[ltp] Rescue and recovery broken after installing Gentoo

[Ben Jencks]

This is a T43p. After installing linux, the rescue and recovery thing
doesn't work. Before I installed linux, pressing Access IBM at the BIOS
splash brought up R&R just fine. Now it brings up a menu asking if I
want to continue booting, go to BIOS setup, or select an alternate boot
device. Also, I tried using a R&R CD made on a T42p, and attempting to
restore to factory setup. It fails saying that the restore function has
been disabled.

This all looks like the hidden recovery area has been deleted. The funny
thing is, it hasn't. I've left the setting in the BIOS on normal, never
switched to disabled. According to fdisk, there were originally two
partitions: NTFS and Compaq diagnostics. I deleted the NTFS and put
linux partitions it its place, but the other partition is still
there. I'm not sure why I'm seeing this other partition, because I
thought the recovery area was supposed to be hidden.

I've since installed FreeBSD, with no change to the recovery area. Still
doesn't work. I don't have any data on this disk I need to keep, so
reformatting lots of times isn't a problem.

So, can I fix the recovery area? I'm not sure how I broke it. I thought
it was supposed to be hidden and protected so I couldn't break it. What
other information would be helpful to diagnose this?

My goal is to end up with a working restore function, but be running
FreeBSD.
-- 
Ben