I'm trying to reinstall WinMe using the factory recovery CD's that came with the my Pavilion 8775c. The machine is currently running WinME but since my kids started using the machine for their games a while back, it has been working erratically and hence my desire to reinstall it from scratch. When I boot using the recovery CD, it claims that this machine is not an HP Pavilion (which it is!). NT was installed at one time on this machine a long time, which may be the cause for this??!? Now I need to resinstall it back to it's original virgin configuration. Any ideas on what I need to do to make the recovery CDs work and recognize this machine as the correct model? There has been no hardware changes done to this machine. HP Pavilion 8775c WinME Thanks --curtis

If you have ever formatted the HD you wont be able to use the recovery disks. I cant speak for that model but on 5 seperate HP pentium 3 models after formatting/installing windows 2k for use in a network then later attempting to restore pc's to factory settings to be sold i was not able to use the recovery disks. Same error you have reported. I gave up and sold them with 2k loaded. You may be able to fix it by contacting HP. Dell has a support page explaining how to do it but i havent found anything on the HP site. Im guessing the only way to do it is to call HP they may even require you to ship the unit in for service. If it were me...Id purchase windowsME full version or the retail upgrade if you have win95, 98, 98se full version to use as qualifying software during install. Your system will run much better with HP's Hacked up OS.

Hi Curtis, There has to be a way to use the recovery disks after a HD format or crash. Think about it. If your hard drive fails and you bring it in for repairs, the techs use the recovery disks to reload everyhing. This just happened to me on an HP Pavilion. Also, I tried to do a complete restore to factory settings after a very troublesome upgrade to Win XP. Guess what? I got the same error you did. I know this doesn't help you, but I thought I would offer my experience.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did try to install WinME from a store bought full OS version, but ran into many various problems with missing drivers (e.g. modem-sound combo card), missing apps (DVD player), etc... The machine was also very unstable (lock-up during screen saver, etc..). That is the main reason why I want to figure out a way to restore all of the original software. There's got to be a way to use the recovery CD's after a disk was reformatted. I may try to call HP tech support the next time I have 2 hours to spare and some extra cash to spend on long distance calls.....

I have had this exact same problem, and I believe I have the solution for you, Do the following but please print this post before taking any further actions: With Recovery CD's in the drive, restart the system. Press and hold the CTRL ky as soon as the system starts booting. This initiates the lin-by-line confirmation boot sequence. Once this sequence has been initiated your may relese the CTRL key. if the CTRL key does not work, press the F8 key after the BIOS screen and choose Step-by step Confirmation. Answer YES to all the questions exept when asked about the following items: Load Double Spaced Drivers -OR- load bbl.ini When queried about either item, answer NO. Answer YES to the remaining questions. Hope this helps ya Tony