Caution: You should only perform a System Recovery if told to do so by Tech Support. When a System Recovery is performed, ALL DATA on the hard drive will be erased, including user data and any Factory or User backups. A System Recovery is the last resort for problems with your PC. If your system was built prior to 7-1-05, you should restore a User Backup or a Factory Restore before resorting to a System Recovery. Please see Perform A "Factory" Or "User" Restore Using Tech-In-A-Box for other options.

System Recovery versions.

Two versions of System Recovery were included with systems. Your system may have shipped with a two-disc recovery method (the discs will be numbered at the bottom of the disc label) or a one-disc recovery method. Look at the number of discs that were included with your system to determine which System Recovery instructions to use below:

NOTE: Some versions of XP Media Center Edition had two recovery discs - for these, use the one disc instructions below.

Doing a System Recovery using the Two-Disc Recovery version

1. Insert Disk 1 of your System Recovery Disks into the top optical drive and restart the system.
2. It will boot to a blue screen.
3. Press the letter O key.
4. Press Y to confirm.
5. Click the Continue button.
6. Click Yes to confirm.
7. It will start to install Windows.
8. Insert Disk 2 when prompted and click OK.
9. A blue screen will eventually appear that states the Restore is complete.
10. Remove the CD and press R to reboot.
11. Follow the onscreen instructions to setup Windows. You may need the Certificate Of Authenticity number from the back of your system for this step.
12. After system reboots to the desktop, insert the Driver Resource CD.
13. The Driver CD-ROM program will start. Choose the Install Drivers option. This should automatically install all needed drivers and in most cases require a restart of the system.
14. After system reboots, from the Driver CD-ROM program choose the option to Install Software, and make sure that Tech-in-a-box and System Restore are installed.
15. After the system reboots, the system is ready to use.

Doing an XP System Recovery using the One-Disc Recovery version

1. Insert the software cd from your System Recovery Kit.
2. Restart the system with the disc in the top optical drive.
3. When prompted hit the Spacebar on the keyboard to boot to the cd.
4. Ignore at the bottom of the screen when it asks you to press F6 to install 3rd party Raid Drivers.
5. It will boot to a blue screen that has 3 options
   • To set upWindows XP now, hit ENTER
   • To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R (never do this)
   • To quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3
6. Press ENTER to choose the option to set up Windows XP.
7. The next screen is the END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT, press F8 here to agree.

   Note: If Windows already exists on your hard drive and you are restoring to fix a problem, the next screen will have two options -

   • Repair or Fresh Install.
   • Always choose Repair the first time. A repair can leave your data somewhat intact and may possibly solve your problem. If you have already tried Repair and you are still having problems, press ESC to install a Fresh copy of Windows to your hard drive.
8. Next comes a screen that shows the partition information on the hard drive. If it is a replacement hard drive this should show 2 sections of un-partitioned space one will say C:, make sure this is highlighted and press C then press ENTER to create the partition (leave the size that it defaults to).
9. Next press ENTER to setup Windows XP on the selected item.
10. Then, it will ask if you want to format the partition NTFS, NTFS Quick, or FAT - you can select any of these options and the partition will be formatted (it will take some time to do the format). Note: If the hard drive is larger then 32 gb the FAT option will not be present.
11. It will now start to install Windows.
12. Follow the onscreen instructions to setup Windows. You may need the Certificate Of Authenticity number from the back of your system for this step.
13. After system reboots to the desktop, insert the Driver Resource CD.
14. The Driver CD-ROM program will start. Choose the Install Drivers option. This should automatically install all needed drivers and in most cases require a restart of the system.
15. After system reboots, from the Driver CD-ROM program choose the option to Install Software, and make sure that Tech-in-a-box and System Restore are installed.
16. After the system reboots, the system is ready to use.