Toshiba Satellite Reformat Problem

ya2sabesya2sabes
edited November 2008 in Science & Tech
So here's the thing...

I might have tried to install some custom themes on my Toshiba Satellite (A105) laptop by altering my uxtheme.dll file, which worked fine. I was able to get all the customizable themes I wanted and my computer ran fine.

Then SP3 came out.

I was suppose to change the uxtheme.dll back to the original file BEFORE installing the service pack, but I didn't and now my theme sucks and it's just time for a clean start.

Problem: I DON'T have the toshiba cd to reformate my laptop but I DO have a partition that will reformat. However I can't figure out how to access it from the boot up menu.

I've heard ctrl+F11, holding down 0, F2, F10 and almost everything, but I can't get to the stupid partition. ANY ideas? All my stuff is backed up I just need to figure out how to use the partition.

Or would starting from a fresh Windows XP cd and just downloading all the drivers from the Toshiba website for a week be my only bet?

Thank you all,
Ruben

Comments

  • trolltroll Windsor, Nova Scotia Icrontian
    edited November 2008
    ya2sabes wrote:
    I've heard ctrl+F11, holding down 0, F2, F10 and almost everything, but I can't get to the stupid partition. ANY ideas? All my stuff is backed up I just need to figure out how to use the partition.

    Or would starting from a fresh Windows XP cd and just downloading all the drivers from the Toshiba website for a week be my only bet?

    Thank you all,
    Ruben

    Hey Ruben!
    Any of the Toshiba's I've worked with did not have a recovery partition, My A70 didn't, I just clean installed XP and got the drivers from Toshiba.

    If you press F12 (Select Boot) at boot up is there an option for recovery? If not I'd say no.

    You can purchase Recovery Disks from this place:
    http://digitalmedia-labs.com/ToshibaRecoveryCD.html

    Or you can just install a fresh copy of XP and load the drivers from the Download Tab here:

    http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/home.jsp#

    Good Luck!
  • manulekamanuleka
    edited November 2008
    if there's a partition lingering on the side, it is very likely that it is a recovery partition - most likely a factory reset partition!

    try googling for the "how to" on your particular model... or even just ring Toshiba customer support
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited November 2008
    Usually you have to use the Toshiba discs to boot the laptop. The option to recover using the partition is in a menu option there. Time to buy some discs from Toshiba.
  • ya2sabesya2sabes
    edited November 2008
    My roommate and I got to the partition before, it had some option that read "recovery partition" but we can't remember how to get back there!

    Googling it said to hold down zero at the start up window which we did. It goes to a black screen with the words "HDD Recovery" on the bottom, shows a progress bar, but when the bar fills up it just jumps back to starting Windows like normal. Very frustrating.

    Are getting the drivers as much as a headache as people make it out to be?
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