Need help with Windows ME recovery CD

[jmadison007]

I am using an HP Pavilion 8755C running Windows ME. The OS became unstable after an in law was using the computer (go figure..) and now I need to reinstall Windows. On the back of the jewel case it says you just need to stick disc 1 of the recovery CD and then reboot. I did this, however nothing happens. There is no setup.exe on the disc, and a directory listing yields the following files:

BOOT.IMG
BOOTCAT.BIN
BOOTIMG.BIN
COPYDISK.EXE
STARTUP.IMG
A.PAQ (hidden)
F.PAQ (hidden)
G.PAQ (hidden)
LST.ZIP (hidden)

I can't seem to figure out how to use the copydisk correctly.

I tried booting from the CD-ROM drive but for some reason the bios doesn't even try to access the drive when I reboot. I've tried everything in the bios, including changing the boot order and nothing works.

I am at my wits end, please help!

[GaryRouth]

Are you certain that a Recovery set is necessary? And - have you been able to run a full-system "thorough" scan with antivirus/antispyware utilities? If the system is free of malware, you do have the option of trying WinMe's builtin System Restore feature (so long as it wasn't disabled). If you wish to try this first, start the computer in Safe Mode, go to the Help menus: all the details for performing a System Restore should be in there. It's easy, only takes a short while.

If you are set on using the HP Recovery Set: be aware that there are two options for your model 1) Format & Recover and 2) Recover Only. If you choose the first option "format & recover" - ALL DATA since you bought the computer will be lost (so choose this only if you have good backups, or have no other choice). The second option, "Recover Only" will attempt to recover without losing all your data = but some programs and data might still need to be restored later.

Your difficulties getting the Recovery Disk to start might be explained in the Hp Recovery-Troubleshooter support link below. Especially note that the CD-Rom needs to be set to drive "M" for the Recovery CD to work. The second hp link below that is a general guide for running the recovery on your model

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07140


http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07141

Don't forget to have your firewall and antivirus active before you reconnect to the Internet after the repair. And visit both your antivirus site for definitions, and Windows Update for Security patches immediately after.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[P.S. ... noticed that this is your first post here: Welcome to the PC Mechanic forums! ... ]

[casperette42]

I had the same problem with my hp pavilion. I spent days trying to get my computer to read the cdrom.. I read a thread in here about the copydisk and startup.img , all that got me was a new emergency startup disk.. no help.. however.. I kept playing with the files on the cd and my a drive.. trying to get anything to work.. I copied the boot.img to my a drive to see what it would do... left the diskette in the a drive .. restarted my computer and it went straight in to hp recovery.. I hope this might help someone else.
from dos prompt, I typed in
a:copydisk E:\startup.img a:
a:copydisk E:\boot.img a: