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Step-by-Step: Using ASUS Recovery DVDs to Restore G75

Cecil_2099
Level 11
Since there seems to be a lot of confusion and mis-understanding on how to use the ASUS Recovery DVDs you burn by using the AI Recovery program to restore your computer to the "straight from the factory" state, I thought I should make a step-by-step guide to walk owners through it. So here goes:

The version of the AI Recovery Utility currently shipping on all G75s does not recover systems with 1TB hard drives. So before you go around wiping your drive or creating the Recovery DVDs, update the AI Recovery Utility to at least 1.0.24 (download it from the product support page where you can download the drivers).

  • If you haven't already, use the AI Recovery Utility (version 1.0.24 or newer, not the 1.0.23 version that comes shipped with the G75) to burn your ASUS Recovery DVDs. You should do this prior to uninstalling any and all "bloatware" and prior to reformatting/wiping/re-partitioning your hard drive. On a G75VW-BBK5 you will end up with three (3) DVDs.
  • A few notes/assumptions prior to starting:
    - Your computer is off and no DVDs are in the optical drive.
    - You have only one drive connected to the G75 on the right-hand drive bay (based on the drive caddy letter) and that is the drive you want to restore TO.
    - It doesn't matter if the drive is an HDD or SSD and the size does not matter.
  • Start up your computer and immediately start hitting the 'Esc' key until you see the following screen appear:
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  • Place the first ASUS Recovery DVD into your optical drive.
  • Select your optical drive (on my G75VW-BBK5 that is the HL-DT-ST drive) and hit 'Enter' key.
  • You will get a black screen with the words "Windows is loading files..." at the bottom with a grey bar at the bottom that will fill white:
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  • Windows will load and you will get a dialogue box titled "AI RECOVERY" saying "Are you ready to restore this image?" Click the 'OK' button.
  • You will get another "AI RECOVERY" dialogue box, this time telling you "Restoring will overwrite your hard drive. Do you want to continue?" Click the 'OK' button.
  • If you are using the ASUS Recovery DVDs to restore onto a new hard drive, you may get another "AI RECOVERY" dialogue box saying "Your disk layout has been changed. AI Recovery needs to partition your disk again. You will lost all your data in your disk if you continue with the data recovery operation." Click the 'OK' button.
  • Otherwise you will see an "AI Recovery Restore" dialogue box that says "This DVD/BD will help you recover hidden partition. Check the AC adapter connection and do not interrupt the restoration process." This will have a progress indicator.
  • The computer will automatically eject the first DVD and prompt you to insert the second DVD and later the third DVD.
  • When that is complete, the last DVD will eject and an "AI RECOVERY" dialogue box will tell you that it "Successfully restored the disk from the ASUS Recovery DVD/BD. Elapsed time: 00:XX:XX". Click 'OK'. (It took me 00:43:23 (43 minutes) to restore the recovery partition.)
  • The computer will restart and you'll get another black "Windows is loading files..." screen.
  • Windows will start and you will get a DOS screen followed by an "ASUS Preload Wizard" dialogue that asks you to select your language to continue. Pick your language and click the 'Next >' button.
  • Click through the next screen.
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  • On the next screen you can choose whichever option you feel is best.
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  • Click through the next screen.
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  • Click 'Finish' to start the process.
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  • This is where you leave the computer alone. You will see a series of DOS screens and the computer will restart itself at least 6 times. Whatever you do, do not interact with the computer. It doesn't matter if it prompts you for something or restarts on its own. Leave it alone to finish everything.
  • When you see the following screen, you know the recovery process has completed successfully.
    Congratulations, your G75 is now back to it's factory-like condition.
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So in total it took about 1.5 hours to complete (43 minutes to recreate the recovery partition from the DVDs and another 50 minutes to restore back to factory state).

I hope this helps clear up the process!

Update: After serious testing across multiple G75VW users, we can confirm that the ASUS Recovery DVDs do NOT work on 1TB drives (regardless of manufacturer) if they are burned with the base AI Recovery Utility version that ships with the G75VWs. Make sure you install the latest version (1.0.24) BEFORE creating your Recovery DVDs.
G75VW-BBK5 (Stock configuration with added Crucial M4 256GB SATA SSD as OS boot drive)

Need to know how to restore your G75 to it's factory-like condition? Go to my step-by-step guide:
Step-by-Step: Using ASUS Recovery DVDs to Restore G75

Want to download the latest drivers and utilities for your G75/G55? Go to this thread:
Downloading New Drivers/Utilities for G75/G55
356,710 Views
217 REPLIES 217

rewben
Level 13
@Lightning188, refreshing bios normally sets everything to defaults. can it be the settings in the bios, such as boot sequence, boot priorities, etc. have changed?

Lightning188
Level 7
Nothing has changed in the BIOS. I've done a Restore Defaults, and i see that P0: isn't in the list of boot options. The entry is normally a Windows Boot Manager type. What can I do ? And the HDD works correctly that's why I don't understand where comes this error. The main HDD contains all partitions needed to boot on the recovery partition. 😞

rewben
Level 13
@Lightning188, did you mean to say your primary hdd couldn't be detected by the bios? what's your setting for uefi boot? enabled or disabled?

Lightning188
Level 7
My primary HDD when he is empty, on the BIOS the "P0:" entry disappear because the HDD has a GPT partition table and the UEFI is enabled. And only when the recovery process is done and when the computer reboots, normally if the recovery with F9 can boot, i can see a "P0: Windows Boot Manager" entry.

But in my situation, i do the same process when i had the old BIOS 210, and i can't see the entry "P0: Windows Boot Manager".

But when i go to set the mode AHCI, i see the primary disk and the secondary disk. Then I conclude that's not a hardware problem but software problem (BIOS version).

The health of my primary disk is written on Disk Utility with a Linux Live CD (The disk is healty).

Then i'm sure that's the version of my BIOS which is not adapted for a Windows 7 System but only for news G75VW with Windows 8.

Is that possible ? 😕

Lightning188 wrote:
My primary HDD when he is empty, on the BIOS the "P0:" entry disappear because the HDD has a GPT partition table and the UEFI is enabled. And only when the recovery process is done and when the computer reboots, normally if the recovery with F9 can boot, i can see a "P0: Windows Boot Manager" entry.

But in my situation, i do the same process when i had the old BIOS 210, and i can't see the entry "P0: Windows Boot Manager".

But when i go to set the mode AHCI, i see the primary disk and the secondary disk. Then I conclude that's not a hardware problem but software problem (BIOS version).

The health of my primary disk is written on Disk Utility with a Linux Live CD (The disk is healty).

Then i'm sure that's the version of my BIOS which is not adapted for a Windows 7 System but only for news G75VW with Windows 8.

Is that possible ? 😕


Hi,

Sorry I can't help, but just a confirmation here that I am facing exactly the same problem as you, as I am trying to reinstall Win7 by using the recovery DVDs I created earlier.

When I had the original v207 BIOS (for G75VW), the recovery with those same DVDs went fine. Now with BIOS v221, after the recovery program has first copied the DVDs to create the hidden recovery partition again, and reboots the PC to start the actual recovery process, I am just greeted with the same "select proper boot device" error.

When I go to BIOS, the only bootable device it recognizes is the DVD-ROM drive. P0 (nor P1) are not visible as bootable devices, even though BIOS sees the hard drives though. I have locked the secondary disk away though, the same as disconnecting it for the duration of the recovery process.

It just seems ASUS has made a big poo poo with the BIOS v221. Poorly tested, at least, causing problems here and there. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and downgrade the BIOS back to some earlier version, either v210 or even the oldest 207.

I just wish ASUS would come clean and clear on what now has changed with BIOS v221, and to whom it is meant for, and who should definitely not update to it.

rewben
Level 13
hm.. too bad there is no such details about the changes in bios, but i really don't think ASUS will block us from using other versions of windows than w8.

i'm sorry that i'm not familiar with how UEFI works 😕 if the recovery is impossible, the best bet would be a fresh windows install via bios instead of uefi.

Hello all new G75vw owner.... before I use my new comp I wanted to make a recovery dvd and I found this site. SO far great info here thanks to all that post. My g75 came preinstalled with win8 is the ai utility the same for this as win7 ? reason I ask is I cant find the ai utility in the download section for os win 8. I see it in the download- utilities section of os win7. Any clarification would be highly appreciated.

g75vw with 1tb hhd, 8gb ram.

I have purchased an intel 180g ssd and am going to try and install my os on it. going to add a small hhd in the other bay and just keep my 1tb hhd as a back up.

thanks ANdreas

amadus98 wrote:
Hello all new G75vw owner.... before I use my new comp I wanted to make a recovery dvd and I found this site. SO far great info here thanks to all that post. My g75 came preinstalled with win8 is the ai utility the same for this as win7 ? reason I ask is I cant find the ai utility in the download section for os win 8. I see it in the download- utilities section of os win7. Any clarification would be highly appreciated.

g75vw with 1tb hhd, 8gb ram.

I have purchased an intel 180g ssd and am going to try and install my os on it. going to add a small hhd in the other bay and just keep my 1tb hhd as a back up.

thanks ANdreas


looks like I found an answer.... http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?24546-G75-Windows-8-AI-Recovery-Utlity-Intel-520-ssd&highli...

Thanks a lot for all the info!

Where is the AI Recoery tool? It's not in the utilities section. I need it NOW!