Missing operating system message, cannot re-install windows 7

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  1. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #21

    rjs1974 said:
    The extended test using WD diagnostics (took 2 hours) came back with no errors. Will try chkdsk again - did not work yesterday though - something about RAW volumes?

    EDIT - trying chkdsk /r from command prompt gave me this message:

    The type of the file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive. Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.

    What now Greg?
    Thanks!!
    I defer to greg, just a quick drive by. If it is indeed write protected you can change that by booting as admin into a cmd prompt (shift +F10 on boot).

    Go to the drive and type attrib -R *.* at the c:\> prompt
      My Computer

  2.    #22

    Follow Zigzag's guidance on running chkdsk /r as Admin.

    Then follow the tutorial Karl posted to wipe the HD to clean install Win7.

    Let us know how it goes.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 13
    windows 7 home premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #23

    FIXED!


    Hi everyone,

    Ok all resolved now. It turns out my PC was set up in a RAID config, but somehow the BIOS settings had reset and the SATA config had reverted to IDE, not RAID - no idea how though...

    Anyway, amending this back to RAID and restarting means Windows boots as normal.

    Many thanks for all the help and advice. Turned out to be a two second fix. Apparently this is the most common cause for the "Missing Operating System" message, so anyone else, look here first!
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 592
    WIN7 Ultimate 64bit
       #24

    rjs1974 said:
    Greg,

    Yes both HDs are shown in the BIOS, and no, no RAID array. It seems the Win 7 partition has been corrupted - Startup repair said the table was corrupted, but Testdisk could not find any partition to fix....
    Tut, tut

    Gregrocker clocked you @ the 16th hurdle - good on him!
      My Computer


 
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