Member Avatar for csnewsome

I have recently started having display problems with my HP ze5500; up til then, it's been great. Now the display is getting really squirrelly. Have tried all of the suggestions from HP tech support. Before they will pick up for repair, they want me to do a system restore.

First they said, all my data had to be backed up or on a separate partition. Moved all apps other than OS to a separate partition. Specific instructions were given ... "Advanced button, etc.". Now, they are saying I will lose everything on the laptop when I do a restore, even separate partitions. The extra problem now is the machine says "no OS found", so I can't get in and backup anything. Can anyone out there help me?? Feel free to email me at or .

Thanks in advance.

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Do not run the HP “system restore” yet — that factory recovery routinely erases the entire drive and recreates the original partition layout, so any user-created partitions and files are likely to be lost. was right to flag data recovery as the immediate priority rather than jumping straight into the HP restore. ()

Start with non‑destructive checks. Use the HP hardware diagnostics (Esc → F2 on HP machines) to see whether the drive is detected and to run a quick disk test; if the hardware is failing you’ll want to stop and image the disk rather than run repairs. If the drive is visible, make a bootable rescue USB (Ubuntu or SystemRescue) on a second computer, boot the laptop to the live environment, and inspect/mount the NTFS partitions to copy irreplaceable files to an external disk or network share. Mount read‑only if you’re unsure, and don’t run any factory or repair utilities until a copy exists. (scribd.com)

If the partition table looks damaged or the disk shows I/O errors, image the whole disk first (sector‑level) with a tool designed for failing drives (GNU ddrescue) — that preserves recoverable data and lets you work on a copy instead of the original. After imaging, try partition/table recovery with TestDisk or file carving (PhotoRec) against the image. If you can’t boot or the laptop reports “check cable,” removing the drive and connecting it to a working PC with a USB‑to‑IDE/SATA adapter or external dock is a practical next step; the ze5500 service manual documents the HDD removal procedure. (gnu.org)

Summary: (1) Stop before running HP restore, (2) run HP diagnostics, (3) boot a live USB and copy files if possible, (4) if the disk is flaky, make a ddrescue image, then attempt recovery with TestDisk or a data‑recovery service if needed. If the data is critical and any step feels risky, consider a professional recovery shop rather than risking an irreversible factory restore. ()

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Member Avatar for caperjack

Hi ,what did you use to create the seperate partition ,moving apps to another partion doesent help as the app would only have to be reinstall anyway .
If you created a partition seperate from the one that had the OS on it with third party software ,and move important data to that partition ,running the system restore disk should not affect that partition I wouldn't think . it should just format and restore to the 1st partition!
Oh yeah ,HP tech are just reading from a book .i know i trained to be one ,but quit after a few days ,good thing to as EDS lost the HP acct to some foregin country anyway .

Member Avatar for csnewsome

Thanks for responding. After purchasing the laptop, I created two partitions with Partition Magic. Partition E contains non-OS applications and work data; partition F contains storage and some unfinished video work. I'm concerned now that since the "no OS found" message appears, if I have lost the partition markers, or would it be safe to continue with the restore?

Member Avatar for caperjack

Thanks for responding. After purchasing the laptop, I created two partitions with Partition Magic. Partition E contains non-OS applications and work data; partition F contains storage and some unfinished video work. I'm concerned now that since the "no OS found" message appears, if I have lost the partition markers, or would it be safe to continue with the restore?

Ill go out on a limb and say continue ,it shouldn't bother the other partition ,i don't use partition magic or a system restore disk ,but have two partition and format and reload the os on the first partition all the time ,
try this to be sure that the partition excist .get a win98 boot sik and boot computer and do a DIR f:\ and make sure that the files are there . you can DIR all partition to see what remains .
if you don't have a win98 boot disk get one at HERE it is the one with no ram disk so you won't have to worry about the drive letter change .

Member Avatar for csnewsome

I wish I had some good news. It won't boot with the floppy, it tells me to remove the disk and continue.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Oh Well ! I live on the edge and im not responsible for my comments ,but i would bite the bulled and run the Recovery !! now thats just me ,im not saying do it just saing i would .

Member Avatar for csnewsome

It then gives me an error... "check cable?". I guess I'm screwed, eh?

Member Avatar for caperjack

It then gives me an error... "check cable?". I guess I'm screwed, eh?

what happens when you boot to the recovery cd

Member Avatar for csnewsome

Brings a screen up ... "Quick Restore" with a selection of languages; and a warning that this action will completely reformat my hard drive

Member Avatar for caperjack

Brings a screen up ... "Quick Restore" with a selection of languages; and a warning that this action will completely reformat my hard drive

ok,I have formated quite a few hardrive and a few with a system restore disk ,but don't remember if they had other partitions ,actuall they did have a small 8 meg partition something to do with the recovery .but like i said before a regular install only formats the first partition ,and leaves my backup partition ..

Member Avatar for Catweazle

STOP! DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL YOPU THINK THIS THROUGH!

Is there important and vital information on that drive. If so, you need to recover it before going ahead. there are several ways to do so:

* You could obtain a CD installation of Windows and use it to repair the Windows installation on the drive, so that the necessary data can be moved to a different PC.
* You could obtain and use a bootable CD with tools which will allow you to export the necessary data.
*You could temporarily remove the drive from the machine, and install it to a different PC to copy the data there.

Proceeding with the Recovery CD method will destroy the user created partitions and all the data on them.

Member Avatar for rcsarver

Don't do the system restore! It will repartition your machine. I have had this problem with my HP computer. Use Norton Ghost to recover data- and save it to another computer via removable media before restoring. There is also a gentoo linux recovery cd that should help if you don't want to spend $ on ghost.

Member Avatar for car-go22

did u try an external screen when u had screen problems?

Member Avatar for car-go22

Hi, I got this dumb hp omnibook xt6050 and I want to reset the thing to factory settinds. It currently runs on windows xp pro, but I can't log in because the teacher I bought it from forgot his password for it. I know there is a special key combo to use during startup but I don't know which.:sad:

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