Any way to get to this emachines system restore?

I'll give it a shot!

If you're unlucky the Trend online scan might die (I've seen infections prevent it's use). In that case I have had luck downloading / installing this free A-V software to clean viruses:
http://www.free-av.com/

This link will scan for spyware (after asking for ActiveX download but otherwise is free and no baner.adware, etc)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php

If Bartender_1's tip works first no need to split the points here.

I'll check it out.  I am aware of the spywareinfo web page, good place to check programs before installing.

Ok..I've completed a scan using the Housecall scanner and the AntiVir program.  Everything is reporting clean.  I have also booted with the Norton IS 2006 disk and run a scan, with clean results.  So I'm still seeking answers.

Mainly, I'm trying to figure out how to restore using the built in emachines system recovery, which is hanging up.  Is there a file that can be edited or replaced that perhaps got corrupted which helps to start the recovery process, that sort of thing.

Good...and interestng.
"The partition with the restore files appears to be fine, so I'm wondering why the problem with recovery." Do you just mean you are able to see this partiton or do you have some tool to check it? At this point I would suspect the data on the recovery partition as bad.

If you call Gateway (err, e-Machines) they should provide some troubleshooting support for that partition. Alternately the fee for a recovery CD is small - as in the $20-$30 range and worth every penny. We recently had a user with an e-Machines HDD go *completely* dead (could not even make it a slave from another HDD) and we did exactly that - ordered a recovery CD and bought a new HDD (HDD was out of warranty).

The_IT_Garage
Thanks for posting.  Basically I mean the drive is not giving any error, it's locked as it should be, and shows that there are contents.  Not concrete, I know, but more a gut feeling that the contents are ok.  It seems to me something is wrong elsewhere, but I certainly could be wrong.

I'll bear in mind the other info calling and getting a recovery cd.

what brand is this  emachines w3400

What do you mean?  It's an emachines w3400, which is the brand.

lol I dont recognise the computer, have never heard of it.
It happens sorreee. lol.
regards Merete

Like Scion is a cheap Toyota, e-Machines is a cheap Gateway: http://tinyurl.com/rqofe

How ironic.  Scion may be less expensive than a Toyota, but in no way is a Scion built cheap.  I own a Scion xB, one of the first built, and I can tell you as someone who has owned both, this is every bit as good.  Almost 3 years I've had this and not one problem.  And everyone I know around here that owns one says the same.

Bad example. :)

Ok, new info.  The owner of this pc has produced the recovery disks.  Following the directions for using the recovery disks produces the same results as attempting from the hard drive.  I'm still stuck at a "Powered by pc angel system recovery" screen.  

I've tried booting to an XP cd with no problems.  Since this is something activated by pressing either "r" or "f11" upon booting up, does this been it's built into the BIOS?

(No offense on the Scion vs Toyota, cheap in this case meant less expensive. I am a car guy even more than I am a computer guy)

If R or F11 activates the recovery then it is likely hooked into BIOS into some fashion or a bootstrap on the HDD (likely the latter). Your "Powered by PC Angel" is telling, it leads to these finds:
http://www.senecadata.com/support/recovery.aspx
http://www.senecadata.com/support/faq.aspx
http://www.senecadata.com/presentations/recoverymanual.pdf

As well as http://www.pcangelle.com/

My guess is the boot record for the recovery partition has a problem, and as I have no experience with this I cannot predict what a FDISK /MBR would do (my guess is it would cause problems). You might want to contact pcangelle's customer support for this issue.

On the Scion vs Toyota issue, no offense taken.  Just wanted to point out that in this case cheaper doesn't mean cheap (quality).  I love this car.  :)

I'll check the links.

An update on this situation.  So far I have attempted to restore this system using the restore partition on the hard drive, using the owner created restore disks, and now using disks created by emachines which we just received.  None of these methods work.  Each time I end up at the e logo and "powered by pc angel system recovery".  

And again, if I put in a regular XP install disk, everything goes fine up until the part where one can choose to format the drive, etc, at which point I quit.  So it boots to disks fine and sees the hard drive.  So I'm still searching for answers on this, and I have reviewed the links from above with no solution found.  

It REALLY Sounds like a recovery partition problem, did you contact pcangelle's customer support?

do you have an xp machine other than this one there?
If your emachine is not laptop, but a desktop, use the cdrom on another machine, the ide and power connectors will fit into the rear of this hdd.
Just move the pin to slave, unpower completely, I just sit the hdd on top of the of the tower, its very easy quick to have a look at partitions on a difficult drive.
xp in control panel administrative tools, computer management disc management, here you can see any and all drives> partitions and what format fat or ntfs linux, hope not.
If you bought this 2nd hand you never know what has been on this hdd.
The advantage too is you can usually save off any stuff onboard. Defrag it chkdsk it etc.

If this hdd has had several old operating system on from years ago there maybe some old standard dos MBR.
The standard DOS MBR will not boot a partition unless it is the unique bootable primary partition.
What does FDISK /MBR do?
People often recommend the undocumented DOS command FDISK /MBR to solve problems with the MBR. This command however does not rewrite the entire MBR - it just rewrites the boot code, the first 446 bytes of the MBR, but leaves the 64-byte partition information alone. Thus, it won't help when the partition table has problems. Moreover, it can be dangerous to restore the boot code to its original state: if the cause of the problems was a boot sector virus, then vital information may have been stored elsewhere by the virus, and killing the virus may mean killing access to this information. (For example, the stoned.empire.monkey virus encrypts the original MBR to sector 0/0/3.) However, people who want to uninstall LILO, and do not know that LILO has a -u option, can use FDISK /MBR for this purpose.

http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-2.html#ss2.3

If your not familiar with windowsxp disc management here is a good illistrated guide to help you see what its about.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/disk_management.htm

This problem never did get resolved.  I've not been able to get past the screen in question even with emachines support on the phone stepping me through their steps.  Their next step was to send the guy a new hard drive to replace the one in the pc, but I'm not really sure that would work because I can boot to an xp boot disk and go all the way to the format screen.  But it does not matter anymore because the owner of the pc is swapping the pc for another with emachines.  Gotta give the company credit for agreeing to do this instead of insisting on sending the hard drive.

I gave Merete the points because of good correct procedures and lots of info, plus sticking with it.  Thanks to all.