Working on friends laptop which has the following partitions 1: OS 2: Recovery 3: Several folders including windows directory I tried to restore using recovery partition. but got this blue screen error "Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\Sam" I replaced the sam file and then got the same error but now with the security file. So I went ahead and replaced all reg. files. rebooted back into partition and received a missing/corrupt hal.dll, so I replaced that file. I finally get the system to the HP recovery splash screen, when another flipping error pops up "lsass.exe object not found". So at this point I realized the recovery part maybe FUBAR and I can't sit here and manually replace every freaking file. I booted ubuntu and used gparted to copy the 2nd & 3rd partition to another hard drive. Is there a way of fixing the recovery partition without having the recovery cd? I would hate to just give up on it since it contains all drivers. Getting drivers for laptops can be such a b**ch “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”

Have you contacted HP for a Recovery/Reinstallation CD? Life's more painless for the brainless.

They have the option to purchase the recovery disk but my cheap a$$ doochbag friend doesnt want to shell out the cash for it. I'm fixing the laptop and I'm going to hold it hostage till he pays me the 200+ he owes me and we all know a live hostage is worth more then a dead one. Wasn't looking for a problem solving answer it was more to see if it could be done, if I ever run into it again. I've already installed xp media on it and got most of the drivers working but there are still a few "unknown devices" I've installed every driver on their site and still nothing. Have to uninstall all and see if I installed a driver that is making the system think there is hardware that isnt there. “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”

Did you install the Nvidia chipset drivers?

Yeah I went thru all except the bios download “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”