[Closed] Vista Recovery Disc is not x64-Compatible

codesplice · #1 January 6th, 2008, 06:36 PM

Hey all,
Just picked up an hp dv6700 notebook (2.2ghz intel core 2 duo, 3gb ram, 256mb nvidia geforce 8400m gs), and I love it. Came preinstalled with Vista Ultimate - which is a blessing and a curse, it seems. Following the trend of all other computer manufacturers, HP neglected to include a recovery disc with the new computer. Instead, I'm giving the HP_RECOVERY partition on the harddrive. A nice gesture.... but when I went to burn some recovery discs, the utility gets halfway through the procedure and then exits, acting like I had canceled the process (even though the Cancel button is grayed out...). I contacted HP and they are sending me a set of recovery discs.... in the meantime, I just HAD to play around.

I deleted the (useless) recovery partition (13.5GB) and used that to install Linux Mint 3.1 (basically a prettier Feisty). Had to do all the fun juggling to get Linux to play nice alongside Vista, and everything was good for a time. Which makes me uneasy - I've got to be breaking and fixing things

So somewhere in my experimentations, I seem to have deleted the Vista bootloader. Completely. When launching the Windows Vista option from GRUB, I get an error about "NTLDR not found". So it's looking for NTLDR (the previous Windows bootloader) rather than BCD.

If I could boot into Vista, I could use EasyBCD to repair the bootloader. If I had a Vista boot CD, I could use that to fix it. (I even tried a legitimate Vista Business CD that I had lying around, and it told me that "this version of windows recovery is not compatible with the version of windows you're trying to recover", or something to that effect.

I've tried using wine to run EasyBCD from the Vista partition, but had no luck

Tried installing it via wine, and also no luck (whines about not finding a few *.dlls). I've tried pretty much everything I can think of - I'm even torrenting a copy of Vista Ultimate to see if that disc will let me repair my ****.

I also tried following the guide here (Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki) including download the Vista Recovery ISO. First, it did automatically detect that the Vista boot information was broken, and I gave it the okay to do so. Rebooted, selected Vista from GRUB, and again received the message about a missing NTLDR. Booted again from the CD, selected repair, chose the installation I wanted to repair, clicked Next, ..... and received the same old message about "This version of Windows Recovery is incompatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a compatible version of Windows Recovery."

GRRRR.

Any other ideas? I'm getting kinda desperate (and too impatient to wait the few days before HP's discs will get here).

Thanks

Makaveli213 · #2 January 6th, 2008, 06:58 PM

Repairing the Windows Vista Bootloader - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

That part of the Wiki should help you out.

codesplice · #3 January 6th, 2008, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by Makaveli213

Repairing the Windows Vista Bootloader - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

That part of the Wiki should help you out.

Thanks for the effort, but that links me right back to the guide that I had previously tried to follow.

Even using the vista recovery image, it won't repair the Vista installation as Windows Recovery is "incompatible" with my install of Vista Ultimate.

Whatever that means

Makaveli213 · #4 January 6th, 2008, 07:40 PM

I used Vista Ultimate to create that Recovery CD Image. So that is very strange. Are you running Vista X64? I used Vista X86 to create the image.

codesplice · #5 January 6th, 2008, 08:14 PM

Ahh, that could be the kicker. I AM using Vista 64-bit.. and that Business CD I tried using was also x86. i didn't even think about that (brand new to the whole 64-bit thinger

).

Thanks though. i guess I'll just wait and hope that the discs HP is sending me will take care of it. Unless you know of anyone hosting an x64-based Vista Recovery ISO :-D

Makaveli213 · #6 January 6th, 2008, 08:47 PM

Sadly i dont. That file was created by me and uploaded by Guru. It is only a x86 version and i currently dont have a X64 system to create a disc with. Sorry.

codesplice · #7 January 6th, 2008, 09:03 PM

It's quite okay. I'll just have to learn patience for a few days

Thanks bunches for your help though!

Makaveli213 · #8 January 6th, 2008, 10:40 PM

Sorry I couldnt be of more help. Let me know if it was the difference of x86 compared to x64 for future reference. Thanks.

Computer Guru · #9 January 7th, 2008, 01:34 PM

Yeah, thanks for the input on that. That would probably explain the problem a member here had a while ago as well.

Makaveli213 · #10 January 7th, 2008, 01:41 PM

I will have to get my new system order so i can try and get the updated Recovery Disc.

Computer Guru · #11 January 7th, 2008, 01:46 PM

I ordered mine a couple of days ago... hoping it'll arrive in one piece so I can finally try out x64

Makaveli213 · #12 January 7th, 2008, 02:38 PM

The only thing is that the newer version of SP1 doesnt have the ability to create a Recovery ISO.

Computer Guru · #13 January 7th, 2008, 02:53 PM

Really? Crap.

Makaveli213 · #14 January 7th, 2008, 05:25 PM

Well i have Vista with SP1 integrated into the install that i use right now and just checked where the option was before and it is not there. So you have to find a old version of the SP1 (Pre-RC1) and install that to get the Recovery ISO. Hopefully they put this back for the final.

Computer Guru · #15 January 7th, 2008, 08:28 PM

Workaround:
Get a bootable floppy or USB
Copy \bin\mbrfix.exe from the EasyBCD program file's directory to the bootable disk.
Boot from the disk and type this in at the prompt:

mbrfix.exe /drive 0 fixmbr /vista