Cannot Reinstall Windows Vista--Help!!

My saga starts with my wireless n adapter periodically having to be reset, uninstalled and reinstalled, then finally wouldn't work at all. When getting assistance and doing an internet search from another computer, I found our Cisco Linksys N3000 had a vulnerability which made me believe that I had been exploited. Whenever I would get the adapter working again, something would immediately start shutting it down.

I went throught the Malware Removal sequence with my computer and was declared critter free, but still, my adapter was not working correctly. I did some inquiring and two people (trusted geeks, one here and one local to me) said that I was going to have to reinstall my O/S.

As soon as I decided that I had nothing to lose and I was confident that I had a good back up, I went ahead and tried it. That's where my worst nightmare began. Once I tried to repair it, my O/S completely disappeared, including all my hardware drivers.

No problem, I not only had the O/S on a fixed partition, but I had also made my bootable recovery disks. Oh yeah...that's where Microsoft and HP got me where it hurts. Now my boot partition is corrupted and there is no replacement on either the permanent partition or on my DVD's.

I found the Windows Vista .ico files at Neosmart and I burned that to a disk, but still, I cannot get my boot manager to work nor any of my drivers.

I was able to get to the DOS prompt. I did the repairs and it reported success. I actually ended up doing two types of Bootrec.exe, the /Fixmbr and /FixBoot. Both reported success, but still I seem to be missing the drivers. I can't find a driver disk and it can't find them even though it looks like they are all there.

While in DOS, I checked the directories and my C: drive is completely empty. My D: drive is now what my E: drive used to be and somehow my D: drive (the recovery partition) is now labeled as the E: drive. Does this have anything to do with my problem?

When I try to do the Windows repair, I get the following error messages:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairV2
Sig01: External Media
Sig 02: 6.0.6000.16386.0.0.0.0
Sig 03: 0
Sig 04: 65537
Sig 05: unknown
Sig 06: MissingBootManager
Sig 07: 0
Sig 08: 2
Sig 09: WrpRepair
Sig 10: 21
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

The last thing I tried was an old MS Windows XP (genuine original program disk) and tried to reload the boot manager from it, but that failed as well.

I've been working on this since before Thanksgiving and would dearly like to have my own computer back. Any direction you can give me is very much appreciated.

You can find my thread for the malware removal here:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=227596

Thanks!

 

Hi,

What is your model of HP?

I saw in the other thread that you had already gone back to Factory conditions? You said all you did was install some drivers before you had these problems.

Are you sure you ever went all the way back to factory and didn't just try to repair the OS? If you truly went back to factory everything personal on your computer would have been gone. Your desktop picture might be different. It would have asked you to create a username etc. Did all that happen?

 

My HP is a desktop, model a6430.
No, it didn't go back to factory condition, but my C: drive is totally gone. My D:, E:, and X: drives are there--as for their condition, who knows--as is my external HDD.

All I was trying to do was to get the Wireless n adapter driver to work. It worked for quite a while, then started getting spotty until finally I could not get it to work at all. I moved ports, I uninstalled and reinstalled, I disabled and enabled, and tried all kinds of ways to repair it. It honestly acted like something was turning it off every time I tried to get it to work. If I left the Windows sounds on, it drove me bats duh-duh-ing on and off.

I tried to do the Windows repair, but that's when my system disappeared. I got the error: No OsInstalled.

I've lost a lot from my c: drive. I thought it was all backed up on my external HDD, but if it's there, I'm not seeing it, only registry backups and Quickbooks backups. The rest is just files I had placed there to get them out of the way.

Thanks for trying to help. Anything you can do is very much appreciated. :major
Laura

 

What are your D: E: and X: drives? Are they partitions on your internal HD? I'm trying to figure out what partitions are on your HD. I believe HP's system recovery takes over your whole HD making a large C: partition and a small recovery partition. So I want to know what would be lost if you did a factory recovery.

One option would be to download a bootable version of Partition Wizard and burn it to CD as an image file. Much like you did with the Vista Emergency disk. It would show your partitions and allow you to Explore them to see if there were any files.

 

As an old DOS user, I am able to navigate around the command window :-D And here is what I see:

C: 0 files, Temp & Windows directories
The Temp dir has 2 files, one is named SrtTrail.log and the other is SrtTrail.txt
The Temp dir has a SMINST directory which inside it has the following:
a file called DRECOVERY with 0 bytes and a file called history.log.

See what I mean? My C: drive is toast!

Originally, the D: partition was the recovery, so I don't see how it's been renamed, but now my D: partition has a bunch of archived files of mine. I do a lot of embroidery and they are mostly my original machine embroidery files.

My E: partition now has the following files and directories:
<dir> $Recyclebin$
<dir> Autorun.inf
file: boo.mgr
<dir> Boot
<dir> FilesToKeepBU
<dir> HP
<dir> PC-Doctor5
<dir> Preload
<dir> Recovery
<dir> Sources
<dir> Windows

And last is the X: drive
In it is one file, setup.exe with several subdirectories:
<dir> Program Files
<dir> sources
<dir> Users
<dir> Windows

In Program Files dir:
<dir> Common Files
<dir> Internet Explorer

The Sources Directory has a lot of files and directories, mostly ending in .dll, .inf, and .sml. It also has some peculiar subdirectories with names like: adprep, dlmanifests, en-US, inf, license, recovery, and service info.

I trust this tells you what condition my HDD is in.

Thanks again for your time and help! :major

Laura

 

Hi,

I'll take a closer look at those partitions tomorrow. Did you only have the C: and D: partitions on that HD before your trouble? Or did you have a third partition for your embroidery/archived files? [I'm guessing X: is a temporary drive created by the repair process that never completed properly]

When you did the fixboot and fixmbr and/or repair was your external HD plugged in?

 

Originally the machine was partitioned with a C: drive, D: drive (fixed with the restore files), and an E: drive which is where I saved all my important files like the embroidery and QB backups, etc. My CPU has 2 HDD. My external HDD is leftover from when my previous computer was failing and I used it to back up my critical systems on. My old desk top didn't have a DVD burner so backups took way too many CD's.

When I did my first repair, I had taken my external drive off. I attached it the other day wondering if my backups had worked when I realized that my C: drive was wiped. I actually have most of my hardware attached right now. Should I take them off until I get the OS retored? You asking the question made me realize I probably should have taken my printer and such off for the time being.

Thanks! :major
Laura

 

I think it would be wise to unplug the external devices. You say your PC/CPU has two HDs. Do you mean two internal HDs or are you counting the external? I'm trying to figure out if the old E: was part of the one internal HD or was on a second HD. If you have two internal HDs I would unplug the second one as well. Ideally, we should just be working with the HD that has C: and the Recovery partition. If that single HD also contains the embroidery/archive files and the X: drive then it would be best to copy the embroidery files to your external to back them up (in case we have to go back to factory or a repair further complicates things)

BTW, how did you determine there was an X: drive from DOS? Did Dos start at the X: drive?

 

Computer configuration: Two internal SATA HDD, 1 usb external HDD
Partitions: At the command prompt, I just did a CD.. a few times to get to the root folder and did a DIR to see what was there. I think you were right that the repair made the X: partition because there wasn't one before. The C: and D: (original recovery partition) was all on one HDD and the E: was the second HDD. (Surely they don't partition across hardware...) I will copy the embroidery files over to my external HDD and disconnect everything. Is this now where I should try to repair the installation?

:major Thanks!

Laura

 

You can just unplug the internal with the E:Embroidery partition. No need to copy. The files can't be harmed if the drive is not connected.

With just the one drive connected see if there is still a C: D: (now the recovery) and X:.

Then I'll have to try to figure out how to proceed. I'm not sure if the repair saved some of your old files or not. But the FilestokeepBU folder and the PCDoctor5 don't look standard for a repair/installation.

 

I'll do that tonight when I get home. My son who is studying electronics at Purdue will be home tonight and can help me disconnect it. Yea, I could do it, but when you have a 21 year old with enough know how, why not let him? :-D I'll verify that I have isolated the one drive then let you know.

I'll then wait to hear from you on what to do next

:major:major Thanks!


Laura

 

Sounds like a plan. Disconnecting all unnecessary components makes the most sense. [We just want to make sure that X: is on the primary HD so that the recovery CD has access to it.] I'm not that familiar with Vista boot loader but I'll look around to see if there is away to restart the repair. Maybe just put the Vista Emergency disc in and let it take a look around.

Even though C: is empty I'm hesitant to do a Factory Restore because there is a chance that your files you had on C: may still be in some folder on the recovery partition or the X: partition.

 

Here's the status:

I copied all the files to my external HDD
I copied files from the E: drive to C: (I'm pretty sure the E: contents were on the second HDD and it appears to have the windows files in it.)
Deleted most of the files I copied over to give the C: drive room to build a boot sector.
Turned everything off and disassembled the entire works

disconnected the top (easiest to access) HDD and hooked back only the monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Put the old Windows XP disk in DVD and booted.

No arguments until it came to the drivers. I had the choice to locate drivers or next and I chose next. Which brought me back to the Repair, reinstall, etc screen.

I replaced the XP disk with the Vista recovery disk and tried to do a repair. I errored out.
It told me to use the command :

restrui.exe /OFFLINE:<drivelocletter>:\Windows to repair the OS

I opted for the DOD command window and did some snooping around. I found the Windows folder located in a partition labeled "d:" so I tried the command, but it didn't work, said unrecognizable command. I got the syntax wrong.

I'm going to do an xcopy of d:\windows to my c: drive then reboot with my recover cd and see where that leads next. If you see this, chime in with any suggestions.

thanks!
Laura

 

I know posting twice with no answer is against the rules, but I didn't want anyone to do a lot of research without knowing this information. You volunteers do a lot of work for only words of thanks and I didn't want to add to your list.

It keeps coming back to needing the hardware installation disk, even when I point to the drivers on the HDD, the installation fails. I don't have the hardware re-installation disk because when I purchased my CPU, the original was DOA. When I returned it, I returned that disk and my replacement CPU was ONLY the CPU. In 25 years of owning desktops and laptops, I have used an original HW disk maybe twice.

Am I going to have to purchase a new one? Or is there some way to use the drivers that are on the HDD?

Here is my current config:

X: = boot partition
C: = main program partition
D: = secondary partition

I'd like to put a list of the files together, but without notepad or anything to copy to, it's just too much to do.

Nearly forgot, I tried to do the full restore again since I had nothing to lose, but I got the error:

file missing: e:\sources\install.wim

Now that I have a boot partition on the main HDD, I'm going to plug in my secondary which might have this file on it and try again. What do I have to lose?

Thanks again,
Laura

 

Hi,
I am a bit confused about where you are in the process. I'm multi-taking this morning. I haven't had time to really analyze your partitions.

If you are considering a full factory restore, do you get restore options by hitting F11 during the HP splash screen? Are they different than the ones you see when starting from the Vista CD?

 

I can get to the repair options, but they all come around to needing the drivers and first for the HDD's. I have found them in the recovery partition, but they fail to install. Since I don't have the device driver disk, I don't know what to do beyond that.

It does boot to the splash screen with the new Vista recovery disk I made from Neo. I have two choices on that screen, repair or install. I have tried all the repair options and they all come round to wanting the disk drivers and it always fails even when I find them on the HDD. Since I couldn't repair, I tried to install

The first time, I tried to install, I got the error mentioned in my last post. I shut everything down and replugged my second HDD and tried it again, all of the repair options which, go figure, all fail to install the HD drivers. So, I pick the reinstall and now it gives me the error:

"Windows cannot open the required file F:\Sources\Install.wim. The file does not exist. Make sure that all files required for installation are available and restart installation. Error code 0x80070002."

Right now I have both HDD's hooked up and nothing else. Is it possible that file might be in one of my backups resident on my ext HDD? BTW, F: is my DVD. I nearly forgot to tell you the F11 key has no effect at all. I start hitting it immediately and it still boots to the flash screen. I didn't try it without the Vista disk...will do that in the mean time.

Have I totally screwed the pooch here?

Thanks for your help. Hopefully you know where I'm at now. :major

Laura

 

Ok. The Neo Vista disk has options like a true Vista installation disc but not all the files. So install will not work from that Neo disc even though it is listed. [It is sort of a recovery console disc for Vista. Neo is not allowed to distribute a true Vista installation disc because of copyright issues]

So we want to try to use HP's recovery which would look like this http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...d=3677047&objectID=c00814731#c00814731_backup

The trick is to see if we can get any response from F11 when first starting the computer to determine if the recovery program is still there. I would reboot and hit F11 repeatedly until you are past the HP splash screen [it should start during the splash screen so if you get past the splash screen it is too late]

 

When I do that it says the boot manager is missing.

 

Ok, try booting from the Vista disc. Get to the command prompt and type bootrec /scanos and see what it returns.

 

0 windows installations ID'd

In the mean time, I realized that I must have picked the wrong HDD drivers--they have more than mine in the file. I'm going to see if I can find the correct driver now.

Can't repair something that isn't there...right...

I'm at the Vista install now or repair screen & will wait for instructions.

Thanks
Laura

 

Which drive has these files and which HD is it on: <dir>
file: boo.mgr
<dir> Boot
<dir> FilesToKeepBU
<dir> HP
<dir> PC-Doctor5
<dir> Preload
<dir> Recovery
<dir> Sources
<dir> Windows

*Also is the file boo.mgr actually boomgr or is it indeed boo.mgr with "mgr" being the extension?

 

I was just re-reading. You said in an earlier post you had three HP recovery discs. What happens when you put the first one in and try to boot from it?

 

wrongE: boo.mgr
E: Boot
E: FilesToKeepBU
E: HP
E: PC-Doctor5
E: Preload
E: Recovery
E:, X: Sources
C:, E:, X: Windows

*Also is the file boo.mgr actually boomgr or is it indeed boo.mgr with "mgr" being the extension?[/QUOTE]

I don't know, it lists it as a file created in 2006. It looks like the e: drive is what has everything

Laura

 

E: with the preload files is the recovery partition which we want to boot into or get kick started with F11 or the HP discs.

Do you have HP discs and does the first one offer you any HP recovery options?

 

You must have posted this while I was doing mine...I get a missing bootmgr error.

 

I have the disks I made when I got the computer. The first disk is the one that gives me the missing bootmgr error. I can't boot with these, but I can with the Neo Vista recovery. Maddening, isn't it?

 

I'm wondering if the HP disc is actually booting? I think it isn't and then the Pc is going to HD as the next device. With the first HP CD in the tray try F12 at boot and see if if gives you a boot order menu and choose CDROM.

 

I still get BootMgr is missing, ctl-alt-del to restart. Same...

 

I went there a long time ago, but it seems that nothing has all you need to fix my machine.

The Neo Vista recovery files have the bootmgr, but doesn't have the bootsect.exe. I went back to Neo and they have this EasyBCD program, but I don't know how to run it from the DOS prompt. Stupid, I know, but how do I get it onto my ailing computer and run it? The file name isn't DOS convention and it won't recognize it. If I burn it to a CD, can I just put it on and click on it? I don't think so--means I have to go to a 3rd machine as what I'm using only has a CD ROM (burner is broken). I have the file on a flash drive, but...

Yeah, I used to do this stuff 25 years ago when DOS was all we had, but back then we had little frisbies called floppies that were over 5" in diameter, none of these DVD's, flash drives and who would have dreamed of a camera with no film! (OK, so I'm older than dirt). My brain is not translating today's technology to yesterdays. :major

Thanks

 

What is the partition name that HP is looking for? I can rename them whatever we need them to be. There is a DOS command for that (obviously if it's take, that partition gets renamed first). Is that where we need to be?

 

I think it is a bit trickier than just booting into the E: partition. Or even the X: partition. [Just to be sure you also have an F: partition that you know is your CDROM?]

Right now you did a fixmbr which tells the BIOS to go to the first sector on the HD and try to boot. Unfortunately, there is no information there. So we need to boot either into the second E: partition and see if anything happens or get HP recovery to work.

I still don't understand what is on D: and if F: is currently your CDROM. I'm going to take a look at the Neo Vista CD and see what the options are.

 

C: Partition - 3 directories: Windows, Sys32, and Temp
D: - data records only
E: - Recovery partition
F: - DVD drive
X: - Boot sector

So how do we get the HP to boot to E:?

The Neo Vista CD has bootmgr plus 2 directories: boot, sources

HP recovery disk has 2 directories: Preload and HP

 

I ran the Neo disk.
F: (is this correct letter?)The drive with only two directories Boot and Sources and the file: bootmgr is your DVDrom.
X: is the Windows that Neo creates to run from.
Both of these can be ignored.

C: is basically empty because you copied those files there.
E: is your Recovery partiton.

Is D: on a separate HD?

*******

Just for fun put each of the other two recovery discs in and see what files they have in the root directory.

 

I'm thinking we may have trouble booting directly into E: because bootmgr is named boo.mgr but I think this is by design.

If the other two recovery discs don't have any file that look like boot files than maybe they are a format I am unfamiliar with.

What might work is trying to reburn the first recovery disc and see if the copy is bootable. [What bothers me is I don't see any files that would be normal boot files. Just a preload and Hp directory shouldn't be bootable] I think it might be worth a try if you have a blank CD available.

I would use imgburn. Put the first recovery disc in the tray and use the imgburn option "Create Image from disc" and let it write an ISO to your HD. Then in imgburn use "Write Image file to disc" and browse to the ISO and let it burn a new CD. We might get lucky.

***
Keep in mind that Hp will send out a new set of Recovery Discs for under $20. So that is always an option if you get tired of messing with this.

 

Yes, F is the DVD

No, D is resident on the primary HDD and only has data. I would have removed all the files but some directories are not named with DOS friendly titles.

Just to be clear, I have RAID SATA HDD's so I guess they operate in parallel, so it's hard to say what is where.

The HP recovery disk 1 has two directiories: HP and Preload
The HP recovery disk 2 has two directiories: HP and Preload
The HP recovery disk 3 has two directiories: Oh crap! I had the disks switched! This is the boot disk...

Now I feel like a total idiot! Let me see what happens when I boot from it.
:-o

 

Okay, put the last day down to a ID 10T error. When we pulled my CPU out and unhooked everything, disk 1 got put into disk 3 jacket and it happened that disk 3 didn't say "disk 3", just that it was the recovery disk. Please don't ban me!!

Once I had gotten the Neo Vista file loaded, the recovery disks should have worked.

The data that was on the "D:" drive was in fact recovered. It was after midnight when I got to look around at what was / was not there so I have not restored the auto backup. My son is putting everything back today, so I should be able to run the Windows backup restore from my external HDD and see what I am able to recover from that. All of my vital files are safe as they were saved to the external as well. My biggest loss are emails and photos I hadn't backed up yet. There are at least a year of photos that I've now lost if the backup didn't include that folder. Stupid me.

Thank you all very much for helping me! The Vista recovery disk gen'd from Neo was key to this.

 

I don't think mixing up recovery discs is all that uncommon or I wouldn't have persued it. [Your DOS skills saved the day ] Even reading HP's recovery guide which states it starts with Disc 1 while the Vista disc's recovery option starts with Disc 3 is rather confusing.

So you have Vista up and running and you are going to try running a Windows based recovery off an image on your external? I hope you can get some data back. You may be able to selectively restore particular files if you use the Advanced option and browse through the image to see if your pics or emails are available. http://netsecurity.about.com/od/secureyourwindowspc/ss/vistabackup_10.htm

 

Just so you know, I did restore the Windows backup that was made 2 days before the OS failure and it looks like I have recovered my photos, files, everything except the programs, of course.

My worst fear was loosing my photos. I had irreplacable photos of my quilts--many of which are gone to other states and in some cases, other countries. Our first legacy is our children, our second is our works and mine is my quilts and my career. That will learn me for a few years to make regular back ups outside my electronic backup. I once had a computer systematically fail and the backup software failed to restore the data so I lost everything, not once, but three times as the computer deteriorated.

A Major thanks! :major

 

I'm glad the damage was not to bad. I've found other than Office and one or two other software purchases I need to reinstall that downloading and installing only when needed is the best way for me.

I had this happen about once every 4mos. with Win 95 and Win 98. XP was the best thing to ever happen for me. Now Win7 is another improvement (or I learned my lesson about trying to customize to see what happens ).

I still haven't learned my lesson on backups. I bought True Image a few years ago but besides doing an initial backup after OS install I rarely keep up. I did learn to save all my documents and photos to a separate partition from the OS which has worked well for me.

********
I hope your original wireless problem is resloved as some small compensation.

 

As it turns out, I was using the Windows backup and had set it to back up on the first of the month. When I realized that my computer was not behaving properly, I made sure I backed it up just in case. At one point I was sure that backup was lost, but they were all there. It took about 3 to 4 hr to restore the data and I am now downloading all my critter prevention software and guess what? I'm using my machine.

I now am convinced it was some type of trojan or worm. When I was restoring my backup, I started to hear the duh-duh's just like before, but it only happened a few times and what ever I currently have installed must have killed it. PS It started when the backup was restoring files for my supposedly safe "kids" account. What does that tell you?

Thanks again, you were a bit of sanity when I was tearing my hair out--both you and Tim W. :major

Oh, and have a Merry Christmas!
Laura

 

Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

 

And Merry Christmas to you too. BTW, I got a little nervous last night when my pictures had restored from February 2009 and back! It turns out that a previous backup that had all but anything after early October 2010, so I'm very happy. The auto backup that the recovery disks made gave me nothing. Lesson learned--go back up your stuff! Learn from us old folk!

I almost forgot, I installed Antivira this time on my computer and had it updated along with the other antispyware programs you all suggest for Vista before I completed my last recovery. It picked up on two infections--labeled them trojans. If you want the names of them, I will repost from home where I can look at the log and see what they were called. I definitely still was infected with something.

Thanks again & also have a wonderful New Year--You and Tim W both!:major