Solved Very strange problem - Windows 8 error has broken my dual boot laptop

aidyd

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In desperate need of some help here, any advice massively appreciated - I installed windows 8 as dual boot alongside windows 7 on my laptop, (dev build) and having played with it for awhile decided to delete off my hard-drive...

(Long story short, formatted whole harddrive yet windows 8 error message from dual boot screen prevents me from doing/accessing anything)

So I formatted the partition with windows 8 on it.. And carried on using my laptop fine, watching movies, browsing the net etc, turned off laptop and the next day on trying to boot, the screen went straight into a windows 8 blue screen that states 'error oxc000000f' windows recovery environment' your pc needs to be repaired, a required device isnt connected or cant be accessed. You need to use the recovery tools on installation media.

Press enter to try again. Press F9 to use a different operating system.

Neither of these options do anything, the button presses result in a quick black screen flicker and that is it. For some reason it also wont let me access the bios or boot order menu..

So I was stuck with a responseless laptop that seemed to be stuck on the windows 8 dual boot gui error message screen, that prevents me from loading my windows 7. Even though windows 8 partition was wiped from hd.

I cannot boot from disc which is another massive problem, it just wont let me do anything and its infuriating, especially with lots of assignments due in over next couple of weeks at uni!

Eventually I took it around to a friends, removed the hard-drive, and tried accessing bios that way (doesnt work). boot order has to be done in an os through toshiba software.

Iv tried running/installing windows 8 again just to even be able to boot into an os, windows 7 startup repair and supergrub, but its all irrelevant as I need to do this stuff on my harddrive, and cannot connect it to the laptop because then i just get the windows 8 screen.

So I decided to format the whole harddrive, wipe everything, clean install.

I just put the harddrive into my laptop and it loaded up the bloody windows 8 error screen thing.

The hard-drive is empty!! I cant do anything and the harddrive is a clean slate I dont understand how windows 8 has completely messed up the harddrive..

Im currently trying to install windows 7 on it, by removing hd, then putting it back in once the disc boots up, just to let me past the error screen. Also of note is I put the hd in my friends pc and all files were in there and intact before formatting.

Sorry for the really long scramble of a message, just dont know wht else to do to try and get this windows 8 error screen to go away. Any help greatly appreciated or any advice at all?

I have a toshiba satellite l7-55 that came pre-installed with w7 64.
 

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    7
[DEL]Recently I started a topic here: ?BUG? - winload~1.exe and dual boot with Win7 - Microsoft Answers

It seems that the Win8 setup routine sets up a new copy of winload.exe that doesn't agree with with Win7.
The suggested fix is to edit the BCD to load winload~1.exe rather than winload.exe. An alternate method is to rename winload.exe to winload.BAD and then to rename winload~1.exe to winload.exe (there may be issues with this method as winload.exe is a protected system file).

I report this based on the problems that others have had. I have not seen this, nor have I tried the fixes mentioned.
Good luck![/DEL]

Sorry, but I didn't notice that you'd formatted the hard drive.
In this case the files that are giving you troubles aren't affected by a format.
You'll need:
- a bootable copy of DBAN or KillDisk (both free with a google search)
- your Toshiba Recovery Disks (if you haven't made them already, you'll have to order them from Toshiba)

Run DBAN or KillDisk to completely write the disk with 0's (this includes the partition tables, mbr, and boot sector)
Then run the Toshiba Recovery Disks to reset the system to factory defaults.

Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1Pro - Finally!!!
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung/NP780
    CPU
    Came with the laptop (i7 of some sort)
    Motherboard
    Pretty sure that it has one, but haven't checked inside the case!
    Memory
    upgraded to 12 gB from 8 gB
    Graphics Card(s)
    has switchable - Intel/ATI - Used wrong drivers, now ATI card is inop :( Will have to fix it soon!
    Sound Card
    I'm nearly deaf, so this isn't used often
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touchscreen on laptop/32" Toshiba on HDMI (laid the Sharp TV on a mouse and cracked the screen!)
    Screen Resolution
    800x600
    Hard Drives
    One Samsung 1tB drive - 5400 rpm. Gonna switch to a 7200/10000 rpm or an SSD (if I can find $500 for a 1tB SSD!)
    - Switched to 500 gB Samsung 840 series SSD - WOW!!!
    PSU
    Why do we ask this for laptops?
    Case
    Silver with a neat Samsung logo
    Cooling
    sub-par, gotta get around to working on it soon Worked on it - still sub-par! :(
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural - the same one I've used since it orignally came out around 1995
    Mouse
    no Mouse - Trackball!!!!
    Internet Speed
    too slow when I'm waiting for a download to finish
    Browser
    Yes, I use this (Firefox mostly, w/IE next most)
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
    Other Info
    I'm handsome and a snappy dresser :0)
First, I hope that when you say that you wiped your hard drive that you only wiped the drive C:\ and not the other partition, because if you did, then you wiped out your hidden recovery partition. That was placed there for a reason: so you can restore your laptop from the hidden partition without the need for the recovery DVDs that you probably did not make when you were supposed to as soon as you took the laptop out of the box. Or maybe you did, but you can't find them. As long as you have not wiped the entire disk clean, for as long as that recovery partition (or those recovery partitions {on my Acer laptop, there are 3}) is still there, there is a hot key that you could use to get it started.

The trouble is that each manufacturer has a different key or key combination, and some manufacturers even have different ones between models. On my Acer, for example, it's <Alt> + <F10>, and on my son's ASUS, it's <F9> at startup, but what is yours? Yours is a Toshiba Satellite, but when I went to the Toshiba website, I couldn't find the l7-55 model number. I clicked on your link, but was frustrated to find that you didn't link to your laptop, but a listing of several Toshiba laptops, so I had to choose one.

On their website at www.toshiba.com, I clicked on "Services & Support", "Laptop Computers", "Downloads" and since I don't know which model yours is, I chose "L750-ST5NX2" and then I chose to download the User's Manual.

In Chapter One:Getting Started (page 64), it tells how to do an "Out-of-the-box Recovery". THAT is what you need to do.

If your model works the same as the one that I looked up, you simply press <F12> at startup, and choose HDD Recovery and then press the <Enter> key. If it asks you if you want Windows 7 32-bit or Windows 7-64 bit, you will need to make that choice, and since it came with 64, you'll probably want to choose that one. When the "Selecting a Process" screen opens, choose "Recovery of Factory Default Software".

That'll get you started. Just follow the instructions in the popup windows as you go along.

Next time you want to wipe your disk clean, use these same options, but when you get to the "Selecting a Process" screen, choose the option, "Erase the hard disk".
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR
Sorry I did reply earlier but it seems to of not registered! Yes still have the recovery partition on the HDD, but I think this has stored the windows 8 bootloader, as I cannot access anything if the HDD is plugged into windows, killdisc option seems a good choice if I cannot get factory restore to work, this might actually be my saving grace..

Sorry I didnt put the specific model in my post, am going to download the user manual and try factory restore, hopefully this will work - f12 def doesnt work, the laptop starts and jumps straight to error screen, no access to bios or boot menus etc, unless hd is taken out the laptop cant access anything
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7
right 'turn off power, hold F8 whilst turning power on' will get you to recovery menu. Spent 5 minutes doing it and everytime it just ignores button presses and jumps straight to this error message.... This error message prevents me from accessing ANY thing on my laptop, no buttons work, if I take out the hdd then it tells me no bootable device found, and no button presses do anything.

If I stick in ubuntu live cd/windows 7 install cd it works but wont read the hdd if i put it back in whilst laptop is on. Im thinking killdisc will sort out the problem here, but dont want to lose the recovery partition but have little choice at mo, or money
 

My Computer

System One

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    7
ahh right, holding ESC, F1, F8 and 8 freaks the laptop out and causes it to reset after a few minutes of loud beeping, and during this brief reset it gives me the chance to access bios and boot order... Iv changed boot order now, but need to try recovery option, will keep trying different keys and see if i have any luck
 

My Computer

System One

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    7
sartup repair now shows windows 8 and windows 7 on hdd, bootrec commands tell me the boot config is corrupt. Strangely recovery factory reset still wont work... have tried all buttons along the F line.

If I can now physically see the dual boot in startup repair what should I try? file size of both is zero aswell.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7
sartup repair now shows windows 8 and windows 7 on hdd, bootrec commands tell me the boot config is corrupt. Strangely recovery factory reset still wont work... have tried all buttons along the F line.

If I can now physically see the dual boot in startup repair what should I try? file size of both is zero aswell.

Well, since this isn't a bomb, where you're asking "Should I cut the red one or the blue one?" and cutting the wrong one would make it blow up, let's go for the Windows 7 one first, since you want to re-install it, and if that doesn't work, then go back and try the 8 one.

Since you mentioned that you do have a Windows installation disk, then maybe you should try to rebuild the MBR first. Boot up from it and then choose "Command Prompt" and type in bootrec /FixMbr /FixBoot and then restart from the disk again.

Then when you go back to that "System Recovery Options" menu, look for an entry to restore to factory settings.

I don't have an installation disc, but I have one of the disks I was supposed to make when the laptop came out of the box, called "Acer System Repair Disc for Windows 7 64-bit" and on mine, on the very bottom of the menu, is an option called, "Recovery Management: Restore system from Factory default". I forgot about that option when I wrote the above post. On my Acer laptop, that's the same as pressing <Alt> + <F10> at startup.

Does yours have such an option?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR
Right... Factory reset settings options couldnt be found, I tried bootrec, couldnt repair boot, did repair mbr. Killdisc wouldnt erase all data properly, not sure why, must be strange conflict with my laptop or something, ended up using the partition manager on the live ubuntu disc, it wiped the whole hdd, and 3 apparent partitions, and installed ubuntu fine. Using it now, laptop fully functional.

Tried partitioning hdd again leaving free space for windows 7 installation disc... 'required device drivers are missing
A required CD/DVD device driver is missing. If you have a driver on a floppy disk, CD, DVD or USB Flash Driver, please insert it now' which I had assumed was a problem because of boot order... Fed up of this
 

My Computer

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    7
This is why I didn't want you to use Kill Disk or to wipe your hard disk clean.

Now, because you have done that, you have three options.

  1. The best option is to find your set of Recovery DVDs that you must have made when you first used your laptop. That is the best option, because that will restore the laptop to its came out-of-the-box state. Everything would be there, all the Toshiba programs needed to make it work properly, all the drivers intact, and even all the third party programs that were installed--some which may be needed, and others which may be junk.
  2. The second option is to go to www.toshiba.com, click on "Services & Support", "Laptops", and "Contact Toshiba", find the phone number for your area, and then ask them how you could buy a recovery set of DVDs for your laptop which should contain the same as option #1, except that you would have to pay for it, but that's still better than door #3.
  3. Door #3 is that you would go to www.toshiba.com, click on "Services & Support", "Laptops", "Downloads" and then manually install all of the drivers and Toshiba utilities (which are needed to make it work the same way it was when it was working. I still don't know which model you have, so I chose one and found that there are 33 drivers and utilities that you would need to install just to get it working, so you'll be busy for awhile.
Option 1 or 2 are the best options because the recovery disk will restore the hidden partition(s), so it would be exactly as it was when it came out of the box. Door #3 doesn't do that. You would have to make your own hidden partition.

You could buy Acronis TrueImage Home, which you can find at Complete hard disk drive copy, cloning and image backup software: computer files and disk copying, and make a hidden partition that they call "Acronis Secure Zone", and then you can set it up so you could access it at bootup by hitting the hot key <F11>. Maybe another backup program would do the same thing. I just recommended Acronis because I've been using it for the past 5 or 6 years because back then, I found that it was the best backup program, and I've used it ever since. For my desktop computers that I've built myself, I make an "Acronis Secure Zone" to restore it to its state when I had everything installed the way I want to, and then I have a special partion on my external hard drive that I use for making backups on a regular basis.

Let me know how it goes!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR
I've forgotten to comment on your first post.

First, you say:
In desperate need of some help here, any advice massively appreciated - I installed windows 8 as dual boot alongside windows 7 on my laptop, (dev build) and having played with it for awhile decided to delete off my hard-drive...

and then you say

The hard-drive is empty!! I cant do anything and the harddrive is a clean slate I dont understand how windows 8 has completely messed up the harddrive..

If you did delete it from your hard drive, rather than to uninstall it, that is what cause your problems. Never, ever delete any program. You should always uninstall it.

You see, if you delete it, that leaves the registry cluttered with entries for that program, and that screws up the performance of Windows--and could even disable it completely. That's because each time Windows starts, it'll be looking for the program files, but it won't find them--because you've deleted them. Then the processor doesn't know what to do, so it freezes the computer. What you've done is to delete an entire OS, so that wouldn't affect the registry, but obviously, it has affected the MBR, and so bad that you couldn't access your hard drive.

I believe that had you uninstalled Windows 8, none of this would have happened.

A good uninstallation program which is better than the Windows "Programs and Features" is Revo Uninstaller, which you can find at Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download - Uninstall software, remove programs, solve uninstall problems. The free edition is excellent because it catches registry entries and files that are left behind with the program's uninstall program. The one you pay for (after a free 30-day trial) is even better, because you can use it to install your programs, and it'll make a record of everything that goes onto your laptop during istallation, and it's supposedly a one-click uninstallation, but clicking on the icon it makes. However, I prefer to start the uninstallation from the program's icon, and then come back to the "one-click" icon and use that to make sure that everything is gone. Maybe my method is unneeded double-work, but I just want to be sure.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1Pro - Finally!!!
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung/NP780
    CPU
    Came with the laptop (i7 of some sort)
    Motherboard
    Pretty sure that it has one, but haven't checked inside the case!
    Memory
    upgraded to 12 gB from 8 gB
    Graphics Card(s)
    has switchable - Intel/ATI - Used wrong drivers, now ATI card is inop :( Will have to fix it soon!
    Sound Card
    I'm nearly deaf, so this isn't used often
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touchscreen on laptop/32" Toshiba on HDMI (laid the Sharp TV on a mouse and cracked the screen!)
    Screen Resolution
    800x600
    Hard Drives
    One Samsung 1tB drive - 5400 rpm. Gonna switch to a 7200/10000 rpm or an SSD (if I can find $500 for a 1tB SSD!)
    - Switched to 500 gB Samsung 840 series SSD - WOW!!!
    PSU
    Why do we ask this for laptops?
    Case
    Silver with a neat Samsung logo
    Cooling
    sub-par, gotta get around to working on it soon Worked on it - still sub-par! :(
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural - the same one I've used since it orignally came out around 1995
    Mouse
    no Mouse - Trackball!!!!
    Internet Speed
    too slow when I'm waiting for a download to finish
    Browser
    Yes, I use this (Firefox mostly, w/IE next most)
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
    Other Info
    I'm handsome and a snappy dresser :0)

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR
Well BlackBart2012 - since you know so much more than I do, I'll leave this to you.

First you tell aidyd to ignore my advice - then you give him the same advice as option 2.

Also, you didn't bother to look at the link that I gave before criticizing me again. Just FYI - the link points to a phone number for Toshiba. It's on my website and I keep it there for just these sort of circumstances.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1Pro - Finally!!!
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung/NP780
    CPU
    Came with the laptop (i7 of some sort)
    Motherboard
    Pretty sure that it has one, but haven't checked inside the case!
    Memory
    upgraded to 12 gB from 8 gB
    Graphics Card(s)
    has switchable - Intel/ATI - Used wrong drivers, now ATI card is inop :( Will have to fix it soon!
    Sound Card
    I'm nearly deaf, so this isn't used often
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touchscreen on laptop/32" Toshiba on HDMI (laid the Sharp TV on a mouse and cracked the screen!)
    Screen Resolution
    800x600
    Hard Drives
    One Samsung 1tB drive - 5400 rpm. Gonna switch to a 7200/10000 rpm or an SSD (if I can find $500 for a 1tB SSD!)
    - Switched to 500 gB Samsung 840 series SSD - WOW!!!
    PSU
    Why do we ask this for laptops?
    Case
    Silver with a neat Samsung logo
    Cooling
    sub-par, gotta get around to working on it soon Worked on it - still sub-par! :(
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural - the same one I've used since it orignally came out around 1995
    Mouse
    no Mouse - Trackball!!!!
    Internet Speed
    too slow when I'm waiting for a download to finish
    Browser
    Yes, I use this (Firefox mostly, w/IE next most)
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
    Other Info
    I'm handsome and a snappy dresser :0)
Well BlackBart2012 - since you know so much more than I do, I'll leave this to you.

First you tell aidyd to ignore my advice - then you give him the same advice as option 2.

Also, you didn't bother to look at the link that I gave before criticizing me again. Just FYI - the link points to a phone number for Toshiba. It's on my website and I keep it there for just these sort of circumstances.

Would you please tell me in what post did I say, "Ignore usasma's advice". Where did I criticize you? Where did I say anything about you? In what post?

And what else are you talking about? Are you talking about that order form to order the recovery discs from John Carrona, who not only sells recovery discs for Toshiba computers but for Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway/eMachines/Acer, Sony, IBM/Lenovo, ASUS, and Samsung? I did notice that the number for Toshiba is the same 1-800 number that is listed on their website, but still, I don't know who John Carrona is, and I was just saying that it's best to buy directly from Toshiba. Had you simply made a post that said,
Toshiba's Customer Service Number is (800) 457-7777 (toll-free) or (949) 859-4273
I would have left it alone. Instead, you sent that order form to order them through John Carrona.

I wasn't criticizing you! Do you want me to?

Nowadays, it's never a good idea to use Kill Disk on your computer's hard drive. It wipes the entire disk clean! The entire disk! That means that even the hidden partition, with all of the vital information is scrubbed!

Back in the old days, when the manufacturer's used to deliver REAL Windows installation discs, and REAL CDs for all the other software. So back then, it was OK to use Kill Disk and start over. Not now! Now it's only good for external hard drives.

The average user doesn't make the recovery DVDs, like he's supposed to, because he doesn't understand how valuable his hidden partition is, and then he would take your advice and wipe the disk clean. Then he's stuck right where aidyd is now, with his drivers not working (because there ARE no drivers on a newly bought Windows DVD because it's not specially made for his computer) and wondering what to do. Then what do you tell him? Do you say, "Ahh! Gee! Now you need to buy some recovery discs from this order form!"

Even if you have a user who says, "I want to sell my computer [or laptop]" and wants to know how to get rid of his personal informaton, it's bad advice to tell him to use Kill Disk. How is he going to sell the thing if Windows isn't installed? and properly installed? The best advice is to tell him to use his "Factory Settings Recovery" and that would wipe the disK clean! If you still want to feel safe, then you tell them to run something like CCleaner Tools|Wipe for each of the partitions (except, of course, the hidden ones) to make sure they are wiped clean--but on the C:\ drive, use it on just the empty space.

Nowhere did I criticize you! You left the conversation. After my first post, I waited for a couple hours and when he didn't reply yet, I walked away. Then several hours later, when I checked my e-mail, I found that he had made 3 posts, each spaced about an hour apart, and yet, you didn't respond. Then, since you didn't respond to him, I did.

He didn't follow my advice and did what you told him to do, so what I told him was really to follow the rest of your advice. I told him to obtain a copy of the recovery disks from Toshiba. You responded by giving him an order form to order them from John Carrona, so I responded with a link to the actual Toshiba website. I did not criticize you! I simply said that it is better to buy it directly from Toshiba!

If the "bootrec" thing didn't work, which he says it didn't, my next step would have been to tell him to put the hard drive back into his laptop (so he won't mess up his friend's laptop) and re-install Windows 8 --and then uninstall it, rather than to delete it. I feel that that would have gotten it out of his MBR and it would have unlocked his hard disk. If he couldn't do that, because maybe he didn't have an actual installation disk, but it was a link from Microsoft Downloads, then I would have told him to leave the heard disk in his friend's laptop (as a slave) and install it and then uninstall it (the way he should have done in the first place) and hope it doesn't screw up his friend's laptop (which I don't think it would, but there is always that possibility).

Once he was to get Windows 8 off of his hard disk, I was going to tell him to use his Windows 7 installation disk to install Windows--just to get it working so he could access his hidden partition. Then he could unhide it, using "Disk Management" to unhide it, and to look for the exe file that would start the process--and then run it.

That was my strategy.

Your advice was to wipe the entire disk clean so he can not use the hidden partition because it is no longer there to use. And then you say, "Here's an order form to order your recovery CDs".

Which is better advice? Mine wouldn't have cost him any money, had he only followed my advice! With your advice, he needs to buy a set of recovery CDs.

Look. He is gone now. It's been hours and hours since he made his last post. It was made over 18 hours ago. It doesn't look like he is coming back. And since he did what you told him to do, and used Kill Disk, even though I warned him not to, I was going to ignore any further requests anyway, because now I don't know what to tell him--except to go to Toshiba and order those disks -- OR to download those drivers himself and to buy Acronis to make an Acronis Secure Zone as a replacement hidden partition. I've already said that, and I'm out of gas.

He followed your advice. Now I'm waiting to see what further advice you give him, since you're the expert.

You see, since he followed your advice, he's lost his hidden partition, and used a store-bought Windows 7 DVD and now he's frustrated because he followed your advice and you didn't warn him that if he does follow your advice then he wouldn't have the necessary drivers and utilities -- or even the hidden partition, so now he's frustrated and he's at another website where he asking for help from someone who knows what they're talking about. It's either him or someone else with the same problem. Just read his last post. He ended with "Fed up with this".

I'm stepping aside now. OK?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR
Hey just to let you know all fixed here now finally, was very strange problem for me, but currently have ubuntu and windows 7 on dual boot with 3 partitions on hdd.

Had to download all the drivers needed from the toshiba site, through a friends laptop, then transfer via cd, to get lan drivers etc, around 44 total, took awhile, and I certainly learnt the importance in time consumption that having recovery discs has.

Basically it wasnt installing windows 7 due to a poor burn, so I re-did it and it worked fine!

The main thing from this (apart from recovery) is how ridiculous the windows 8 error/bootloader was.. It wouldnt let me use any key commands or access bios, or reset laptop to factory settings (even though function was designed for situations like mine) and as I couldnt change boot order that just left me dead.

Somehow pressing ESC, F1, F8 and 8 confused the laptop when booting and caused it to reset, giving just enough time to see the boot order option.

Thank you for all the help really appreciate it, was alot of trial and error but saved myself £50 in the end! Now to get back to essays...

Basically i installed ubuntu after my last post i think, spent an hour trying to figure out how to even use it, and try to use a partition manager, didnt work, w7 install disc was telling me 'device drivers missing cannot install', but eventually I re-burnt a copy of w7 and it went through ok.

Sounds fairly simple, but took me days to sort out... Girlfriend was getting fed up of me and my tinkering but all good now, really appreciate the advice on offer, wouldnt of fixed it had I not posted in this thread for sure.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7
A bit late, but why not. YOU could press and hold the 0 (zero) key on your keyboard and then press the computers power switch. When the computer turns on, the Toshiba HDD Recovery Utility screen would of appeared. BUT that was way before you did any of the other things listed, and if you hadn't removed your recovery partition originally.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 pro Retail
Ah I tried that, holding zero key whilst powering on, also whilst powering off.. Was strange as alot of people/soloutions are around on google but I just couldnt get any commands to work on laptop, this was before I removed recovery partition, which must of had the windows 8 boot gui saved on it, blocking me from doing anything, including a clean install, bootrec and other console commands, supergrub 2 style bootable discs (as wouldnt let me change boot order) just straight to this error message.

May be of help to others who chance upon this thread though
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7
OK I have tested this on that model Toshiba laptop. YOU cannot release the 0 (zero) and the key you use is the 0 (zero) on the top of the keyboard, NOT the numeric pad's 0 (zero). THE computer MUST boot first before you take your finger off of the 0 (zero). This keyboard command WORKS on all Toshiba brands it is built into the ROM (read only memory).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 pro Retail
Had to download all the drivers needed from the toshiba site, through a friends laptop, then transfer via cd, to get lan drivers etc, around 44 total, took awhile, and I certainly learnt the importance in time consumption that having recovery discs has.

And you still need to buy a set of recovery disks so you can replace the recovery partition.
Without it, you would not be able to make a set of recovery disks or do a windows backup, and I've read somewhere that System Restore may not work, nor would you be able to make a Windows Repair disk, because all the information is stored in that hidden partition.

When you buy your recovery disks, the only way to rebuild that partition is to use them to do a factory settings recovery--which would, in essence, be re-installing Windows all over again, and you may even have to type in the Windows Serial Number, which should be on a sticker on the underside of your laptop, and then go through the activation process.

When you have that completed, I would suggest that when it asks you to burn a set of recovery DVDs, that you do so, even though you will have had the set that you have had to buy, because the new set would (or at least, should) have everything on it, so you won't have to go through that Windows activation process again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP Pro
    CPU
    AMD 3600+
    Motherboard
    ASUS A8V Deluxe
    Memory
    3 GB DDR
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