Inability to uninstall Rescue & Recovery v2.00 on T43p

Message

paulhod · #1 Post by **paulhod** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:53 am

Hi

I've been getting random blue screens of death almost since I first got my T43p laptop in May last year. They disappeared for a while (I believed there might have been a conflict between SpySweeper and Norton Internet Security). However, I've recently got advice that v2.00 of Rescue and Recovery may be causing this with Windows XP.

I've tried to upgrade to v3.1 but it is interrupted each time just before it completes. I've tried to uninstall v2.00 but I get the message "fatal error during installation". I figure that I need to re-install v2.00 to correct the installation error before uninstalling and then installing v3.1. Is there any way of me being able to re-install v2.00 without re-imaging (IBM recommends re-imaging)?

I don't have v2.00 on disk and can't locate a copy anywhere on-line.

Grateful for any assistance.

Cheers

Paul

Temetka · #2 Post by **Temetka** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:53 am

Have you tried booting into safe mode and running the uninstall from there?

paulhod · #3 Post by **paulhod** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:07 am

No I haven't yet. I'll try and uninstall it that way and let you know how it goes.

Thanks

Paul

egibbs · #4 Post by **egibbs** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:06 am

I had similar problems trying to reinstall R&R, after a couple hours on the phone with a Lenovo rep who tried really hard but was clueless, I finally fixed it myself the hard way. What I did was...

BACK UP YOUR SYSTEM using something other than R&R!!!!!!!

Uninstall R&R using Add/Remove Programs (it will probably fail but do it anyway).

Open My Computer and find all R&R related directories, delete them (except for any downloads of R&R that you need for reinstallation).

Fire up regedit (Start, Run, type regedit in the command window). Use Find to locate all keys with "tvt" or "recovery" in them. Look at each key carefully to determine if it appears to be related to R&R, and if it is delete the key (especially the key for "Current Version"). Repeat until there are no more R&R related keys in the registry.

Reboot. At that point you should be able to reinstall R&R.

Ed Gibbs

paulhod · #5 Post by **paulhod** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:14 pm

Thanks I'd, I'll give that a go. Any recommendations on alternative back-up? Norton Ghost?

By the way, I tried to uninstall in safe mode but I got a message saying that it couldn't access Windows Installer in safe mode.

Cheers

Paul

egibbs · #6 Post by **egibbs** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:01 am

If you are just interested in backing up files and settings the built in MS Backup application is free, reliable, and you can be sure that any computer you want to restore them to will have it.

If you want image based backup I use TrueImage, works fine for me. I know Ghost used to have issues with the IBM Boot Record during restores but I think they have them sorted out now.

Ed Gibbs

*EDIT* Or maybe not... http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 173#239173

paulhod · #7 Post by **paulhod** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:00 am

Ok, I've backed up my critical data and pressed the blue Access IBM button on restart. Each time I did it I got the dreaded fatal error and blue screen of death when it tried to start Rescue and Recovery v2.00.

Therefore, I searched and deleted all RRU files and folders and used regedit to search and delete RRU, rescure, recover keys, values and data.

After re-booting, I tried to install v3.1 but it says that a previous version is installed and it can only upgrade (which fails as it is interrupted).

I'm now stuck with no "full" version of R&R installed but with my data thankfully backed up. All I need to do is re-image the machine.

Is it possible to access the factory default image with something other than R&R? Are there any obvious files or folders which I've missed that are stopping the install of v3.1?

At worst, I may have to access an image from another source and completely wipe my hard drive. I have another T43 laptop. Can I copy an image from there?

Grateful for any advice or suggestions on next steps.

Cheers

Paul

egibbs · #8 Post by **egibbs** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:10 pm

If it's complaining that a current version is installed you may have missed a registry key. Try searching the registry keys with "version" in them and see if you can find one for R&R.

I'm not aware of any programs that would let you restore the factory image other than R&R. But you could boot with a TrueImage or Ghost emergency CD, and you should be able to see and copy the factory image to another drive. Then you could use PC Doctor to do a full erase of the drive, after which you could restore the MBR, restore the factory image, and see if you can get into R&R at boot. Or you could use this or the other T43 to make a set of recovery CDs then wipe the drive and reinstall from the CDs.

An image from another T43 might work - depends on how different the hardware is.

If you go the wipe and install route (not what I would recommend) you will need to be sure to do a FULL erase of the drive. A plain format will not touch the MBR, partition tables, etc. which is probably where the problem is. I can tell you from experience that PC Doctor's full erase function will get the drive into a state where recovery CDs will work.

Give the registry one more shot - if R&R thinks a previous version is installed then I think there are still keys in the registry.

Ed Gibbs

paulhod · #9 Post by **paulhod** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:36 pm

Thanks Ed. I've had another search of the registry and think I've found the problem. There's something called "legacy_IBM_rapid_restore_ultra_service". Unfortunately this says "cannot delete legacy_IBM_rapid_restore_ultra_service: error while deleting key".

Is there any other way of deleting it? Grateful for your advice.

Cheers

Paul

#10 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:06 pm

Run regedt32. While on the key you wish to delete, go to Edit > Permissions, and give yourself Full Control, click OK, then you should be able to delete the key.

paulhod · #11 Post by **paulhod** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:19 pm

Thanks for the permission advice - it worked a treat.

However, despite numerous scans of the registry and deleting of R&R instances of ultra, recover, recovery, randr, rru, restore, ibm and rescue values, keys and data, the installation of 3.1 still detects a prior version already installed. When I hit upgrade, I now get the message "Error 25018: Error Upgrading the Rescue and Recovery Application".

I can't find any other registry keys unless they are named something that doesn't include the above terms.

The next step is to create some recovery CDs from the other T43 and give that a go.

Any other options would be appreciated.

Cheers

Paul

#12 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:42 pm

I don't know if this will help you or not. On my T42, I have the original RnR installation program in the following directory - C:\IBMTOOLS\APPS\IBMRNR. Perhaps your RnR version 2 is there.

BTW, I have RnR version 1 with Rapid Restore Ultra 4.0, so I couldn't help with version 2.

paulhod · #13 Post by **paulhod** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:48 am

Thanks. I was able to re-install v2.00 from IBM Tools/Apps. It still gave me the blue screen of death when it tried to launch R&R on re-boot (after hitting the Access IBM button). However, I was able to uninstall properly and then re-install v3.1. Success so far and then ...

On re-boot the computer now doesn't boot up into XP at all (I just get a flashing cursor at the top of a black screen). If I press Access IBM, I get a scaled back menu of ESC to resume normal startup; F1 to enter the IBM BIOS Setup Utility and F2 to choose a temporary startup device. There is no sign of R&R in any version.

Should I create a boot disk on the other laptop, insert in the CD drive and then press F12? Any other options at this point?

Cheers

Paul

#14 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:49 am

You can use the following to rewrite the master boot record. I have used this before.

Rescue and Recovery - Recovery repair diskette (diskette and CD ISO versions)

Boot the floppy or CD and choose replace the MBR (repair didn't work for me), and when the screen comes up, choose Option 1 for newer versions of Rescue and Recovery. I used this diskette after an install of Vista damaged the MBR to access the service partition on my XP hard drive (with the factory preload, updates and added software).

The fixboot command from a Windows Install CD has been reported to work, but you won't be able to boot into Rescue and Recovery with this method.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=27221

paulhod · #15 Post by **paulhod** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:55 am

Many thanks. The forum has been down all day (Australian time) so I didn't get your advice until just now.

I've spent all day and took the following actions:

- firstly I created product recovery disks from my other T43 (not identical but close enough);
- I then installed them into my laptop; and
- spent the rest of the day downloading IBM/TVT/Windows updates plus all the extra software that I previously had on my laptop and their updates and then my data back-up.

I haven't uninstalled R&R2.00 and installed v3.1 yet but don't expect any problems (I'll still be holding my breath).

The laptop is working well and I'm feeling very relieved. Although it has seemed a little like a wasted weekend, I have learnt a lot about my laptop and would know exactly what to do next time.

Thanks to you all for your advice. I appreciate it greatly.

Cheers

Paul

#16 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:02 am

While Rescue and Recovery version 3.1 is more feature rich than earlier versions, I would still be hesitant to upgrade for the following reason.

Rescue and Recovery v3.1 - Considerations wrote:Symptom

Any machine that has IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Ultra 1.0 or IBM Rescue and Recovery 2.0 factory preloaded, then installs Rescue and Recovery 3.0, will lose the ability to have Rescue and Recovery installed on the machine after a Restore to Factory contents action is selected when booting from the computer's hard drive.

Rescue and Recovery 3.0 updates the contents of the recovery environment stored on the computer's hard drive. Restoring to Factory contents does not alter the recovery environment and could result in an inconsistent configuration. Therefore, the ability for the factory preload to install IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Ultra 1.0 or IBM Rescue and Recovery 2.0 after Rescue and Recovery 3.0 has been installed was purposely disabled.

Solution

It is recommended that you create Recovery CDs prior to installing any software. If this is done, Restoring to Factory contents using the Recovery CDs will restore both the recovery environment as well as the preloaded version of Rescue and Recovery into Windows. If the Recovery CDs were not created before installing Rescue and Recovery 3.0, before doing a Restore to Factory Contents you may wish to copy the Rescue and Recovery 3.0 installation files off to external media so you will not have to download from the Web again.

Rescue and Recovery v3.1 - Considerations

Inability to uninstall Rescue & Recovery v2.00 on T43p

Inability to uninstall Rescue & Recovery v2.00 on T43p

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