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.

[waynes26]

Cecil yes i agree with both you and John. I must have not updated the AI to v24 as i throught i did. Below is the screen and latter this week i shound get the new drive rebuild it< dame this better work on it, and try the whole process once again. Thank you and John for your help understanding.

[Cecil_2099]

OK looks like you aren't in RAID mode, so that's good. Also looks like you have two Seagate 1TB drives.

Unfortunately it looks like you'll have to wait until your SSD comes in so you can use your Recovery DVDs to restore to that, then uninstall 1.0.23 and install 1.0.24, then burn the new set of DVDs and restore to one of your 1TB drives. Make sure you only have 1 drive physically connected to the laptop when you do the restores.

[john_from_ohio]

Testing Cecils theory that the G75VW rec disks may have issues with 1 TB ( and larger ) drives right now.

I have a 1 TB samsung drive ( from separate system ... not factory original disk ) ... used MiniTool Partition wizard to erase it ...removed all partitions ... pulled out SSD ... doing the Recovery DVD thing right now.

As expected it asked me to repartition and is restoring right now ... let's see what happens ... ( and it failed as Cecil/Deocharlesc guessed it would ).

Restoring again onto a 500 gb drive ( dang I have lots of stuff around eh ) ... guessing this effort will succeed since using same technique as was used to install onto my SSD. Looks like you guys are onto something here ... will make one more update eventually about 500 gb recovery go/no go.

*** Confirmed ... restore using DVD's onto 500 gb drive works fails as noted earlier in this thread onto 1 TB drive.

[Cecil_2099]

Thanks for testing/confirming the theory John_from_ohio. Let's hope ASUS releases a fix soon.

[Cecil_2099]

Huge update with GREAT NEWS: I finally got the ASUS Recovery DVDs to work on a 1TB drive!!!

I downloaded and installed version 1.0.24 of the AI Recovery Utility from the driver download page, then created a new set of Recovery DVDs.

Using these new Recovery DVDs created from the 1.0.24 AI Recovery Utility, I was able to successfully restore the 1TB drive.

Test it out and post here if you can confirm it works on your systems.

[waynes26]

John thanks for your reply.

No Raid set up both drive were stand alone.
Have not got a smaller drive as yet, i have the SSD on order, would have been interesting to try?
I did use the win 7 disk to remove ALL the partitions and do the rebuild but that also ended with the same result.

Thanks again:rolleyes:

[john_from_ohio]

waynes26 wrote:

No Raid set up both drive were stand alone.
Have not got a smaller drive as yet, i have the SSD on order, would have been interesting to try?

Wondering if there is some issue with the hard drive you are trying to recover onto ... just a shot in the dark.

Also wondering if you might have changed some BIOS setting somewhere.

We have had enough people go through these procedures to feel confident that the steps ( well documented by Cecil ) do work in the G55/G75 series of machines.

[john_from_ohio]

Thanks Cecil ... starting to think we need some kind of sticky in this forum that includes what to do first when you get a G55/G75. Something along the lines of:

1) get rid of Asus live update
2) get new version of recovery utility and use that to burn your DVD's
3) only do BIOS update from BIOS not windows

etc ...

EDITED/ADDITIONAL INFO: Well of course apparently after one has already burned one set of original recovery DVD's then one cannot simply install the latest version of the AI recovery utility and get a new set that will now ( testing needed ) apparently not fail with a 1 TB drive.

So one needs to use the first set of recovery DVD's to recover to a drive smaller than 1 TB ... install the latest version of the AI recovery utility on that smaller drive to then be able to create a newer set of recovery DVD's than one can then test against a 1 TB drive.

Seems like since asus shipped the units out with a bad version of the AI recovery utility that does not work with the factory shipped out 1 tb drives perhaps THEY should send out everyone a good set of recovery DVDs ... in an ideal world.

[Deocharlesc]

john_from_ohio wrote:
Thanks Cecil ... starting to think we need some kind of sticky in this forum that includes what to do first when you get a G55/G75. Something along the lines of:

1) get rid of Asus live update
2) get new version of recovery utility and use that to burn your DVD's
3) only do BIOS update from BIOS not windows

etc ...

EDITED/ADDITIONAL INFO: Well of course apparently after one has already burned one set of original recovery DVD's then one cannot simply install the latest version of the AI recovery utility and get a new set that will now ( testing needed ) apparently not fail with a 1 TB drive.

So one needs to use the first set of recovery DVD's to recover to a drive smaller than 1 TB ... install the latest version of the AI recovery utility on that smaller drive to then be able to create a newer set of recovery DVD's than one can then test against a 1 TB drive.

Seems like since asus shipped the units out with a bad version of the AI recovery utility that does not work with the factory shipped out 1 tb drives perhaps THEY should send out everyone a good set of recovery DVDs ... in an ideal world.

Yes they must be informed either sticky on forum or once they get these computers with 1TB hard drives and version1.0.23 below AI Recovery in their hands. Because many DVDs and hours will be wasted if they don't get it fix first.

[john_from_ohio]

Now confirmed ... if one upgrades G75VW AI Recovery utility to the most current version prior to burning their recovery DVD set ... those recovery DVDs will successfully work on a 1 TB drive.

Looks like a slipup by quality control letting some of the units ship with 1 TB drive with an ( older now ) version of the utility that would actually fail to recover the 1 TB drive.