1. Make sure the CD-ROM detects as Secondary Master in BIOS
2. Make sure that CD-ROM, which also may show as: ATAPI CD-ROM is set as first boot device.
3. Ask probing questions about the CD-ROM drive to determine if it has recently functioned
4. Check the CD to make sure it is both clean and not scratched.
5. Try booting from another bootable CD to determine if it is a problem with the first CD. (This is not always possible)

If the restore CD is in the wrong drive it will boot to the restore menu however the restore process will fail. If you attempt to boot from any other restore CD the restore process will not run. The above steps can be used to determine failure within the optical drive or the restore CDs.
 

Note: The second SoftThinks restore CD is not bootable.
 
The significance of having the CD in the top optical drive is the restore CDs are designed to read from the Secondary Master and copy to the Primary Master. If there is two optical drives the top drive will always be Secondary Master and the second drive will be Secondary Slave. This is why it will boot from the wrong CD but will not run the restore process because it is trying to copy from the wrong drive.
 
Once booted to the CD the options available depend on the operating system that came with the computer. They will be discussed later in this document.
 
Assuming the restore CDs finish properly, any CD set that has more then one CD will need to change the discs during the process. It should prompt to have the CD removed. Then prompt to restart or restart automatically upon completion. Once the computer restarts remove the restore CDs and after fully booting the Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) starts. The OOBE is self-explanatory and only the customer can provide the information required. If they ask us to walk them through this process you can find a walkthrough in eMacInfo2 under Reference à Animations à OOBE walkthrough.
 
Different Restore Processes
As was discussed earlier, different systems have different ways of restoring the computer. There are two restore methods. One method is an extraction or file by file process. A file by file process has one master file that it extracts all other files from then copies them to the hard drive a file at a time. The second method is an image process. This method has one master file and copies everything at once. The major difference with this extraction process is the partition is left alone and only the information on the partition is altered. With an image process the entire hard drive is erased and put back to factory defaults.
 
Windows 98 Restore Process
Windows 98 uses the extraction method. This type of restore process will never delete, re-create, or modify the partition. Occasionally it is necessary to use a program called FDISK that will allow us to modify the existing partition to ensure no corruption still remains on the hard drive, including viruses, after a restore has been ran.
 
There are three different restore options:
 1. Restore Windows will format HDD
   a. This option will format the partition (erase everything on it) then begin copying all the information that was    originally on the computer from the restore CD.
 2. Restore Windows will not format HDD
   a. This option will copy all the original files back to the computer without formatting the hard drive. This option will not erase all the information on the hard drive before copying the files. There is a drawback with this kind of restore in the sense that it will not necessarily resolve all the problems. If there are files in addition to what originally came on the computer that are causing the problem re-copying the original will not fix it. This is often times a temporary fix allowing the customer to get back into windows so they can back up information and then we suggest running the full restore.
 3. Boot to DOS prompt from CD-ROM
   a. Booting to DOS on a Windows 98 system is often times useful because we can access the file system. It is possible to run FDISK and other troubleshooting options from this prompt.
 
There are many different error messages that can occur within a Windows 98 restore process and each should be trouble shot differently, however not all the time does an error message indicate a specific problem but more often does it indicate a problem and we want to try all possible steps. Here is a list of common error messages:
 
• Invalid destination Drive
• Invalid Media Type
• CDR-101 drive not ready/ Abort, Retry, or Fail
• Drive is Write Protected
 
In all of the above situations start by checking the basics and working you way upwards.
The following steps are for all restore processes:
1. Check all of the following
• Disc is clean
• Hard drive is detected as primary master
• The optical drive works
• Optical Drive detects as secondary master
• Starting with Disc 1
2. There needs to exist 1 single primary dos partition
• If there is none or more than 1 partition, delete all and create a single primary dos.
3. FDISK /mbr to clear the master boot record.
 
Windows Millennium Edition
Windows ME uses the image restore process. Because of this fact there is much less that we need to check. Rarely do we ever worry about running FDISK other than to help us determine if the hard drive is defective. Many Windows ME restore CDs didn’t come with a working version of FDISK and in situations such as that we would use other methods of troubleshooting the hard drive. The following are the restore options for Windows ME:
1. Restore Windows Millennium.
• Will do an image process removing everything from the hard drive. No option to save data. Copies over what is existing. There is no need to worry about messing with partitions as in most circumstances the image process will handle all the partition information automatically
2. Boot to DOS prompt from CD-ROM
• Same as what it is used for in a Windows 98 system
 
Windows ME has a few different error messages than what we normally would see on any other restore process. The following are error messages in addition to ones that normally would appear:
1. Error: Windows Me Pre-Release License has Expired
• This is a known bug with a few of the restore CD for Windows ME. The fix for this is to press ENTER and that will by pass the error and continue with the restore.
2. 0xoB Read Fault
• The common fix for this is checking to make sure its in the correct drive and that the CD has been cleaned.
3. Single user version cannot do multiple loads
• This can be caused by trying to run the CD from the wrong drive or waiting to long to put in the second restore CD.
4. Invalid Dump File
• Try the troubleshooting options listed above
5. Invalid Destination Drive
• Try the troubleshooting options listed above
 
Windows XP
Windows XP along with Windows ME use the image restore process. The biggest difference between ME and XP for the restore process is that XP uses a different file system. What this means is that XP also has the option to boot to a command prompt however the command prompt cannot read the information on the hard drive. Booting to DOS for windows XP only allows us on systems that come with FDISK to open it up and see if there is a partition or if it generates an error. Treat troubleshooting a problem with the restore process with XP the same way you would ME.
 
1. Restore Windows XP Home Edition.
2. Boot to Command prompt from CD-ROM
 
Windows XP (SoftThinks)
SoftThinks is a brand new restore process that is on only a few of the newest systems. As of the 4/29/04 the only system with SoftThinks is the M2350 notebook. It is expected that the SoftThinks restore process is how all system will come in the distant future. This restore process is a file extracting process and therefore we need to deal with partitioning information again. There are two options within the SoftThinks restore process and they are:
1. Full System Recovery / Factory Recondition
• This will format the primary partition and then do a copy of all the files to the hard drive. This is a destructive restore which will wipe out all their information. Keep in mind the fact that there has to be a partition in order for this to function properly.
2. Non-Destructive System Recovery
• This option can only run if there are at least 4 gigs of space free on the hard drive. It will go through and copy all files from the entire hard drive to the directory C:\My Backup <date>. This will save all the customers information however it will also save all the old windows files and program files. Programs will more than likely not run and will need to be reinstalled. This does give the customer a chance to backup all their data. Some customer may find it difficult to find their data within the my backup folder as it will contain everything the hard drive contained before running the restore.
 
Because SoftThinks now has us dealing with partitions there are a few options that are built into the restore CD that will make certain tasks extremely easy. Pressing CTRL + Backspace on the keyboard while booting to the CD will get us to a hot keys menu, containing all of the following options:

1. Boot to the hard drive • 1 minute 2. Boot to the CD Rom • 2 minutes 3. Boot to the floppy drive • 1 minute 4. Clear all Partitions • 30 Seconds 5. Erase Hard Drive MBR • 30 seconds 6. Clear EVERYTHING off the HDD • 1 hour + depending on HDD size 7. Create a new partition on the Hard drive • 30 Seconds 8. UNUSED

All the above options are self-explanatory except Windows PE. For ease of documentation treat Windows PE, since they have the exact same options, as recovery console.
 
Recovery Console
 
What is it, when can we use it
The recovery console is the only way that an NTFS partition can be accessed outside of the normal Windows environment. It requires that you have the administrator password, one is not required on a system that doesn’t have a password set, handy so that you can login into the system. Recovery console is used in situations where there is a fixable issue with the operating system. It can be sent out to customers only under the following restrictions:
1. They are in warranty (no exceptions)
2. We only send it out for the following 4 known problems
   a. Unmountable Boot Volume Error
   b. Winnt_root\System32\Ntoskrnl.exe is missing or corrupted
   c. Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:        \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
   d. Missing NTLDR
 
All of the above errors can be resolved by running the restore but with loss of data. As a courtesy to those customers who are in warranty we will send out the recovery console CD. It is required that a CRM order the CD and we need to warn the customer that it can take up to 2-3 business days to ship. Once they receive it they can call us back and we will walk them through the fix for each problem respectively. A fix is listed in eMacInfo2 under Troubleshooting à Known Issues for all of those problems listed. Should the customer be out of warranty they can download the recovery console on 6 disks from Microsoft’s website. The customer will want to look for Downloads then do a search for XP boot disk it will be the first link.