System Image Problem

caddman6425 said:

Boy, I'm so overwhelmed with all the info floating around, I don't know where to re-begin! Bill, I stated earlier that the 5.08 BIOS was an upgrade flash. (Post 126)

I read some where that the system reserve had to be 500MB, is this true,? Just a thought.

Now, as I recall the formatting, I restore the system to the original factory state with Vista, then I cleaned the disk so that the partitions would be there, then I did the clean install. But this was all done with E: still hooked up. Here's another thought, what about just having C: and Seagate hooked up, booting from the install USB, get to the command prompt, activate Diskpart, format C: with a 500MB system reserve, 580 GB Main and the 15 GB Restore partitions. Then try and do the Win Sys Img Restore, ...Huh, Huh?

--
Nick

It's just information - lots of it

Thanks for the reminder on BIOS 5.08 - I read post# 126 but .... Windows Update doesn't provide BIOS, so it had to be the HP Assistant. I've looked high and low on HP - all I found was BIOS 5.05.
--> We'll address BIOS later

Yes, the default SysRes for Win10 is 500 MB
--> We'll address SysRes later

Ok, you did more restores (all the way back to factory Vista) than I thought. The Clean Win10 install should have created the correct disk schema.
We don't want to backtrack to address things caused by more restores, it's impossible to keep track of the current state when the state keeps changing. Your ideas are good, the order might be wrong.
Please follow member's posts without adding any steps. I'll try to write smaller posts going forward to make that easier.

Rule #2: One step at a time without changing the current path to a solution. New issues crop up like weeds on the path and should be addressed before thinking about other possibilities.

You'll get to the restore phase after other things get ironed out.

Each step needs to be completed and verified before taking the next step or we'll just keep restarting - which adds to some of the confusion. There has been some trial and error - that's the nature of troubleshooting from afar.

Your machine is also from an era in HP's history that wasn't the best HP has to offer - I have a HP/Compaq laptop from the same era - even the HP SoftPAQS aren't in the standard HP FTP site. I did find a version 6.xx BIOS on HP for your Motherboard (MoBo), but the supported machines only list two Pavillion models - yours is not one of those models
It will take a lot to convince me that the 6.xx BIOS should be flashed to your machine - even though the MoBo is the same, there are different Revs of the Mobo and different components in different HP models.
--> The last thing I want to do is brick your machine.

---

fdegrove needs to confirm that the machine boots with ONLY the C: drive connected.
Please do that and post a Disk Management screen shot.

That's all that you need to do right now.

Hi,

Nick, why would you need the Seagate external drive for ?
Best way to install Windows is with just the disk present where you want it to install itself.

I read some where that the system reserve had to be 500MB, is this true,? Just a thought.

Not really. 100Mb usually suffices.
EDIT: At least that's what I have on my machine which are UFI using GPT.
On BIOS MBR style machines SRP varies between 350Mb and 500Mb. I don't recall what Win 10 has create on my old Dell.

No need to format anything. If you want a system reserved partition (SRP) then just insert your install media, boot from it and tell windows setup to delete your c:\ partition and the WinRe partition if that's visible (can't remember) It will then automatically create the SRP, WinRe and system partitions for you.

When setup has finished check in disk management if it indeed has done as I described.

If you leave the partitions as they are now then Windows will not create an SRP for you.

Make a full backup with Macrium Reflect before you try to restore that system image.

The Clean Win10 install should have created the correct disk schema.

It didn't because Nick formatted the existing C:\ partition prior to launching setup. If you do that then W10 can't create the SRP and puts the files required to boot on that single partition.

Cheers,

fdegrove said:

Nick, why would you need the Seagate external drive for ?

Not really. 100Mb usually suffices.

The Macrium backup is on the Seagate, Nick appearantly left it connected to do a restore. We should just move forward with your idea re: Active partitions.

I've fixed too many machines that had 100 MB SysRes partitions by expanding it to the DEFAULT Win10 SysRes size.

Your machines are UEFI /GPT, the disk scheme is different for a BIOS / MBR system

The System part below is the EFI System part (ESP) - the image should be labeled better




Let's stick to what Windows uses for a default size
BIOS / MBR - 500 MB
UEFI / GPT - 450 MB

I'm out until I see a boot with ONLY the C: drive connected, then the Active flag on the other partitions should be removed.

fdegrove said:

Hi,

OK, I see. Still, one thing at a time.

If it were me I'd first install W10 as it should be installed, IOW as I described above. Then we make a backup using Macrium and then we can see if we can restore the image off the Seagate drive.

Maybe Bill wants to chip in before you take any action. He might have different suggestions to make.

EDIT: OK, fine by me, Bill. Fingers crossed.

Cheers,

We've done exactly that and I considered doing it again - the Clean Win10 install .... backup with Macrium.

I dismissed the thought in favor of doing something different to resolve the System Image restore issue.

I believe the system will boot with ONLY the C: drive connected, but to eliminate a possible cause of the disk # changing when different drives are connected Nick should Boot with ONLY the C: drive connected. I think your idea to straighten out the Active flags is the place to start.

We can debate whether of not the machine will boot with ONLY the C: drive connected, and we can agree that we believe it will bot ... but the only way to eliminate it is if Nick does it.

Yep, after that - the active flags should be removed, if only to avoid confusion or another member saying
"Hey, there are active flags on the other drives ....



I have the highest admiration for any member (that includes Nick - he's a member) venturing into this thread and offering assistance. I don't expect any member to read the 140 posts to understand what has been tried. We keep ending up in the middle of the process and that's why I keep saying .... one step - move forward

Nick - put me out of my misery and please boot the machine with ONLY the C: drive connected - post a disk management screen shot and we can move forward - thanks

Bill
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