Can't access my Backup!!

[astros55]

Hi.
My problem started two days ago. My T42's hard drive starting making some major clicking noises and the my boot up attempts would result in the Intel Boot message PXE...l: media test failed, no cable connection, No operating system found.

I tried reseating the HD and also reordering the boot order. Nothing. Called IBM; received the new HD today. Immediately went through the recovery disks to restore to factory freshness. Booted up fine, no clicking, and all was good.

Then I tried to restore a Rapid Restore backup from 2 months ago (my first and only one, "BASE.") The backup resides on my desktop; I used a crossover ethernet cable to do the transfer.

I couldn't access the backup with RR via the Windows desktop and I couldn't get to the IBM Access screen at boot up. So I put in the 1st recovery disk and rebooted; finally got to the RR. I pointed it to the backup directory (on the networked desktop), selected BASE, and restoration completed, 100%. So I restart to "continue the restore" and then the Intel Boot message returns: "PXE...l: media test failed, no cable connection, No operating system found."

IBM suggested redoing the entire process again and if the problem persists, then the backup may be corrupted and irretrievable. What the hell? Does it make a difference that the ethernet cable was still connected on the latest bootup? I'm grasping at straws here.

Hope someone can help me out.

Thanks.

[GomJabbar]

If you upgraded Rescue and Recovery from the original factory install somewhere along the way, that can cause a problem such as this I believe. If this is the case with you, I'll try and find more info on fixing this.

[astros55]

If you upgraded Rescue and Recovery from the original factory install somewhere along the way, that can cause a problem such as this I believe. If this is the case with you, I'll try and find more info on fixing this.

I'm not sure if I upgraded RR from the factory install. But would that make a difference if I'm accessing the RR from the initial recovery disk and not the Windows environment?

EDIT: I just re-read your post: The RR version on the recovery disk may not be able to read the backup if it was created by a later version. Got it. Sorry, my mind is a little all over the place. In the middle of exams, no less!!

[GomJabbar]

I couldn't access the backup with RR via the Windows desktop and I couldn't get to the IBM Access screen at boot up.

I kind of sounds like you did update Rescue and Recovery. Yet if you used the Product Recovery Disk set, you should be able to boot into Rescue and Recovery by pressing the Access IBM button at the beginning of the boot sequence. I originally had Rescue and Recovery 2.0 with Rapid Restore Ultra 4.0 installed. I uninstalled that and installed Rescue and Recovery 3.01.0037. Everything worked fine. I even made a RnR backup. Later I decided to use the Product Recovery Disc set to restore to factory state. I verified that the security in the BIOS for the Predesktop Area was set to Normal, then I used the discs. After using the discs, I was back to Rescue and Recovery 2.0 with Rapid Restore Ultra 4.0. The Access IBM button worked as it should.

Consideration 12
Computers that have a hidden protected area (HPA), also referred
to as PARTIES, and have the Rescue and Recovery program installed
will not be able to boot into either the PARTIES or Rescue and
Recovery workspace after recovering the original factory contents.
To enable the PARTIES area again, restore a backup using either the
Rescue and Recovery program in the Windows environment or by booting
from rescue media and then uninstall the Rescue and Recovery program.

The above refers to restoring to factory state from the hard drive, not from the Product Recovery Disc set.

Consideration 15
To restore original factory contents on computers that have the Rescue
and Recovery 1.0 program installed, reinstall the Rescue and Recovery
program after restoring the original factory contents. After reinstalling
the Rescue and Recovery 2.0 program perform a backup operation . It is a
good idea to dispose of old rescue media and to create new rescue media
after the Rescue and Recovery 2.0 program is reinstalled.

If you used the Product Recovery Disc set on a new non-IBM hard drive, that may be your problem as far as booting into the Rescue and Recovery workspace. Just a guess. See following link for an explaination of PARTIES or HPA (which is used by Rescue and Recovery 2.0, but not by Rescue and Recovery 3.0).

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Hidden_Protected_Area