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    Alien Respawn PROBLEM!

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by meekseeker, Oct 20, 2011.

  1. meekseeker

    meekseeker Newbie

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    Greetings Guys,
    Long story short is, got a Trojan, removed it and but then could only boot in safe mode. But I couldn't get the Alien Respawn to work in safe mode. So now I installed (regular) windows 7 and downloaded Alien Respawn and it won't let me create a recovery disk or boot from the hidden partition!?
    Even if it's kind of techy, can someone show me how to do a factory reinstall from the new partition?
    Also I know there are 2 recovery partitions, and 1 is a 30 meg piece of software that's supposed to help you boot I read... Is there any way to access this? Ctrl + F11 isn't working...
    Thanks for any help!
     
  2. hub1100

    hub1100 Notebook Evangelist

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    I do know that when I reformatted the entire drive, prior to re-installation of Windows 7 (twice now), it also wiped out the hidden partition (both times). This was entirely by choice since when I reinstall Windows I also reinstall the most current drivers (from support.dell.com never from the enclosed disk).

    This sounds like you might have accidentally re-formatted the entire drive. The up side is that Wattos did an excellent thread on how to restore your machine, from scratch, here >

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/488201-new-m15x-owner-information-46.html#post6307409

    Let us know how you are doing and your questions.
    I know others will add their assistance, as they read on. -hubs-
     
  3. t_man

    t_man Notebook Geek

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  4. BatBoy

    BatBoy Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    If you removed the recovery partition from the drive, your AlienRespawn is now dead. If you created your recovery media (usb flash drive or optical), you can 'restore the drive' to the out of box state.

    The recovery partition on the drive is needed when restoring from AlienRespawn if launched from the HDD.

    This is why its critical to create the recovery media before performing a clean install of Windows. With the recovery media, you'll always have a way back to the original 'out of box' state. :)
     
  5. meekseeker

    meekseeker Newbie

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    Thanks Gents,
    @hub - I actually can still see the 2 untouched factory partitions so they are still safe. I've already re imaged the 3rd partition with factory.wim but the problem now is windows 7 won't boot even though all the files are there.

    @T man - I did reinstall Respawn in safe mode before this last reimage, but although it gave me clearance for install, it then wouldn't allow creating a boot disk or reloading the factory image.

    @Batboy - I still have the partitions safe and I've been trying to get them to work with Norton Ghost 15... Still can't get the F8 "WinRE.wim" to be active... Really I want to go back to factory and then work from there but now but even though the main partition has all the files, I still get the BOOTMGR missing press CTRL + ALT + DELETE message at startup...
     
  6. dr4gon8

    dr4gon8 Newbie

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    @BatBoy But how do I create a recovery media from the recovery partition (which is hidden, I think)?