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9311
cloned DellRestore on Windows XP won't start
I had to replace the hard drive of an Inspiron e1505 laptop with Windows XP SP3 installed. I have repartitioned and resized the NTFS partitions but I also cloned the DellUtility and DellRestore partitions. The only problem is that I cannot reproduce the "Dell System Restore" function. When I try to start Dell Restore the logo displays www.dell.com above a thin blue line then the message "PBR4 done" and a flashing cursor below it. The way I cloned the DellRestore partition was to use clonezilla (client) partition-to-partition mode sector-by-sector cloning. To try to remedy the System Restore non-booting I used the Dell Windows XP installation disk. In the Recovery Console it showed the DellRestore Windows installation as F:\minint so I tried the commands "fixmbr f:" and "fixboot f:" . Unfortunately that did not work. (Even though I have repartitioned the DellRestore partition still remains partition number four.) I have adjusted the reference partition table at sector 18 to reflect the new disk partitioning scheme.
After each time I try to start System Restore unsuccessfully I have to edit the partition table (booting into DOS from a CD) to restore normal startup/boot functionality. This indicates that the System Restore function is partially working.
osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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December 7th, 2012 07:00
Hi Wdclvn07,
These partitions cannot be simply cloned. While there are procedures to put them on a new hard drive, it's not worth the effort. It's too easy to maintain the diagnostics and a system image elsewhere.
speedstep
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December 7th, 2012 09:00
Dan Goodell Made DSRFIX to address this. However the 50 meg diag must be the first partition then the OS then the last 12 gigs or so is the CTRL F11 restore.
detailed description on how to rebuild
the utility partition on a new drive:
http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/recreate.shtml
and the complete story of all the partitions here:
http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/
The Speedstep Readers Digest version is as follows.
This procedure will not work if you waited until the Old drive is totally dead OR you formatted over the old drive.
DO NOT FORMAT YOUR OLD DRIVE. You will need it for files.
ALL Below is for a NEW Blank Drive.
1. You will need a WIN98SE Startup Floppy and copy the dos PTEDIT.com onto it.
If you do not have a floppy drive this is harder as it requires you make a bootable win9x USB flash drive.
2. You Boot WIN9X dos and FDISK make a Tiny 50 Meg FAT16 Partition.
3 You format C: /S to make it bootable to C:\
4. You then run PTEDIT to change the partition type to DE and save that.
5. You then Boot your Windows CD and Make an NTFS Partition but DO NOT USE the entire drive.
If its an 80 gig drive for instance you make a 68 Gig Partition leaving 12 Gigs on the end of the drive unused.
6. You install your XP on the 2nd partition NTFS.
7. You Reboot your WIN9X Dos and use FDISK to again create a 3RD FAT32 partition on the drive.
FDISK REBOOT, Then format your new 12 Gig C: /S
8. You then Test that partition to see if its active and boots to C:\
9. You Put in your old drive and use the WIN9X Boot to Unhide the Diag and recovery partitions.
10. You xcopy *.* /e /s everything from the diag to the blank diag (Do not overwrite IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM)
11 You xcopy *.* /e /s everything from the recovery partition. (Do not overwrite IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM)
12 You remove the old drive and put that aside. Remove from CMOS as well.
13 You boot the WIN9X and run Dan Goodell's DSRFIX program. Reboot Normally.
14 If all is well you will be able to Control F11 and recover using the Ghost image from the hidden 12 gig partition.
Wdclvn07
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December 7th, 2012 09:00
I think I will declare victory and let it go. Another workaround is to install Norton Ghost and recover the image manually from the hidden partition. As a consolation for my trouble I discovered in the hidden partition there are Partition Editor and Partition Info programs from PowerQuest/Symantec which I have copied into my Windows XP SP3 installation. Thanks for the reply.
speedstep
9 Legend
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December 7th, 2012 09:00
PTEDIT.COM is for a boot floppy. PTEDIT32 can be run from within XP to unhide the partitions.
You have to have the 50 meg DE partition at the front of the drive. Then the active type 07 NTFS partition then the
Hidden CTRL F11 Fat32 Recovery partition at the end of the drive. If you copy the files from the unhidden drives to the right
directorys they will Boot accordingly and run.
If the diag and recovery partition boot properly then you only need to boot win9x dos and run DSRfix to set it back
to the "sealed" hidden state where the only "Drive" seen is the NTFS partition.