Recovery / Service partitions

What needs to be done in order to rebuild these? It looks like they may have been modified on the Thinkstation I have. Is there a download available for rebuilding those?

This is NOT official HP Customer Support and I, as most other persons on this forum, do not work for HP. This is a peer-to-peer user supported forum for HP consumer class products. HP maintains no official presence on this forum and it is unlikely that HP will respond in an official capacity. Any reply from a HP employee represents their own opinion and not that of HP's.
You can already use many utilities, OSes, and LiveCDs to do what you have posted. Most of the time, "marking" the HP Recovery partiton as "active" and restarting the computer is enough to start the recovery process.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
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Similar Messages

Lenevo ideapad s410 one key recovery service partition fails

HiRecently i extend my C: drive by using the Mini Tools Partition wizard and also format and delete partition of my other data partition but i dint change any system or recovery partition. After doing that i cant recover from One key recovery,it says that cant find the service partition. Also i cant take any system backup. Can anyone help me recover this

Hi anup002,
Welcome to Lenovo Community Forums!
The OKR system depends on the Partition ID's of the HDD, Shrinking or Extending a Partition may render the OKR Not to work.
Restoring the OKR after a partition change may be a hard work.
Please check this Article.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/how-to-restore-onekey-recovery-function-after-changing-partition-size-y580-and-maybe-others.688883/
Regards
Solid Cruver

Rescue and Recovery and the Hidden Service Partition

When I got my G41 ThinkPad in November 2004 it had a Hidden Service Partition
of size 693 Mb. I'm a fan of Rescue and Recovery and upgraded it successfully
up through version 4.0, but when I tried to upgrade to 4.1 and later to 4.2 I got
an error that said there was not enough free space. After I learned that the error
was referring to free space in the Hidden Service Partition I had my hard drive
repartitioned so the Service Partition was 4 Gb. R & R 4.2 then installed, and I'm
now on version 4.21.0016.00.
The other day I noticed that my free space on C:\ had dramatically increased, and
on further investigation I found that my Hidden Service Partition was again 693 Mb.
I don't know how this happened, unless it was the result of my starting to rejuvinate
my system and then later cancelling out of that processs and doing a full restore. I
still get the 4.2 Rescure and Recovery menu on hitting the blue Access IBM button
when I boot, and it seems to work as expected.
My question is: Should I have my HDD repartitioned again to make a 4 GB Hidden
Partition?
Bob Stockler
G41 - 2886-5TU - Mobile Pentium 4 532 - 3.06 Gh
2 Gb RAM - 80 Gb Toshiba 5400rpm HDD - Win XP Pro

Hi,
I think your laptop is not set to boot from the DVD-rom. You have to 1st go to bios and set the 1st boot device to be the dvd-rom. After that, insert the recovery startup disc and it should take you to the recovery menu.
BTW, you should be able to recover from the service partition as long as you have not deleted it, even if windows is screwed up. Make sure you press the blue Thinkvantage button or the F11 key at startup and only then will it take you to the recovery menu.
Hope it works.
Message Edited by zachareth on 04-23-2009 11:08 AM

Rescue and Recovery Can Not Find Service Partition

Hi, I have an R61i, which was working great until my son switched it off without shutting down windows properly. Now I have registry corruption on my main Windows partion (MUP.SYS hang).
Currently I have been without a laptop for over 5 weeks.
I have tried to recovery from service partition with R&R 4.21. However, when I try to use R&R it brings up the splash dialog but does not see the service partition or bring up the R&R menu options. I am assuming that service partition has been corrupted or deleted ??
Customer Support suggested I buy recovery disks, which I duely did for £45. However, these only work if the service partion is present!
Is there any way I can re-format the disk and re-create service partition?
Given all the problems I had with the service partition and R&R next time I'm going to buy a different make and model.
Dominic Manchee

Hi,
I think your laptop is not set to boot from the DVD-rom. You have to 1st go to bios and set the 1st boot device to be the dvd-rom. After that, insert the recovery startup disc and it should take you to the recovery menu.
BTW, you should be able to recover from the service partition as long as you have not deleted it, even if windows is screwed up. Make sure you press the blue Thinkvantage button or the F11 key at startup and only then will it take you to the recovery menu.
Hope it works.
Message Edited by zachareth on 04-23-2009 11:08 AM

Service Partition - Rescue and Recovery installation fails (not enough free space)

Im am aware about former posts to this subject on this forum, but they didn't answer all my questions, so I reopened the subject.
I tried to install "Rescue and Recovery" on T60 with win XP Pro and got the following message:
'There is not enough free space in the boot sector to install the Rescue and Recovery boot manager'
I followed the solution in "Rescue and Recovery installation fails") from 08-09-2008 03:03 AM
and created a hidden partition with Parted Magic but the rescue and recovery still fails with the same message.
Somewhere in the forum I read that the original service partition has a special format and not ntfs.
Could somebody tell me is it true or not ?
How can I rebuild this service partition ?
Do I need special setting, flags there ?
Is it possible to rebuild this partition without recovery CDs at all ?
Actually I'm wondering to, about the error message. It is saying '"..There is not enough free space in the boot sector ..." .
Is it possible that the boot sector is the problem and not the service partition ?
How can I fix that ?
Thanks in advance if somebody helps.

I have a 4-year-old ThinkPad R51. Because I was getting intermittent boot-up error messages--"Rescue and Recovery has encountered a problem and needs to close"--with ver. 4.0, I tried to upgrade to ver. 4.2. Per instructions, I first removed ver. 4.0 using Windows Control Panel. Then each attempt to install 4.2 failed with the message: "Error 25025. There is not enough free space on the computer to install or upgrade the Rescue and Recovery environment." Just before that error message popped up in center-screen, I got a Windows message at lower right saying "You are running out of space on SERVICEV001 (Z:}" Of course, there was no way I could view partition Z (that I knew of).
Thanks to the helpful messages above, I downloaded Parted Magic (http://partedmagic.com), burned a boot CD per its instructions, and re-booted with that CD. Using GParted, I saw that my SERVICEV001 partition was merely 590 MB, and 587 MB was in use. So I reduced my C partition by 500 MB and added 500 MB to the Z partition, raising it to 1090 MB. Then I was able to re-boot into Windows and the installation of Rescue and Recovery 4.2 was error-free.
Out of curiosity, I again re-booted with the Parted Magic CD to see how much space on the Z partition was taken by the RnR ver. 4.2 installation. To my surprise, it showed that still only 587 MB was in use, and 503 MB remained unused.
I thank those in this forum whose messages gave me the needed guidance. And I thanked the author of Parted Magic with a $10 donation, as I hope other users of his open source program will do.
Message Edited by DougSchafer on 08-08-2008 06:06 PM
Message Edited by DougSchafer on 08-08-2008 06:12 PM

How to install Windows 7/Vista as 2nd OS and retain predesktop environment (service partition)

This is a step-by-step instruction how to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 as a second OS on a Lenovo Thinkpad that originally shipped with Windows XP AND how to retain the access to the Lenovo Service Partition.
I have been searching the internet for instructions like these but could not find anything useful. So I am posting it
here. Maybe this helps other users.
I have tested the procedure below with installation of Windows Vista Ultimate (64bit) and Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit). I believe that the procedure will also work with the 32bit versions of these OSs. I am not totally convinced that this works when the OS to install is Windows XP (64bit or 32bit). XP has a completely different boot sequence compared to Vista or 7. The basic steps would remain the same, but the XP setup is less forgiving when it finds an unknown partition. If somebody wants to try it out, please post your results as a reply to this forum entry.
Never never never try to install an older OS (like Windows 2000 or NT) as a second OS when XP is already installed! This is doomed to fail.
The procedure below does NOT work for Linux installations. I am not a Linux wizard, but any Linux bootmanager I know about is incompatible with the Lenovo Service Partition.
The procedure was tested on a Thinkpad R61 model 8918-B9G. It should work similar on other models.
You definitely need a service partition with Rescue&Recovery version 4. It will NOT work with older versions of R&R or if the service partition is not a type12 partition (see below how to find out about that).
I assume that the harddisk partitions are unmodified, i.e. still have factory settings. This is likely the case if you
never attempted any OS install or recovery action. If this is not the case, the procedure may or may not work.
You also need a bootable CD with a tool that can change the size of your current system partition. I was using gparted live version 0.5.2-9. ( http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ )
Everything you do is at your own risk. I am in no way related to Lenovo, other than being a customer using their
products.
Step 1) Make a full backup of your harddisk. Get yourself recovery CDs for your Thinkpad model if you don't have any. The changes we are about to make can completely screw up your harddrive. A typo is sufficient for that to happen.
Step 2) Power on the system. Check that you can boot into the Service Partition by pressing the Thinkvantage button when the startup screen appears. (Older systems may have a differently named button.) If there is a problem booting the service partition now, it is likely that the rest of this procedure will not fix it.
Step 3) From the service partition choose 'Warmstart' to reboot the system. Reboot Windows XP, logon.
Open a command prompt. CD to the following directory:
\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo\BMGR
On a german language system (like mine) it is
\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR
If you have an older IBM system the directory may be named
\Program Files\Common Files\IBM\BMGR
or something like that. Maybe you need to search around.
In the following, I will call this the "BMGR dir".
Enter the following command:
bmgr32 /info /v
You should get an output similar to this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /info /v
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? (512) Label is SERVICEV
Using version 2.05 of Lenovo Boot Manager
Reading: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0
        MBR Sector 1 Index: 1   Checksum: 00    Disabled
        MBR Sector 2 Index: 4   Checksum: 03    Passed
        MBR Sector 3 Index: 5   Checksum: FD    Passed
        MBR Sector 4 Index: 6   Checksum: 58    Passed
        MBR Sector 5 Index: 7   Checksum: 96    Passed
        MBR Sector 6 Index: 8   Checksum: 7F    Passed
        Data Sector Index: 3   Checksum: F1    Passed
        Original MBR Index: 2   Checksum: BD    Passed
        No Patch Sectors
        Checksum Byte: 00
        Think Flag: 1
        WinPE Partition (0-3): 1        Alt Boot Partition (0-3): 1
        Boot Config: 2 (Service Partition containing two Service OS's)
        Boot State: 0                   Alt Boot Flag: 0
        (Normal booting operation, will boot to Customer OS)
        RRU: 00000000 00000000          Prev Active Part: 255
        Previous Partition Type: FF     Patch IN: 0     OUT: 0
        CIRT Disabled
        TOC: 0000000000000000           Lock: 0
        Show Error: 0                   Halt on Error: 0
        CIRT Load Return: 0
        CIRT Execute Return: 0
        Pause Duration: 10              Scan Code: 0085
        F11 Msg: To boot to the Rescue and Recovery Environment, Press F11
        Check Msg: There has been a signature failure
# active type      start CHS      end CHS      startLBA       size
0   0x80   0x07      1   1   0   239 255 255           63    301296177
1   0x00   0x12      0 193 255   239 255 255    301296240     11279520
2   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
3   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
The important thing to look for is the 0x12 partition type in the partition table at the bottom. This is the service
partition. If you do not have a 0x12 partition, then you can stop here because the rest of the procedure will not work
for you.
Step 4) Shutdown and boot gparted from CD. Shrink the system partition to the desired size. Do NOT touch the service partition! Do NOT attempt to create another partition! Leave the new white space on the disk untouched! Apply changes and restart the system.
Step 5) Reboot XP. gparted has set the NTFS dirty bit. This will cause XP to run a full CHKDSK. Depending on how much files there are on the partition this may take considerable time. Let CHKDSK run to completion. When CHKDSK finishes, the system will automatically reboot.
Step 6) XP reboots now. Logon. When loading the desktop, XP will show a popup window, stating that system settings have been changed and new devices been discovered and that the system should be rebooted. This is ok. XP actually recognized the shrunk system partition and applied the necessary changes to its own system parameters. Click YES to reboot the system.
Step 7) XP reboots. Logon. Open a command prompt, CD to the BMGR dir and enter:
bmgr32 /info /v
The output you get should be similar to the output you have seen in step 3, except that the partition 0 size column
shows a smaller value.
Step 8) Shutdown, restart. Check that you can still access the service partition by pressing the blue Thinkvantage button when the system startup screen appears.
Step 9) From the predesktop environment choose warmstart. Reboot XP. Logon, logoff, shutdown.
DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!! If you start the Windows Vista/7 install right after shutting down from the predesktop
environment, the Win Vista/7 setup program will screw up your harddisk! The Lenovo MBR bootmgr reboot takes two steps for completion. The first step is the shutdown and the second step is executed when booting from harddisk. A boot from the Windows CD will skip this second step and disaster finds its way...
Step 10) Insert the Windows Vista/7 DVD and boot it. Start the setup. Choose "Custom (advanced)" install. It will show the partitions on the disk. Select the white space (unallocated). Click on "disk options (advanced)". Click on "New" to create a new partition in the white space. Keep the default size, click "Apply". Click "Format". A popup window appears stating that the partition may hold OEM data. Continue. Click "Next". Installation starts.
Continued in the second post...

Step 11) Win Vista/XP will reboot several times during installation. You will always see the Windows bootmanager with an entry for "Earlier Windows version" and "Windows Vista/7". DO NOT DARE to touch the blue Thinkvantage button on any reboot or press any function keys!
Step 12) When the installation is finished, check that you can successfully reboot Win Vista/7 by selecting it from the Windows bootmanager.
Step 13) Reboot XP by choosing "Earlier Windows version" from the Windows bootmanager. Open a command prompt. CD to the BMGR dir. Enter the following command:
bmgr32 /info /v
The output will now look like this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /info /v
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 2 the SP? (512) Label is SERVICEV
# active type      start CHS      end CHS      startLBA       size
0   0x80   0x07      1   1   0   254 255 255           63    109675692
1   0x00   0x07    239 255 255   239 255 255    109676544    191619072
2   0x00   0x12    239 255 255   239 255 255    301296240     11279520
3   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
startLBA and size will of course differ, depending on the actual partition sizes you have set. Note that Windows setup moved the service partition to entry 2 of the partition table. If you do not see the 0x12 partition then stop here.
Otherwise the following step will likely screw up you harddisk.
Enter the following command (case sensitive?):
bmgr32 /Fbootmgr.bin /m0 /IBM /v
The output will look like this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /Fbootmgr.bin /m0 /IBM /v
installing MBR
finding free sectors
Sector 9 is free
Sector 10 is free
Sector 11 is free
Sector 12 is free
Sector 13 is free
Sector 14 is free
Sector 15 is free
Sector 16 is free
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 2 the SP? (512) Label is SERVICEV
Setting Think bit
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
This command reinstalled the Lenovo bootmanager in the MBR that was erased by the Win Vista/7 setup program.
Enter the following command:
bmgr32 /info /v
The output will now look like this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /info /v
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 2 the SP? (512) Label is SERVICEV
Using version 2.05 of Lenovo Boot Manager
Reading: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0
        MBR Sector 1 Index: 1   Checksum: 00    Disabled
        MBR Sector 2 Index: 11 Checksum: 03    Passed
        MBR Sector 3 Index: 12 Checksum: FD    Passed
        MBR Sector 4 Index: 13 Checksum: 58    Passed
        MBR Sector 5 Index: 14 Checksum: 96    Passed
        MBR Sector 6 Index: 15 Checksum: 7F    Passed
        Data Sector Index: 10 Checksum: 01    Passed
        Original MBR Index: 9   Checksum: 12    Passed
        No Patch Sectors
        Checksum Byte: 00
        Think Flag: 1
        WinPE Partition (0-3): 2        Alt Boot Partition (0-3): 2
        Boot Config: 0 (Service Partition containing one Service OS)
        Boot State: 0                   Alt Boot Flag: 0
        (Normal booting operation, will boot to Customer OS)
        RRU: 00000000 00000000          Prev Active Part: 255
        Previous Partition Type: FF     Patch IN: 0     OUT: 0
        CIRT Disabled
        TOC: 0000000000000000           Lock: 0
        Show Error: 0                   Halt on Error: 0
        CIRT Load Return: 0
        CIRT Execute Return: 0
        Pause Duration: 10              Scan Code: 0085
        F11 Msg: To boot to the Rescue and Recovery Environment, Press F11
        Check Msg: There has been a signature failure
# active type      start CHS      end CHS      startLBA       size
0   0x80   0x07      1   1   0   254 255 255           63    109675692
1   0x00   0x07    239 255 255   239 255 255    109676544    191619072
2   0x00   0x12    239 255 255   239 255 255    301296240     11279520
3   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
So you have actually regained the Lenovo bootmanager. But you are not done yet.
Step 14) Shutdown. Restart the system. DO NOT PRESS THE BLUE THINKVANTAGE BUTTON AT THE SYSTEM STARTUP SCREEN!!! IT DOES NOT WORK YET! When the system startup screen DISAPPEARS, quickly press F11 (maybe several times). The system should now boot the predesktop environment from the service partition.
Step 15) When the predesktop is there, choose "warmstart". When the system startup screen appears, press the blue Thinkvantage button. The system should again boot into the predesktop. The blue Thinkvantage button now works permanently.
Step 16) Check that you can boot Win XP and Win Vista/7 from the Windows bootmanager. You're done!

Lion install fail on my macbook "a recovery service cannot be created" please help!

Trying to install lion on my Macbook but keep getting install fail error saying a recovery service could not be created"
I have a usb hard drive connected with time machine and a bootcamp 12 gig partition with windows XP
Please help its driving me mad!

managed to do the upgrade by deleting my bootcamp partition with windows xp on it. Think it was this making it unable to create the recovery partition.
However after doing the upgrade I was not impressed with Lion at all! Although it had new features it was running far slower and took ages to boot and shutdown and applications took ages to load and got loads of "spinning discs" waiting for stuff to load which never had before as this is a new Macbook with 4GB of ram.
Anyway after reading people with similar problems made a Lion install disc from the original download and did a clean install and restored my system.
What a difference! Vast improvment in speed and loading and performance! Thank goodness!
Just thought I'd share!

How to create a service partition like the original from lenovo

hey their, i have installed windows 7 on my x200. afore i have cleaned up all partiton incl. the service partition. now my question: how can i create a service partiton with the same behaviors like the original one (access the partition via the thinkvantage button and so on). i hope, someone can help me.

You need a set of recovery disks to re-create the partition.
If you haven't burned them when you first got the machine, they can be purchased directly from Lenovo or other online sources.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

Lenovo G550 Service Partition problem

Hello,
I've bought Lenovo G550 (without OS) and by mistake deleted my Service Partition, which contains files for OneKey recovery utility. I've searched forum, but hasn't found anything exact.
As I've searched, I've found out few things:
- If I change any partition size, OneKey is no longer working
- Only service support can fix this problem, in some countries I've gotta pay
I'd like to ask you for help. If there is any chance to DIY (do it yourself), just by downloading needed files and creating new partitions with required space.
I'd really appreciate if someone was there to assist, or just providing some more information about this problem.
Sorry for my English.
Thanks a lot !

there are about 113 backup wsi file, the one with number 34 seems damaged. for factory backups there's another issue with it. did you make any changes on volumes? cause if you did, one key recover and one key recover button will stop working.
in normal circumstances, eisa part is not visible. i'm not sure if it works if you copy files to usb.
if windows vista installed, run one-key recover 6.0.
already got backups, skip "back up" otherwise click that.
select full backup, quick compression and next >
choose the path or leave it default and next >
and start.
after back up ends, restart the application one-key recover 6.0
click "create recovery disc" and next >
select the backup you have and next>
this screen will tell you how much cd or dvd you need, min 2 dvd or 8cd, max 7 dvd or 28 cd. and next>
insert the blank cds or dvds into driver and wait until done.
you may need the system image, you can lose your back-up cd, or cds may not working after a while, so , i still recommend that you keep the original copy or more than one backup.
size of recovery cd depens on how much size of disk space you use. its up 2-7 dvd or 4-28 cd.

Service Partition and win 7

Hey guys,
I am going to install win 7 on my t61's c; drive by keeping the service partition( as my prodcut recovery discs are not working).If i do so , will i be able to restore my system using service partion in future... Pleae share ur experiences..
Thanks in advance....

This probably isn't quite what you had in mind, but have you considered better disk management software? Acronis Disk Director seems to have no problem with the unknown (0x27) partition on my drive... even recognizes that it's formatted for NTFS and lets me examine the contents.
Actually, have you tried the Disk Management snap-in to the Computer Management Administrator Tool in XP? (I'm actually using Vista, so the actual name/location might be different.) It shows up there as a Healthy EISA Configuration basic partition.
I'm sure you'd still have a bootable system if you deleted that partition... of course some Thinkvantage functionality would be lost.
Honestly, I'd be a bit nervous about trusting those tools if they can't deal with this.

T61 Service Partition

I needed to wipe the HD of my T61, so I took an Acronis Image of the SERVICE001 partition. Wiped the HD and have since reapplied the image back to the HD in order to reinstall the O/S. When I boot the laptop and press the Thinkvantage button it tells me O/S not found. Does anyone know how I gain access to the recovery tools within that service partition in order to reinstall the O/S?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi bryan,
You can try this:- http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-54483.html
To copy the service partition, you could have just created the recovery discs, it's far easier and the best way to preserve the contents of the partition. If the mentioned repair doesn't work, then there is nothing much you can do other than purchasing a set from lenovo. I sure hope that the repair does the trick.
Hope this helps.
Maliha (I don't work for lenovo)
ThinkPads:- T400[Win 7], T60[Win 7], IBM 240[Win XP]
IdeaPad: U350
Apple:- Macbook Air [Snow Leopard]
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Problems reinstalling Lion from Recovery service

I'm trying to reinstall Lion from the Apple Recovery service but keep getting told after 10 hours downloading, that installation has failed.
I'm having to do this as my machine crashed a few days ago and lost access to the operating system. I did not loose files as the machine was Bootcamped and i could access from there.
Initially, I was told that the hard drive needed repairing, which has now happened and it's passed all it's tests via the Disk Utility but still no installation.
I tried booting from a usb and the download recovery but no sucess.
Can anyone advise.

Philip Keller wrote:
John,
I think I'm "reinstalling OS X by booting OS X Recovery": I reboot with command-R depressed, or I reboot with Alt depressed and choose the recovery parition, and then I start the installation process from the list of things I can do. Are we talking about the same thing?
Yes, exactly.
I think that OS X Internet Recovery would be necessary only if you were to attempt a Lion installation with a completely empty HD, implying that even a Recovery partition has not been created. Your USB flash drive is the way to cope in that circumstance. If you can install Lion by booting the recovery partition as you described, it seems to me that it is all that is necessary and there is nothing to fix, despite the error message you see.
I'm surprised that Internet Recovery works at all, given that your Mac is not one of those allegedly eligible to use it.
Without a similar 2006 iMac to test, I can only speculate that the "abysmal distribution system" as baltwo describes it just doesn't work well with earlier Macs, and that Apple may not have tested it extensively with them. If I were you I would rely upon that USB installer much more than OS X Recovery or OS X Internet Recovery. I prefer not to rely upon any installation method that can possibly result in "the server is not available at this time" or such nonsense, but that is the direction in which Apple has been going for a long time.
An OS X installation log exists at /var/log/ that you can examine using Console, probably named "install.log". Deciphering it is another challenge.

Can't Find Service Partition on ThinkPadR400 7440CN1

I bought this laptop from a friend who bought this laptop refurbished from Best Buy. I want to reinstall everything on this computer and get it back to the factory settings but have no way of installing it. For trying to burn a repair disk using the "Create a System Repair Disk" I do not have a dvd/cd drive that is able to burn any CD's, so I can't do that. Then when I try to find this service partition by reading the manual and following the steps at the bottom of this page http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/44c9771_a5.pdf the rescue and recovery workspace does not open. What ends up happening is I just end up going back into the BIOS Setup Utility. What can I do to reinstall this computer?

koppj wrote:
There is a sticker saying windows 7 pro refurbished pc's
There you go. That's why you couldn't locate a recovery partition - there wasn't one to begin with.
Use any W7 Pro media to install the OS and then call MS to activate it since I doubt that it will allow you to do it automatically.
Good luck.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

How do you update service partition?

i have a t61 with vita home prem. i did service pack 1 and all the t61 updates. how do i update the service partition so if i restore the system, i will install all the updates? the lenovo update were almost a gig. can anyone tell me where the lenove updates get downloaded to?

Hitechrr wrote:
i have a t61 with vita home prem. i did service pack 1 and all the t61 updates. how do i update the service partition so if i restore the system, i will install all the updates? ...
As other already said above, the service partition remains in it's initial state and doesn't evolve as your system partition does over the time. Thus what the service partition offers, is more like restoring a virgin system e.g. the state the notebook was when delivered from the factory.
A better strategy for what you might have in mind is, to perform continously/incremental system partition image backups onto some external connected backup-harddisk. Those image backups will then contain the momentary whole actual state of your system (including played in service packs, driver updates etc.) and when in trouble you can restore a much more actual state of what your system contains, without playing again in SPs, updates etc. since those are already inside and part of your backup images.
You can perform such image backups with the help of Rescue and Recovery or some thir party tool like Acronis TrueImage.etc.
ThinkPad T60/X32/600/770 · IBM IntelliStation · 3x IBM SpaceSaver II

Emty new Drive with 6.983.299.072 bytes found - service partition?

Hi @ all,
My system WinXP SP3 still works great .
I had made the Recovery-Medias, so I could restore the system to WIN XP SP2 sometimes.
Now I found a new drive on my system. I knew, that there will be a service partition in this size, so I checked this.
When I push the blue ThinkVantage-Button at Startup, I get an Error-Message.
The only thing I remember that I deleted all the securities on rescue and recovery. I tried to remove elder securities, but this didn't work. When I start to remove the youngest and then the next and so on, it works really fast.
Another thing I tried on this removieng-action was to defragment the drives, but I don't remember, that I told the system to do this with the service-partition.
What can I do now, to get the service partition back without re-installing my super running system?
See you
brownybrumm

Your partitions look fine from an Advanced Format point of view. The test is simple: Are all your partitions' start points, as measured in sectors, divisible by 8? Yours are.
karamaz0v wrote:what confused me a bit, was that I saw a lot of setups with the BIOS boot partition, and also a 200 MB EFI one. Having a BIOS system, I think I don't need the EFI one.
Some people do this because they're unclear of their requirements. Others do it because they want to have the option of switching boot modes between BIOS/legacy and EFI. With both types of boot loader installed, you can choose on a boot-by-boot basis which way to start the computer, assuming it supports both boot modes.

Recovery / Service partitions

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