0X490 error, “Boot sector for system disk partition is corrupt”

brownbeardad · 23 Nov 2014

I was researching startup programs in Msconfig start tab, comparing those programs to info in Pacs-Portal website. I unchecked two Toshiba bloatware programs and had not select apply. I left the laptop for about one minute and upon returning the “Hard Drive Wipe in Progress” message was in large font on the screen. I pressed and held down the power key until a forced shutdown occurred. At the next Win 7 Home Premium start, the Windows screen showed briefly then Startup Repair commenced. The startup repair diagnosis resulted in message "Boot sector for system disk partition is corrupt", repair boot sector repair action, and 0x490error.

I researched the Windows Seven Forum and found “Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start”, Published by gregrocker, 15 Mar 2012. I performed these actions in this order:

Bootrec command: Used /FixMbr then restarted the OS. The Windows screen showed briefly, Startup Repair opened and the boot sector repair failed. The same message occurred, “Boot sector the system disk partition is corrupt.” Then used /FixBoot with the same results.

DiskPart:

Drive W:, the Linux partition, did not show.

Chkdsk: Ran once and command ran for about two minutes. Messages were “Correcting error in index $I30 for file XXXXX”. This message would repeat once, then “Sorting index $I30 in file XXXXX.” 569,595 index entries were processed. Restarted OS with the same Windows screen and Startup Repair commencing. Errors could not be corrected.

Mini-Tool Partition Wizard: Ran once with the following results

Selected the w: drive for repair. The three Boot partitions were greyed out showing overlap with w:. I also selected system and HDDRECOVERY partitions. And selected apply. The W: and Boot partitions were not repaired.

Startup Repair: Ran Startup Repair for three simultaneous runs. The Boot System error0X490 was not corrected.

I request help to repair the boot sector and/or possible corruption of the Linux partition. Any assistance will be appreciated.

gregrocker · 25 Nov 2014

It sounds like you somehow triggered Factory Recovery which should have offered you several choices before beginning to wipe your hard drive like that. But if it clearly said that it was wiping your hard drive, then I doubt if it's recoverable even after aborting it.

If Partition Wizard Partition Recovery Wizard is unable to recover the deleted partitions then you can try rescuiing your files to see if they are still there using Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console or Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition 11.0 Free.

Then you can either attempt to run again Toshiba Factory Recovery, or as a consolation you can do a much better install than the one you had following these steps to Clean Reinstall Windows 7.

brownbeardad · 25 Nov 2014

Thanks gregrocker. I will use one of the data recovery methods above.

Did I prevent Partition Wizard Partition Recovery Wizard from being able to recover partitions by using the bootrec command in C: prompt and overwriting the W: drive? Good to know if/when happens again.

gregrocker · 25 Nov 2014

Possibly. Depends on the wipe that was done. Quick wipe or Diskpart Clean Command is sometimes recoverable using PW, but not if formatting has been done. I doubt if only bootrec commands could foul it out.