Recovery of Hard Drive (TATTOO) of A940

[djalindsay]

My sister-in-law has a Packard Bell Executive Multi-Media 9025 D/U model A940-4x4E680, s/n 5911700323. The Hard Drive crashed whilst I was attempting to upgrade the memory from 16MG to 128MG. The drive is useless and therefore I have replaced it with another (larger) drive. But when I try to restore the software, from the Recovery CD, to the new drive I get the message "Computer incorrectly configured. Contact Technical Support". After reading through the Forums I have gleaned that the OEMSETUP program requires the new drive to have a Hidden Sector TATTOOd. Amongst the games CDs, Windows95 CD, printer Diskettes, that she received with the PC, is a Recovery package containing only a Boot Diskette (v2.30-UK 6708810401) and a Master CD (MS# 000-62380 19 Jun 97 6708440301). Neither of which contain the TATTOO program. I have been in touch with Packard Bell and they have recommended that I contact the PC Support for the shop where she purchased the PC, CURRYS in the UK, and that they should be able to supply the diskette. BUT... after long conversations over the telephone and being routed amongst a number of different PC Support groups I have been told to go back to Packard Bell! So instead of going round in circles again..I have decided to ask instead if there is anyone out there who can assist me to get the hard drive acceptable to OEMSETUP so that I can restore her PC to a working state.
Thanks in Advance.

[john_phoenix]

I have had this problem on the same computer.
My machine had 2 cd type drives, the tech support that cost me £1.50 per minute told me to put the restore disk in the other CD drive,
Worked a treat.
Not exactly the same error message but very similar

[djalindsay]

Thanks John, but it seems as though the problem is that I do not have the TATTOO program on the CD. I have inspected the CD using another PC and the program is not located anywhere. The CD drive, in the Packard bell, is fine as it can see the CD and navigate the directories. It just cannot locate the program. I need the "other" CD that contains the program or a diskette with it on. None of which came with her PC.

[john_phoenix]

I have been looking on the web (as I have never heard of the tattoo program) and came across these

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/...8&postcount=37

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/hp/faq/pavilion.htm

They may be of help.

[djalindsay]

John, thanks for both URLs. They make very interesting reading and I will check them to see if they can help in any way. With regard to the EXTHS program. I had encountered a reference to this program in another Forum and checked to see if it existed on the Recovery CD. No such luck. That program also cannot be located, together with the TATTOO program.

BTW when you had your problem with the same PC you used the Recovery CD/Diskettes. Does your CD/Diskettes contain the TATTOO and EXTHS programes? What version are they?
Cheers for the help.

[john_phoenix]

Unfortunatley the system I was rebuilding was for a customer and the disks have been returned with the unit.

[djalindsay]

Does anyone have a copy of the TATTOO.EXE and EXTHS.EXE programes that I can utilise to recover the Hard Drive?