Repair Your Computer & AI Recovery doesn't work after Did Factory Recovery by DVD

[Deocharlesc]

Hi to all ROG members,

I'm new here and hope i will get answers from the forum regarding the above mentioned problem. I couldn't find anyone post the same problem in the forum so let me start this thread.

I just bought Gaming Series G55VW about 2 weeks ago and as a precaution act I did made FACTORY RECOVERY DISKS through AI RECOVERY BURNER. I made 3 copies of them, which mean 5 dvd times 3 ( to prevent any unexpected causes such as corrupted files during burn. ) The "Repair Your Computer" boot menu from F8 key does good to recover the whole computer. However I couldn't depend on F8 Keys forever as I might change a new hard disk in the future. So to ensure the copies were safe to keep for future recovery, I tested them...

After I recover the system by running the FACTORY RECOVERY using those DVDs, windows has errors to boot. ( see uploaded image below )



When I restart the notebook i get the following error ( see uploaded image below )



When I check the boot menu, I only get to see my DVD/Blueray Drive. Hard Disk is not listed. ( see uploaded image below )



However based on a hard disk managing software I used to inspect the partition and properties, they are nicely done ( see uploaded image below )



But if you watch properly, the OS partition seems empty. Only about 100mb space is used and the Recovery Partition is there. I suppose the Recovery Partition could be revive but the F8 cannot show up "REPAIR YOUR COMPUTER" option due to corrupt windows boot up.

I tested 3 copies of the DVDs created and they all give the same result. I am certainly sure now that my DVDs are all cool ( no corrupt files during burn ), I would blame the AI RECOVERY doesn't do professional enough to ensure the process of restoring FACTORY DEFAULTS thru DVDs as easy as "Repair Your Computer" thru F8 key.

What I really need now is to get the DVD Factory Recovery work. May I ask extra tasks I should perform to make windows start again? Anyone in Asus can provide this support? Thanks in advance. I think Asus technical support should review the AI RECOVERY BURNER for G55VW and see if this happens to all their G55VW Machines when recover with DVDs.

[Cecil_2099]

To properly use the Asus Factory Restore DVDs you burned, you can't use F8 at startup. Once you power up your computer you need to repeatedly hit Esc until you get the blue "Please Select Boot Device" screen (the third photo in your post). Insert the first restore DVD to your optical drive then hit Enter to boot from the DVD. The DVD will then warn you that it will wipe the entire drive and recreate the factory restore partition to the hard drive. Once you confirm, it will load and ask for the other DVDs. Once it is done loading from all the DVDs it will restart and begin recreating the the OS partition. At this point it is very important to NOT TOUCH THE COMPUTER. Don't restart it yourself, don't click any dialogue boxes that come up. The restore process restarts the computer MANY times on its own and can take more than an hour to complete. If you remember how your computer was the first time you started it up, when it asked you what time zone you were in etc., you will want to wait for the computer to be in that condition. Only then can you know for sure that the restore process is done.

[Deocharlesc]

Cecil_2099 wrote:
To properly use the Asus Factory Restore DVDs you burned, you can't use F8 at startup. Once you power up your computer you need to repeatedly hit Esc until you get the blue "Please Select Boot Device" screen (the third photo in your post). Insert the first restore DVD to your optical drive then hit Enter to boot from the DVD. The DVD will then warn you that it will wipe the entire drive and recreate the factory restore partition to the hard drive. Once you confirm, it will load and ask for the other DVDs. Once it is done loading from all the DVDs it will restart and begin recreating the the OS partition. At this point it is very important to NOT TOUCH THE COMPUTER. Don't restart it yourself, don't click any dialogue boxes that come up. The restore process restarts the computer MANY times on its own and can take more than an hour to complete. If you remember how your computer was the first time you started it up, when it asked you what time zone you were in etc., you will want to wait for the computer to be in that condition. Only then can you know for sure that the restore process is done.

Thanks for the guide. Unfortunately the G55vw doesn't seem to work that way when the recovery is done. I've accompanied with new pictures what happens when I do another attempt today. Please see the images below. Actually I did exactly what you suggested previously and today. Ensure no additional drive connected except the one internal hard disk inside, turn on computer and trigger the boot up menu with ESC key. Insert the 1st FACTORY RECOVERY DVD into the optical drive and select the optical drive from boot menu. The following screens tell the stories... I did the same thing with all 3 copies of my recovery disk and it ended the same result. The G55VW has 5 DVDs to restore instead of 3 DVDs. So its pretty long process.

The process Begins










This last dialogue will not close itself, it waits you to press the OK button then the system will restart.



After restart from recovery. Same error appears.


Anyone has professional ideas?

Side Note:
In attempt to fix these problems, I already did the following without success.
- Use windows 7 Repair Disk returns -> Not the correct repair Disk ( I'm sure it is because I used to repair other Win7 with it )
- Install windows 7 manually into the OS partition returns -> Cannot install windows to GPT disk style

[ANdjelo100]

I have the same problem, only in my case I formated windows and all partitions. When I was doing recovery progress (using recovery discs) I stoped it by force (turning it of with shutdown key on laptop) when phone picture with blue keys appeared. After that I tried to recover my system again the problem appeared: after recovery disc finished recovery progress f8 screen didn't appeared. I tried to press f8 again after I restarted my computer. I tried to install windows vista an windows 7 proffesionall and the same problem appeared. Please help.

[dstrakele]

Windows 7 doesn't appear to have it's act together in regards to a GPT boot (particularly in regards to recovery and repair, if you've seen some of the other threads about it on this forum). I recommend installing Windows 7 with MBR boot.

I admire your efforts to ensure you can recover your system.

[Cecil_2099]

Interesting issue I just ran into early this morning trying to use EaseUS Partition Master Home to try to shrink my back-up OS partition on the stock 1TB drive past the point where the Windows Drive Manager will let me: After resizing the partition, the drive would not boot giving the same black screen saying to select a proper boot device. The drive still shows up in Windows if I have it as a secondary drive, but as primary it doesn't boot or show up in BIOS.

Likewise, the ASUS recovery DVDs that I used to create my guide seem to complete creating the recovery partition but the drive doesn't get recognized after the reboot and never initializes the actual reinstallation of Windows etc. So far i'm about 5 hours out of wiping the entire drive to start from scratch again to see if I have better luck. Very odd that this is doing this now since I've tested the ASUS Recovery DVDs on 3 different hard drives an all successfully worked.

[Deocharlesc]

Cecil_2099 wrote:
Interesting issue I just ran into early this morning trying to use EaseUS Partition Master Home to try to shrink my back-up OS partition on the stock 1TB drive past the point where the Windows Drive Manager will let me: After resizing the partition, the drive would not boot giving the same black screen saying to select a proper boot device. The drive still shows up in Windows if I have it as a secondary drive, but as primary it doesn't boot or show up in BIOS.

Likewise, the ASUS recovery DVDs that I used to create my guide seem to complete creating the recovery partition but the drive doesn't get recognized after the reboot and never initializes the actual reinstallation of Windows etc. So far i'm about 5 hours out of wiping the entire drive to start from scratch again to see if I have better luck. Very odd that this is doing this now since I've tested the ASUS Recovery DVDs on 3 different hard drives an all successfully worked.

I think you need to repair windows boot after resizing or manipulating the partition. 🙂

As for my case, 1st problem is AI Recovery by ASUS is not complete for the G55VW because the OS partition NO Windows 7 after Recovery by DVD! ( I checked it with a partition manager only 100MB data in the OS partition ) Secondly, the GPT hard disk system caused another nightmare... UNABLE to Repair or install Windows ( using normal Windows 7 DVD ) to the OS partition in attempt to recover with Factory Defaults. It's very upsetting, ASUS hasn't reply me anything yet after emailed them. Seems no one dares to solve this problems.

I did successfully install windows after change the hard disk to MBR file system but by changing from GPT to MBR the whole partition needs to be deleted or clean because MBR system cannot recognize whatever was in GPT. which means I won't be able to get ASUS factory recovery defaults. I know many people say there's a lot of crapware or bloatware however there's good thing about the factory recovered system. So my journey continues with the study on GPT file system and may continue battle to execute Factory Recovery partition found on my 3 copies of Factory recovery DVDs. Attempting to create UEFI based installation disk/usb... for GPT hard disk.

But again... ASUS! why your Factory Recovery DVD created doesn't has Windows in the OS partition! :mad: it's a serious defect and imperfection. Against ASUS motto "Inspiring Innovation, Persistent Perfection" 😞

[Cecil_2099]

So after zeroing out the 1TB HDD that the laptop comes with and trying the Recovery DVDs I burned (which worked for my SSD and two other test HDDs), the factory-state WIndows 7 doesn't want to install. The restore process stops at the exact same place as you and I get the exact same error as you do.

I checked out the partitions in GPartEd (from the Ultimate Boot CD) that were created when I used the Recovery DVDs and it looks like the Recovery Partition has a corrupted partition table (the partition shows up as being 4 TB in size!). This might explain why the partition doesn't load as it should.

Honestly I'm starting to think there's a HDD size limitation when using the Recovery DVDs. My 1TB drive won't successfully restore the OS and your 1TB drive won't successfully restore the OS either. However I've been able to successfully use the same Recovery DVDs to restore the OS on a 256GB SSD, an 80GB HDD, and a 320GB HDD without any issues.

I wonder if anyone with a spare 1TB HDD can test this theory out. Try doing a factory restore using the Recovery DVDs on a 1TB HDD and let us know if it works.

Edit: Oh, and I ran CHKDSK on the 1TB HDD to test for errors and there were none. I can also use the 1TB HDD as a storage drive (secondary to my 256GB SSD) without any issues, and I can install Windows from an ISO without any problems.

[Deocharlesc]

Cecil_2099 wrote:
So after zeroing out the 1TB HDD that the laptop comes with and trying the Recovery DVDs I burned (which worked for my SSD and two other test HDDs), the factory-state WIndows 7 doesn't want to install. The restore process stops at the exact same place as you and I get the exact same error as you do.

I checked out the partitions in GPartEd (from the Ultimate Boot CD) that were created when I used the Recovery DVDs and it looks like the Recovery Partition has a corrupted partition table (the partition shows up as being 4 TB in size!). This might explain why the partition doesn't load as it should.

Honestly I'm starting to think there's a HDD size limitation when using the Recovery DVDs. My 1TB drive won't successfully restore the OS and your 1TB drive won't successfully restore the OS either. However I've been able to successfully use the same Recovery DVDs to restore the OS on a 256GB SSD, an 80GB HDD, and a 320GB HDD without any issues.

I wonder if anyone with a spare 1TB HDD can test this theory out. Try doing a factory restore using the Recovery DVDs on a 1TB HDD and let us know if it works.

Edit: Oh, and I ran CHKDSK on the 1TB HDD to test for errors and there were none. I can also use the 1TB HDD as a storage drive (secondary to my 256GB SSD) without any issues, and I can install Windows from an ISO without any problems.

That's an awesome discovery. I took my spare 160GB 2.5" HDD, swap with the 1TB and do the DVD recovery... Success! Little do I know about testing with below 1TB capacity HDD on this matter. But I know there's something wrong with how AI RECOVERY BURNER has flaws in creating the series of Recovery DVDs to support GPT hard disk system. I think Asus should upgrade its AI Recovery Burner now to solve this problem. I also should add, the recovery process is good up until the "Successfully restored from DVD... " dialog box with OK button.. and there's a process that skipped right after it restart the computer that makes Windows 7 cannot proceed with installation into OS partition. Something is wrong either by disk capacity or file system incompatibility which do not permit to proceed further.

Now I need to figure how I can make the 1TB accepts the factory defaults again.

If only windows 7 disk startup repair can be executed, there may be chance to correct and trigger the processes where it stops because the hard disk already has complete image from RECOVERY DVD after the Successfully Restored dialog box. However when windows 7 dvd is loaded, launching startup repair / command prompt, will give error "The version of windows is not compatible with current system" due to GPT file system.

may be partition / hard disk migration software is the easier road now.

[Cecil_2099]

I have sent MarshallR@ASUS a private message with a link to this thread to have the ASUS team look into it. As soon as John_from_ohio confirms if he is unable to restore to his 1TB HDD, then we have great evidence proving that the ASUS Restore DVDs are unable to restore successfully restore on 1TB drives.

Edit: Thank you John_from_ohio for confirming that the ASUS Restore DVDs aren't working on 1TB HDDs (he tested on a Samsung 1TB drive, so it's 1TB drives in general and not restricted to the Seagates that ship with the G75VWs).

Deocharlesc wrote:

If only windows 7 disk startup repair can be executed, there may be chance to correct and trigger the processes where it stops because the hard disk already has complete image from RECOVERY DVD after the Successfully Restored dialog box. However when windows 7 dvd is loaded, launching startup repair / command prompt, will give error "The version of windows is not compatible with current system" due to GPT file system.

I think the problem is that the Recovery DVDs process to generate the Recovery Partition is flawed/incompatible with 1TB drives. Even though if you load up a partition manager software you will see a Recovery Partition, the partition manager software that is capable of checking partitions for errors will report an error on that Recovery Partition as being the partition record reports it being larger than the physical size of the partition and at a physical address off the disk. I believe that is where the problem is that is preventing the Recovery Partition from properly loading after it is created by the DVDs. The system reboots referencing the partition record, but can't find it because the partition record is wrong.