Boot problem

netsoul · 13 Sep 2010

Dear folks,

I have 2 HDDs on my system.

Disk 0 has 3 partitions (1) W7 (another installation), (2) DATA, (3) EMPTY for Linux
Disk 1 has 3 partitions - (1) Win XP, (2) W7, (3) DATA

I boot from one disk or another (via switching the boot order in BIOS) depending on what system I need to use.

Yesterday, i was installing UBUNTU on Disk 0 partition 3, and when installation asked me for a SWAP partition I set Partition 1 of Disk 1 since I do not use WinXP anymore. Linux installation was successful and it marked that partition as SWAP type, however...

When I tried to boot W7 from Drive 1 it said "Operating System is missing".

I tried System Recovery's bootrec.exe /fixmbr /fixboot but it did not help.

What would you recommend to make it boot W7 from Disk 1 partition 2?

Thanks.

Bare Foot Kid · 13 Sep 2010

Hello netsoul, welcome to Seven Forums!

Will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire disk management drive map so we can see what you have going on and be sure to provide a list of what OS is on which partition/HDD.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.

How to Post a Screenshot in Seven Forums

netsoul · 13 Sep 2010

What I need is to make W7 boot from Disk 1 Partition X from the screenshot.

Bare Foot Kid · 13 Sep 2010

First off, Windows will not boot / is not able to boot from an "Extended, Logical" partition, you will have to convert the partition to a "Primary" partition; are there other partitions to the right of that "Extended" partition?

Have a look at Option Four in this tutorial at the link below to change from logical to primary, if it's possible depending on if there are other primaries on that same HDD, there can be only 4.

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

netsoul · 13 Sep 2010

"Is there another boot manager on the "Disk 1 partition 1"?"

Before I installed Ubuntu it was W7's boot loader. Now it's GRUB that also boot W7.

On Disk 2 partition 1 it was WinXP, then dual boot WinXP/W7. Now - nothing :-0

netsoul · 13 Sep 2010

Bare Foot Kid said:

First off, Windows will not boot / is not able to boot from an "Extended, Logical" partition, you will have to convert the partition to a "Primary" partition; are there other partitions to the right of that "Extended" partition?

Well, as I said before the WinXp/W7 dual boot loader was on Disk 2 partition 1 before I screwed up with SWAP space. I thought that I need to fix MBR on Disk 1 regrdles on what partition type W7 is installed...

There are no more partitions to the right. these are all that I have.

Bare Foot Kid · 13 Sep 2010

netsoul said:

"Is there another boot manager on the "Disk 1 partition 1"?"

Before I installed Ubuntu it was W7's boot loader. Now it's GRUB that also boot W7.

On Disk 2 partition 1 it was WinXP, then dual boot WinXP/W7. Now - nothing :-0

That's why I asked, that complicates everything, I have no experience with Grub so I'll have to let others help you from here on in, if handled the wrong way Grub will destroy everything.

gregrocker · 13 Sep 2010

You may have to move the data off the data partition and delete it before PW CD will allow you to Modify>Convert to Primary the logical partition containing Win7 on DISK1.

Once it's converted then Modify>Mark Active, set DISK1 as first to boot in BIOS setup, boot the Win7 DVD Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 separate times with reboots until it starts.

You would be much better having your Win7 installations on one HD booted separately via BIOS (the smart way) with Ubuntu on its own HD. GRUB will corrupt Win7. Look at the Move feature on PW CD to copy your Win7 partition onto the Win7 HD. Then use EASYBCD 2.0 to set up a Dual Boot on the same HD for both Win7.

netsoul · 13 Sep 2010

Well, I would not worry about GRUB since it's on another physical drive. As i said before - I boot from different drives by swithching the boot order in BIOS. So we need to treat my problematic disc as a separate isolated system.

netsoul · 13 Sep 2010

gregrocker said:

You may have to move the data off the data partition and delete it before PW CD will allow you to Modify>Convert to Primary the logical partition containing Win7 on DISK1.

Once it's converted then Modify>Mark Active, set DISK1 as first to boot in BIOS setup, boot the Win7 DVD Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 separate times with reboots until it starts.

You would be much better having your Win7 installations on one HD booted separately via BIOS (the smart way) with Ubuntu on its own HD. GRUB will corrupt Win7. Look at the Move feature on PW CD to copy your Win7 partition onto the Win7 HD.

Folks, I do not quite understand why you think that logical partition is a problem. before I screwed up with SWAP space the WinXP/W7 boot loader was on DISK 2 and booted XP from Partition 1 and W7 from partition 2. My understanding is that boot loader is in MBR regardless on what type of partition the WIN system is installed. Am I incorrect?