Help Get Alien Respawn Back?

This applies to anyone with a M17 or has Win7 and Vista on their Alienware and still have Alien Respawn.

So, after massive driver failures on my M17, I have decided to run Alien Respawn. Now, before I installed Win7, when I started my M17, the first window would say "Press any key to start Alien Respawn". However, after installing Win7, it leads to a window asking me to pick which OS I would like to use: Win7 or Vista.

Under the boot tab in msconfig, I have Win7 set as default OS.

Now my question is: How do I uninstall Win7 correctly so that I can boot into Alien Respawn? In other words, how do I get my M17 to have the original boot configuration?

-I know I could do a reformat, but I prefer the Alien Respawn. Any help is appreciated.

-Mods, please do not move this to the Windows OS area, I prefer to get the advice from the M17 and Alienware guys (since they have the same laptop).

 

well it is pertaining to our laptop so they shouldn't

win 7 over wrote the MBR master boot record which mena you have to re do it which i do not know how to do some one else tried though search in my sig

 

I had found one pretaining to the m15x, but it required money and I have no monies.

 

yea thats where that qoute came from i to over wrote my mbr i installed win 7 on a differnt hard drive in my m17 thinking it wouldnt mess with but im so stupid i forgot... ow well i just re-install.

like i said try to find a way to repair your mbr


http://techworlds.net/guides/how-to-repair-and-restore-windows-vista-master-boot-record-mbr/

/RebuildBcd

The /RebuildBcd option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista. Additionally, this option lets you select the installations that you want to add to the BCD store. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD.

Note: If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the Windows RE command prompt:
bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd

i unno that thing may be able to do it

 

is your respawn partition still there? I think you should have the respawn option before you choose which OS to boot...

 

I'm pretty sure it still there, I would not know how to check.



There's an option that says "Selective Startup" and underneath it says "Use Original Boot Configuration"

-I wonder if that will help?

 

not when you install a new os it over writes the Master boot recored, so it doesn't see the partition any more. Which means you can boot off of it

i doubt it

http://www.vistarewired.com/2007/02/16/how-to-resize-a-partition-in-windows-vista
thats just how to get there

it will look like this

 

Yeah, there is a 12 GB partition in the Device Manager. I'm guessing thats the Respawn.

 

come to think of it, you might have trashed it when you installed the second OS...respawn - when present and working - gives you the option to boot into it before the windows boot record executes...if it's not there now, I'm not sure how you would restore it

 

yup hamish thats what i sent him and told him

try that link i sent back
http://techworlds.net/guides/how-to-repair-and-restore-windows-vista-master-boot-record-mbr/

best bet since its the MBR not the partition missing

 

It is still there as I just pointed out in the post above. Right now, I'm trying to find out every other option before I do a full reformat.

-I'm on my dell at the moment.

 

can you select the vista boot record as default in msconfig?

 

the vista boot recored has been over wrote thats why we are having issues he is going to have to go into bootsec.exe n fix it

 

sorry man...

in the first he said that in msconfig he had w7 as default....that suggests there are others there to choose from...maybe vista too?

 

Yes vista is there too.

 

what about the advanced boot menu - press f12 (I tthink) right when you first power on the pc...you should get a list...maybe respawn will be there?

 

I think youmean f10? That gives me the ability to boot from the physical drives, not partitions on one hd.

 

No one else has anysuggextions?

 

did u try what i sent?

 

No, backing up my hard drive at the moment.

Just trying to collect all the ideas possible.

 

Strange, my Alienware DVD does not give me this window:

 

Hi guys,

this same thing has happened to me also. I contacted Alienware support and they were absolutely useless. They just warned me about using a different operating system voiding my warranty or some crap.
I started a thread on my UK forum about it but did not get anywhere really.
In disk management my Alien-respawn partition is showing as empty but somebody suggested thats just because Windows 7 doesnt recognize it..its still there apparentally.
I hope the problem sorts itself out with future builds of W7 as I have not bought the disks....we pay double for everything in the UK and I couldnt afford the extra £40($70)

Good luck with it,

Anthony.

 

maybe you can try using a Norton Ghost boot cd...from there you might be able to see the respawn partition and boot from it...shot in the dark...

 

Ok, you need to restore the mbr? Download Easybcd - I think that's the name. Should be free. I'll double check when I get home shortly. But the program is just as it sounds.. Easy way to view and edit mbr with bcd. It will show u on the programs homepage how to use it. Google it.

 

I installed it and it looks like, whatI'm looking for, but which tab do I use to edit the MBR? I only see the option to fix the MBR.

-Thanks

 

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

scroll down to the Documentation section.


EDIT: I don't recall all the options.. I just know I used it to remove Win7 from MBR after removing the OS from my system. I'm sure there's an advanced section somewhere.. You're trying to access the Alienware Respawn section of your HD tho...right? As in, get that section to load up and restore?

 

Also.. here is someone elses method of recovering files from that partition..but they didn't post back whether they were successful or not.

I think it could be easy to get the OS files from the hidden directory buy downloading Bart's Preinstalled environment (google "Bart PE'). You can copy and paste the files right to a USB hard drive. You could edit the files on the USB hard drive and then delete the contents of the hidden partition and then copy your edited files back. I would make a full image of the drive before you start editing that partion though just in case.

As for my first post I was not looking to edit the files, but somehow copy everything in the hidden partition and rebuild it back again somehow. I have a plan. The next time I run into a working computer that has one of those hidden drives I am going to make a backup image the drive first. Then go in with BART PE and delete all the files in both the C drive and the hidden D drive and then make another (empty) image and save it. I don't know how to make a hidden partion, but I bet the image will copy the partion information just as it is. And then next time I get handed a computer with read errors on hard drive, I will see if I can get the files off of the hidden D drive and copy them to a USB drive. Then install new hard drive and image it with the empty image, and then just copy the OS files back to the hidden D drive with BART PE. Then I will turn on the computer and press F10. Yeah, it's a stretch, but if it works, I'll post back.

I'd omit the part where he refers to deleting that partition...or anything else really. Just thought Bart PE may have a way to read and pull files. On second thought, I recall restoring from a partition and it's not system files...it's a special configuration of files. If you enter the BIOS of your computer, does it refer to the system restore anywhere?


EDIT: You'll need to be able to add the Restore Utility to the MBR. EasyBCD does allow you to add, and customize. Based on the research Ive done you'll need to add the restore commands. Now, question is... what is the proper restore command?

EDIT EDIT: Also this person completed the task: http://www.notebookforums.com/thread211539.html

 

I read the EasyBCD documentation and they only show instructions as how to load other OSs and not system partitions.

I an able to copy the contents of the Respawn, but I do not know what I should do with it.

-Yes i'm trying to restore my computer using Respawn.

 

a quote from the guy that did it..

"I then booted off a Norton Ghost 10 CD, pressed F6 to load the SATA drivers. My thinking was maybe they used Ghost to do the image.

Once in Ghost I was disappointed but poked around the extra tools they included. One allowed me to change which partition was the active partition. I selected the 8gig respawn partition and rebooted into Alien Respawn v2.0. It just finished a successful recovery of the Windows partition back to factory conditions. I did have to boot off the Ghost 10 CD after the respawn and set the active partition back to the correct one. Everything is working properly and back to factory shipped condition!

Please keep this thread to help out other users who will most certainly run into this issue at some point with the new m15x hard drive only respawn."

so if your respawn partition is good, it looks a pretty easy task

 

How do I make my own respawn disc so that when my m17 gets here i can throw my two 320 HDDs in it and copy everything thats on the 160 it comes with over to the two 320s

 

with that just download driveclone and then copy the hard drives then put in the 320's and putt he 160 away for safe keeping lol

 

Did you get this fixed Foxtrot???

Im considering whether just to delete my partition as Im having the same problem....I will have a look through some of the links in this thread for a relatively easy fix but Im not going to bother if it requires a PC genius.

Thanks guys.

 

Ive downloaded Norton Ghost 14 which can see my Respawn partition fine but cant use it to boot.
I also downloaded EasyBCD and I dont really understand it.

I dont need to Respawn as Ive uninstalled Windows 7 BETA and gone back to Vista but it would be nice to have the security of knowing I can recover my PC.
I wish now I would have spent the £40 on the recovery disks but I was already going way over budget buying this PC.
I cant understand how my £600 HP pavillion could go through much more grief and BETA installs than this M17 yet never have any problems with the recovery partition.

 

all you do is download Gparted and then boot on that then flag it to boot

 

Thanks Mr Moo, I will give it a go....thats if Gparted is freeware!

 

From Linux. You bet it's free

 

YEs it did solve my problems.

 

Hey. Can you post exactly what you did and what apps you used to get it running again?

Im looking to install Win7 64x but have the alienware fusionFX and stuff still work.

Thanks.

 

so you want to install win 7?

just install it download Gparted

then burn it to a CD

then boot up in it and flag the respawn partition as a boot device

 

HOLY SHNIKES! Where did you find this? I am willing to pay for it. A week after getting my m15x I installed Win7 RC and went back to OEM vista, and lost my respawn partition. SOOO Pissed. Please hit me back, thanks dude.

 

use the same method i described in the post above this one and it will work.....free....

 

Hi

Im new and a PC noob, I dont know if someone can help me, I got an Alienwaere m17x and my Alienrespawn 2.0 is also disappeard after the windows 7 upgrade, and I saw few solutions here but like I mean Im a PC noob and woundering If some can please please help me to get Alienrespawn 2.0 back, I need someone who can provide me a step for step what to do. I dont know how to handle this Gpart thing. I have no problme to pay something for it. Its bether that Alienware support or Presto. Please people help me Im really depressed and at the end.

Thank You