OEM Win 8 and re-installing from recovery partition

rob2718

New Member
Messages
4
Location
uk
Hi,


After days and days of searching and testing, I have been unable to find the necessary clues to resolve a windows 8 re-install problem. Any pointers of advice gratefully received.


The problem: My son's laptop (Windows 8) failed, and despite F9 options to reset or refresh, and CHKDSK was unable to recover the system due to bad disk sectors. I bought a new disk , but as I had made no recovery media ( I know, I know …), and the OEM doesn't supply any, I have no way of reinstalling Windows 8.

However I did mange to install Ubuntu Linux on the new disk and the Laptop is now working fine. Out of curiosity I connected the old bad disk via a USB enclosure, and lo and behold Disk utility was able to read the OEM Recovery and Restore partitions. I have made several copies of these on a Win 7 laptop, USB and LInux partitions, and all look good (as far as i can tell).


My issue is that as the OEM recovery partitions seem fine, I reckon they should be installable onto the new disk, but I am at a loss as to how I can use this data to reinstall Win 8 onto my laptop. Most of the advice I can see assumes a working copy of WIn 8 or having a retail Win 8 ISO, which of course I do not have. Remember , unlike Win 7, WIn 8 has no product key identifiable as it is contained in the BIOS somewhere, but I reckon it should recognise the OEM's recovery partition if I only could manage to load it.


I now have a sketchy knowledge of lots of new terms (mounting , partitioning, MBRs, boot sequences etc ) and learned that how fraught this topic is to so many people, but I am unable to find a guide as to exactly what to do. [ The tutorial on this form requires a retail win 8 ISO]. I did find a Linux method involcing DD, DDRESCUE , PARTPROBE etc ) which I have tried but all to no avail - I am sure I was close though! ]


So before I forsake Windows forever, are there any pointers or advice anyone can offer.


Many thanks
Rob
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8
information   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html




You can make a Microsoft Recovery USB Drive
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html
warning   Warning
Deleting the Recovery Partition is NOT RECOMMENDED



warning   Warning
I personally DO NOT RECOMMEND using this METHOD above, as of the ERRORS you may receive below with the Microsoft Recovery USB Drive.You would be best off using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery DVD's or Recovery USB drive.





I would recommend you making the OEM manufacturer's Recovery DVD's or USB drive.
or
You can order the Microsoft official OEM Recovery disks from the OEM manufacturer's website.





The Windows Recovery USB drive & Recovery Partition can be very problematic, I recommend you also make a Windows System Image.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8956-system-image-create-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...overy-restore-image-computer-windows-8-a.html

or
look for a 3rd party ,Backup software, which fully supports Windows 8, uEFI, GPT & Secure Boot.
Which is signed by Microsoft.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
I have never tried it (as I've always created recovery media) but in your situation I would try to create a partition on your new drive of the same size as the recovery partition on your old drive then DD the contents from the old to the new.
Then I'd try to start the recovery process with the manufacturer's key-press combination and see if it works.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
    CPU
    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
What make & model?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Hello Theog and Duckface , thanks for the your replies.


Fyi the laptop is from ASUS , model X55C


Remember I do not have working access to a Windows 8 environment, and therefore cannot make a Win 8 USB drive. Moreover, the OEM does not provide recovery media for Windows 8 for my model (I asked).


True I could simply buy a retail version, but as I feel I have already bought the Windows license when I bought the laptop, I would feel a little peeved to pay for it twice over.


For added info, in Linux I have tried to transfer the relevant partition data from the bad drive to USB


dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc bs=512 count =1 ≠ to copy bad drive's MBR to USB
partprobe /dev/sdc ≠ to update partition table
dd if=/dev/sd2 of=/dev/sdc2 bs=1M ≠ to copy recovery partition to USB


set boot to look for USB drive first
set boot options to Launch CSM and sub option Launch PXE OpROM.


When restarted, the laptop just displays an empty screen. So as I understand it, the bios software recognises the USB stick, but the boot sequence cannot invoke the recovery partition boot regime. I am aware I may be well off the mark here though.

Thanks Rob
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
I would have thought there would be a key press or combination to boot from a recovery partition. All of my pc's had one.

I wouldn't have thought it would be bootable via USB though. I would try to recreate the partition on the new hard drive and then dd from the old to that new partition. The new partition should probably be of a certain type code so that the system would know its use.
The key press combination may then work - but I guess that's a long shot really.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OS X / Windows 8.1 Pro / Ubuntu 13.10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    15" MacBook Pro retina 10,1
    CPU
    2.3GHz
    Memory
    8GB 1600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD400 / Nvidia GT650M
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
You should third party software like RecoveryFix for Windows, this utility recover all lost or corrupted files & folders without any data loss. More information :- partitionrecoveryfreeware.net and download trial version.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Window XP
thanks everyone, but no joy from any of the suggestions: vis,
1. the OEM support desk emailed me they have no recovery disks for my serial number (annoying 'cause it is only five months old)
2. the suggestion to DD load directly to the new disk did not work
3. As I have no Windows OS on the machine, so I cannot down load windows recovery software

I reckon I have spent far too long trying to resolve what I thought, perhaps naively, would be a commonly occurring problem. So thanks guys for your suggestions, but I think I'll stick to Linux.

Rob
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8
Maybe I'm missing something here but according to this ASUS procedure, you can do a factory restore without any recovery disks by simply using this procedure:

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Troubleshooting X55C

Sorry, if I missed something important.

Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Thanks My2Cents

I originally tried method 1 with the help of the support help desk, but as the overall disk was bad, both the Recovery options (including Reset to factory settings ) did not work. As I foolishly did not make a Recovery disk beforehand, method 2 is not available.
Remember all I have is a copy of the Recovery partiton whcih seems to have all the necessary .ini .exe & Boot files. I copied this to USB and the new disk, but I missing some magic as to how to make the machine boot from them.
Rob
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8
thanks everyone, but no joy from any of the suggestions: vis,
1. the OEM support desk emailed me they have no recovery disks for my serial number (annoying 'cause it is only five months old)
2. the suggestion to DD load directly to the new disk did not work
3. As I have no Windows OS on the machine, so I cannot down load windows recovery software

I reckon I have spent far too long trying to resolve what I thought, perhaps naively, would be a commonly occurring problem. So thanks guys for your suggestions, but I think I'll stick to Linux.

Rob

By serial number do you mean Product ID or Product Key ?
There is a difference.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Thanks My2Cents

I originally tried method 1 with the help of the support help desk, but as the overall disk was bad, both the Recovery options (including Reset to factory settings ) did not work. As I foolishly did not make a Recovery disk beforehand, method 2 is not available.
Remember all I have is a copy of the Recovery partiton whcih seems to have all the necessary .ini .exe & Boot files. I copied this to USB and the new disk, but I missing some magic as to how to make the machine boot from them.
Rob

Sorry I missed all that; however, I was in a hurry so I just "skimmed" and apparently missed much effort. Now, at the risk of having missed additional information, how did you copy the recovery partition information to the disk? Did you recreate the recovery partition and size it to the exact same specs as the original partition?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
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