Lenovo T400 virus recovery and R&R [ Edited ]

[anuadewuyi]

 Pls. i want to restore the EISA partition on my hard disk so that R&R predesktop environment can be fully functional. This is exactly what i need. Thanks in advance for your help.

Moderator edit: More detail added to subject.

[amitie92]

Are you trying to replace your HDD and keep the partition?

Or did you accidentally/previously deleted your recovery partition?

Both, you can fix this by using Recovery Disk that you can make, or you can buy one from Lenovo Support.

[anuadewuyi]

Pls. I need urgent expert help on this.
After battling with a virus that seems to have afected the MBR of my Lenovo T400, XP sp3, R&R ver. 4, I was finally

able to boot to the windows partition. The problem now is that the SERVICEV001 partition is no longer recognised as

an EISA partition. It is recognised as FAT32 partition and shows up listed in Windows. As such rescue and recovery

is not working. I have unistalled and reinstalled R&R to no avail. While the predesktop R&R environment is present,

attempt to restore to factory end with a message: "product recovery program has been removed". The SERVICEV001

partition is still there. I have tried the repairmbr.iso, but any time i tried it, i would lose ability to boot to

either of windows or the R&R environment. I have to use a windows 98 CD to fix mbr and be able to boot to windows. I

want to restore R&R to its full functionality including restoring to factory. Pls. what do i do?
And how can i scan the boot sector and MBR for viruses?
Pls. I need urgent help.

My system type model no and type is 7434-A43

[anuadewuyi]

NO, my system had a MBR problem. But now, the service partition is still present. But it is no longer EISA configured. It is now FAT32, and shows up in windows. So, the R&R does not recognise the partition, neither is it possible to do a factory restore as a message pops up: "product recovery program has been removed".

Pls i need help on this. Thanks

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

the only real way to fix this, is to use the product recovery media and reinstall the recovery partition and the OS.

[amitie92]

Corrupted RnR MBR can be fixed with BMGR32.exe (More information about how to use that program --> http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/SG247107.html)

You can also hide your Service Partition by changing your partition type to 27.

[anuadewuyi]

reply to: "the only real way to fix this, is to use the product recovery media and reinstall the recovery partition and the OS..."

I don't have this product recovery media. It didn't come with the system. How can I get it?
And, my system type model no and type is 7434-A43

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you have to get it from Lenovo service.

[anuadewuyi]

Thanks. But isn't  there a way to just get the R & R environment to recognize the service partition. It was not corrupted, all the files are still there and  i have changed the format to EISA configuration. It is just to get the R & R to recognize it and work with it.

Any useful answer will really be appreciated. I still want my ability to restore to factory settings back.

[zoltanthegypsy]

"changed the format to EISA configuration"

Do you mean you've changed the parittion ID?  IIRC 12 (hex) is typically used for that partition.  You could spin up a Linux live CD and change it.  Might work...

That might not help.  Once the MBR has been touched (by using an install CD to run repair, or installing Linux, for instance) the ability to boot the service partition is usually lost.

BTW, I've never had that MBR repair tool work either.  It has always done what you describe - made the machine unbootable.

Z.