Windows 7: Multiple drives cause "no active partition found" error

I have had my system up and running with Windows 7 for at least four or five months. I have four drives in an mATX case. Yesterday, while it was idle, I saw it flash a BSOD and then rebooted. when it restated it displayed the following Error: "No active partition found. Reboot your computer." Which I did several times to no avail. Next, I used the install disk to try to "repair" the partition...seven or ten times, no luck. Also, no drives were listed in the window at repair prompt. So, I pulled all the cables on all the drives but the one containing the system and voilas! here I am writing to you without issue and without three of my drives. I have two other sata drives in addition to my system sata drive. one IDE drive on the system. I've had no issues with any of them until yesterday.

MOBO going? Power-supply going? any ideas about why now?

thanks in advance for any ideas and my apologies if I have not followed all the correct protocols. This is my first time posting to a forum about my system.



ratchy

Hi Ratchethead,

Welcome aboard.

I would presume that one of your other drives that could have gone corrupt is causing the problem.

You should now try connecting one drive at a time and check, till you get the problem drive.

Thanks jumanji!
I did just that and learned: not a hard drive problem. all the drives work just fine (phew). after various plugging and unpluggings, not a sata cable, molex problem.

It appears that when i have every sata port(?)/connection on the mobo occupied, i get the message "no active partition found. reboot your computer." it appears that it doesn't matter which of the sata ports I leave open, the problem doesn't occur...as long as not all are occupied. I've tried various cable and hard drive combos and the problem persists as stated.

so, old mobo! Maybe firmware (if I'm using the term correctly), I thought I replaced the cmos battery last year, but maybe not. I checked in the device manager and it said all the "controllers" "this device is working properly."

I appreciate your help. I'll keep digging, other thoughts?

Best,
Ratchy

Glad to note that all your HDDs are ok and it is not a problem with any of those.

But the the problem is now trickier.(atleast for me here.)

As always "there'll always be someone who will know something you (or me ) don't." So let us wait for other experts to dig into this even as I dig for any clues.

In the meanwhile you may post whether you have done anything unusual preceding this event - such as trying to dual boot etc., ( I have only heard of this kind of boot problem trying to install and boot various Linux distros but my knowledge on these is next to nil. So will not venture into making any guesswork)