after my brother restarted the computer.. so I'm not sure the problem that caused the crash. I do not have a sytem restore disk, and I know there is something you can press that starts the restore during the boot-up.

I believe it was on on the f7 type buttons that starts it, but can't remember exactly. I need this computer up and running ASAP, as I'll need it for my 3 AP classes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

F8 will get you to the boot options screen, and from there you could try "Last Known Working Configuration". If that doesn't work you could try choosing "Safe Mode" to hopefully determine the cause for crash.

Each "package" system [i.e. HP, Compaq, etc] have their own "restore" key, IF they have partitioned the restore data on the hard drive itself.

For HPs it's F10 and for Compaq it's F1, I believe.

Hope this helps, DarkHelmet.

Let us know how you make out.

Well... the F8 options screen does nothing. Any option Ichoose leads to it showing that Windows XP Professional is loading, then flashes the blue error screen, then automatically restarts my computer leading me back to where I was before.

I tried every F# button, including the F10 as it's an HP, at least 5 times each and came up with nothing.

This happened last summer, and pressing one of those started the automatic restore. So I know it is on there. Is it possible that whatever happened to my computer was so damaging that it's preventing me from reaching this automatic System Restore?

If that is the case, then how would I go about recieving a System Restore Disk?

DH,

If you used the system recovery feature before it should have put the entire system back to factory defaults, including the system recovery capability. When using sustem recovery you are afforded two options, Destructive and Non-Destructive. The former retains all of your files and such while the latter will completely format the drive and "restore" Everything back to "factory defaults".

When you first turn it on and get the HP "splash screen" you should see, on the bottom or in the corner, F10 - System Recovery.

Have you tried F10 as soon as you see the HP "splash screen"? ... probably so, but I'd thought I'd ask anyway.

Also, what make/model HP is it? The F-# keys do vary according to the particular model.

I've tried the F10 at every available pont... and still nothing. The model is an HP Pavilion 7955. I've tried every F# key at least two or threee times, and still nothing. So unless it has a different key, then I dunno if I will be able to do the automatic system restore.

Recovering during startup

• Turn on the PC.
  
• Just after the first screen appears (the logo screen), press the F10 key repeatedly until a recovery menu appears.
  

Anything stand out as unusual that led up to this, DH?

If you can't get to the system recovery screen then, perhaps, try F8 to get to the boot options screen and choose "Command Prompt". If you can get there try typing "chkdsk /f /r" and hit enter.

It's probable that the default boot order is set to HD first. If you want to boot off the CD you have to go into your sestup screen by pressing the told button after boot, usually F1 F10 or Del.

Once in the setup screen you have to find where the boot configration is. On almost every macine it's different, and I can't remember what HP's is. SAve and exit, then reboot with the CD in the drive.

You should be prompted to press any key to boot from CD, so, find the 'any' key and press it.

Follow the prompts on the CD and you are home free

Rasobasi420,

Unfortunately,

Originally posted by DarkHelmet
I do not have a sytem restore disk,

, hence his need to get into the system recovery screen/partition.

Oh, (Duh:bnghd: )

That'll show me for scimming the OP.

Then yeah, do what he said

I'm going to assume this is a more recent PC, running XP? If so, did you have / can use XP's system restore?

Also, question for anyone towrds this posters problem: does XP have a repair feature on the XP CD, such as does Win2K, to replace corrupt / missing dirvers and such? ( this is assuming the user has the XP CD, as the machine CD is not available )

NN

[edit on 21-8-2006 by NoNik]

12m, isn't there some way to run the system restore function from the command prompt?

support.gateway.com
# Restart the computer.

# As the computer restarts, begin pressing the F8 key after the Gateway BIOS logo appears until the Windows Advanced Options Menu screen appears.

# On the Windows Advanced Options Menu screen, use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and then press the ENTER key.

# On the Please select the operating system to start screen, select the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, and then press ENTER.

# At the login screen, log on as the administrator or a user who has administrator rights.

# At the command prompt, type: c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe. Press ENTER.

Note: If Windows has not been reinstalled, the folder is c:\winnt\system32\restore\rstrui.exe.

# The graphical user interface (GUI)-based System Restore utility is launched. Follow the instructions on the screen to begin restoring your computer to a previous, functional state.

Or failing that since he said he can't seem to boot any of the options from the F8 screen, is there any way to simply boot to a blank DOS command screen and run it from there?

[edit on 2006-8-21 by wecomeinpeace]

WCIP,

Yes, from the advanced boot options screen you can get to a command prompt and initiate the Windows system restore. However, as DH has mentioned, he's tried all of the boot options from the advanced screen yet each one ends with the same error.

At this point he's just trying to initiate the HP System Recovery, stored on the recovery partition, but can't seem to get to it using the F10 key at boot.

Personally, I've always felt the "recovery partitions" were nothing more than a lame ass approach, as opposed to just sending the damn disks. Oh, yeah, that's right ... we can't do that. It'd be too damn easy and might cost us a few cents.

I don't know how many times I've had a customer [HP and/or Compaq PC] who's hard drive died and they had never taken the time to create the backup/restore disks, many weren't even aware they were supposed to. [typically 5 CDs or 1 DVD] Sure you can replace the failed drive, but without the disks there's no way to restore the system. Of course, they'll send you a free set of restore disks, if it's still under warranty ... otherwise it's like $35+. Sadly, I've only had one incident where the PC was still under warranty.

To my knowledge Dell is one of the few PC manufacturers who still send the complete set of disks for everything that came with the system.

I have been able to restore an HP after someone had deleted the system recovery tools, but it requires slaving the drive in another PC. A bit of a long and drawn out process, but it does/will work.

If everything else fails, and if DH can slave the drive in another PC, we could go that route. ?

The bluescreen provides important information to help you find out what the problem is. Without giving us the basic information on the blue screen, we are just guessing what the problem is.

However, if you simply want to do a recovery instead of attempting isolate and fixing the problem, here are some links to help you.

Looks like you have already tried this, but I thought I would provide the doc anyway.
HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows XP
See paragraph: Recovering during startup

HP Pavilions that ship with Windows XP do not always come with recovery CDs. Instead, they use a hidden space (partition) on the hard drive to store the recovery information. Using a hidden partition provides a convenient, more stable recovery process.

(as 12 noted, what a crappy way to do things)


HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Obtaining a Recovery CD or DVD set
To order by phone 1-800-227-8164

It looks like the recovery cd is $12 plus $9 for shipping.
h20141.www2.hp.com...~PAVILION~~7955

Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately, bone of the solutions provided help solve anything. I tried the command propt, and as expected, just restarted my computer after flashing the blue screen.

As for the blue screen containing the details, it flashes it for about a half-second, which is not nearly enough time for me to even make out anything.

It appears that whatever has happened has been so damaging that it won't even start the automatic restore. And according to my father over-seas, the system never came with a restore disk.

So it looks like I'll be paying for a restore cd. But thanks for the help... it was greatly appreciated!

[edit on 21-8-2006 by DarkHelmet]