1005HAB cannot boot from recovery partition

Hey all,

I'm trying to fix an Eee PC 1005HAB for a colleague, and it's fighting me at every turn. Of course, said colleague got a nasty virus, due to expired AV software, , and the damage done was bad enough that I'd just like to restore the system.

I've backed up his files, but I cannot boot from the recovery partition by pressing F9. I'm only offered the option to boot Windows 7 as if the boot loader doesn't recognize the second partition any more (which is there with its files intact, including the Windows 7 Starter .WIM files). At this point, I don't have an external optical drive to work with, so I'd like to repair the issue so I can boot to recovery mode if possible. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help y'all can provide.

 

^^ The 5th post here may help
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Forum- The Recovery Partition


Also found this:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Forum- Restoring 1005HA to factory condition(including recovery partition & boot booster!) without usb dvd drive

Note I can not vouch for either method, Good luck

 

Unfortunately, my issue is that I do not have recovery discs, just the hard drive.

I'm hoping someone either has the original 1005HAB Windows 7 Starter boot loader, and can back it up with BCDEDIT, so I can re-import it to this system, or knows how I can use BCDEDIT to repair the existing one. Otherwise, I'll be forced to install Windows 7 Starter from scratch (I have a Technet subscription and the ASUS' license key), which won't be the matching image.