WIN7 won't boot. What should I do before trying a clean install?

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  1. Arc
    Posts : 35,373
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 64-bit
       New #21

    ibex said:
    To check the disk layout I went to the custom install options because this lays out all the partitions.
    size free
    Disk 0 Part 1 100.0 MB 70.0 MB System
    Disk 0 Part 2 74.4 GB 5.5 GB Primary

    Disk 1 Partition1: UserData 500.0 GB 466.0 GB System
    Disk 1 Partition2: ProgFiles 500.0 GB 409.8 GB Primary
    Disk 1 Partition3: Backup 397.3 GB 21.1 GB Primary

    There are now 2 System partitions. I presume I need to change that?

    and when I do a Dir of each drive I have found that
    C: nothing found and no size info
    D: 500GB free
    E: 5GB free
    F: 440GB free
    G: 22GB free

    So E: = Disk 0 part 2
    D: = Disk 1 part 1
    F: = Disk 1 part 2
    G: = Disk 1 part 3

    Early start at work tomorrow so I'm off for a while now.
    Disk0 partition 1 should be the system reserved .
    Disk0 partition 2 should be the traditional C drive.

    Remove disk 1 . Mark Disk0 partition 1 as active and run startup repair for 3 times.
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  3. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #22

    Arc said:
    Remove disk 1 . Mark Disk0 partition 1 as active and run startup repair for 3 times.
    If by the third attempt Startup Repair does not start Win7 then boot free Partition Wizard to run the Rebuild MBR step given in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot .

    If possible post back a camera snap of the PW drive map and listings.
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  4. ibex
    Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1
    Thread Starter
       New #23

    I removed drive 1, made disk0 partition 1 the active partition and ran startup repair 3 times.

    The first time ran for 5+ minutes but could not repair the disk.
    I rebooted and ran a 2nd time. This ran for about 20 seconds and said it could detect a problem.
    I rebooted and ran a 3rd time. This also ran for about 20 seconds and said it could detect a problem.

    I burnt the partition wizard ISO to a CD and rebooted the PC from that CD. The menu screen to boot from CD or local came up and I choose to boot from CD.
    A whole stack of text came up starting with
    Loading /boot/bzImage
    and eventually stopped at:
    "[<c0a19046>] kernel_thread_helper+0x6/0x10
    and then stopped there. It has been there for at east 5 minutes now so I guess it's not going to boot partition wizard.

    I tried this at least 3 times with the same result each time.
    Ian
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  6. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #24

    ibex said:
    Loading /boot/bzImage
    Hi Ian,

    The above text is correct and indicates PW is attempting to boot. The later kernel message is a problem as you saw. I'm not sure this will fix the issue, but can you try and burn another CD/DVD but at a slower 4x speeds, and see if that works?

    Regards,
    Golden
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  7. ibex
    Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1
    Thread Starter
       New #25

    I tried this CD in another PC and it worked fine - booted all the way up to the Partition Wizard menu.

    I will try burning a new one at a lower speed.
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  8. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #26

    Hi Ian,

    Thats OK - that indicates the CD was burn't correctly, there is no need for another burn. Can you humour me and "burn" the ISO to a bootable USB thumb drive instead, and then try and boot off that if your BIOS has th option to boot from a USB HDD? I'm trying to rule out an issue with the CD drive, although I admit I'm taking a stab in the dark here.

    Use this tool to create a bootable USB drive:

    Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux

    Regards,
    Golden
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  10. ibex
    Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1
    Thread Starter
       New #27

    Allright - I'll give this a try.
    I have already burnt a DVD instead and had exactly the same problem.
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  11. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #28

    OK Ian. Let us know.

    Regards,
    Golden
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  12. Arc
    Posts : 35,373
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 64-bit
       New #29

    Ian I guess you should opt for a clean install. You have tried a lot, a clean install will take much less time and effort.

    None of your user data will be lost . Follow the tutorial Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console to move all data out of the drive you will format clean (disk0) to the other one (disk1). Then go to a clean install as described in Clean Install Windows 7 .

    For detailed way to get a factory OEM installation, follow Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 .


    If anyhow the disk management window could be seen, there will not be so much troubles.
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  13. ibex
    Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1
    Thread Starter
       New #30

    Thanks everyone.
    I tried creating a bootable USB but I'm not sure that it worked.
    I had to pick a linux distro for the install so I choose the very last one in the list and picked the pwhe7 iso however I can't get the PC to boot from it. The PC has options for all sorts of USB devices but not just a plain USB and none of the options I tried got me anywhere.

    I'll give the clean install a try. Stay tuned for more questions as I work my way through that tomorrow night.

    Thanks everyone.
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