Emachines won't boot

[burningwrek]

Hey guys,
I have an Emachines T6520. Out of the blue one day my machine refused to boot. It got stuck on the windows loading screen. I was unable to format or create a recovery partition on my hard drive so I got a new hard drive. In both cases, no matter what I do, the computer always gets stuck on the "PC Angel Recovery" screen and will not go any farther. I can't create the recovery partition or format the old hard drive. Any help available would be appreciated guys. I'm new at this so thanks in advance.

 

[kimsland]

You can remove the "PC Angel Recovery"
By using this Partition tool: http://partitionlogic.org.uk/download/index.html
Which will remove the entire Recovery Partition, enabling you to install Windows via CD
Is that what you want?

 

[burningwrek]

At this point I'm willing to try anything.

 

[kimsland]

GParted is another partitioning tool lots of techs use.

 

[captaincranky]

I pushed the "double post" thingy on my keyboard, see below. I wish I knew which button that was, as I'd make sure not to do it again.

 

[captaincranky]

With a new hard drive PC Angel may not work. There are 2 recovery options, non-destructive (basically a repair install), and a full "destructive" (reformat) that must be used with the recovery discs, since it recreates the Windows recovery partition ("D/"). With the prior non-destructive option PC Angel loads the preexisting fresh copy of Windows from "D/", and doesn't tamper with file on "C/" at all.

You can also install Ubuntu, then access "Windows NT" through it's boot manager. The "Windows NT" is actually the recovery partition. You might be able to install your new HDD via this method. Once you get to recovery, the XP install will overwrite all the Linux files and you're good to go. You did take the time to burn your recovery discs didn't you?

Besides, if you install Ubuntu before you go any further, you can use it to transfer the files off your original HDD, before this operation turns into a complete disaster.

kimsland; if you try to stuff a standard Windows CD into one of these Ebeasts, it belches out a story about "administrative password" or other such nonsense. You could however, (as you suggested) Install Windows on the new HDD, but it's unknown (at least to me) whether the mobo will accept that. Something about a "tatoo". (?)