New system....CDBOOT: Couldn't find BOOTMGR

LucRad · 22 Nov 2009

Hi all,

I have searched high and low for this answer with little luck on how to fix. I have built a new system (first ever) machine posts no problem (i think) I can get into BIOS and it sees both HD and DVD drive. I have boot priority set to DVD. When I put the Win7 disk in I get this error "CDBOOT: Couldn't find BOOTMGR"

I have booted the computer with the disc that came with the Mobo and it sees it. I have put the Win7 disc in another computer and know it works.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Luciano

torrentg · 22 Nov 2009

Hi.

You probably burnt the DVD wrong and made a data disk.

You need to burn it as .iso instead.

LucRad · 22 Nov 2009

it's a brand new out of the box disc (Win7 Pro)

Tews · 22 Nov 2009

Even though you were able to boot another machine with your current disc is no guarantee that it will work on yours.. You have built yourself a very high end machine and they tend to be very finicky... I would re-burn the ISO file (as an image file ) at the slowest possible speed. I would also remove all but one stick of RAM before attempting to install... Let us know how it comes out..

torrentg · 22 Nov 2009

lol Tews and I must not be doing so well with reading lately...heh Tews?

I missed this part - "I have put the Win7 disc in another computer and know it works."
and Tews missed this - "it's a brand new out of the box disc (Win7 Pro)"

So LucRad, maybe you'll have better luck if you boot to a USB key instead. You can make one with the DVD you have on the other pc. To boot to USB, sometimes you have to set it to boot to HDD and then pick the proper USB key. And also sometimes, you can have boot choice instead, simply by hitting f8 at startup.

No matter what you do though, if there is a setting in the bios for Plug and Play OS - set it to yes (it's on all Asus boards so look for it - disabled as default.) And you might have luck booting to DVD if you change the AHCI setting.

Tews · 22 Nov 2009

I blame it all on old age and the fact that I cant find my glasses...

SIW2 · 22 Nov 2009

Hi luc,

As has already been mentioned, the first thing to try is changing the disk controller in BIOS from AHCI to ATA - see if that helps.

See if there any driver updates for your mobo and dvd drive firmware from the mfr. websites.

Otherwise a bootable usb stick may be the answer - try the free WinToFlash.

WinToFlash - Install Windows from usb - Home page

Also, if you can boot a Vista dvd - boot to the cmd prompt on that - take the Vista dvd out. Put 7 dvd in and run the setup.exe that is inside the 7 dvd sources folder.

Hope it helps.

LucRad said:

Hi all,

I have searched high and low for this answer with little luck on how to fix. I have built a new system (first ever) machine posts no problem (i think) I can get into BIOS and it sees both HD and DVD drive. I have boot priority set to DVD. When I put the Win7 disk in I get this error "CDBOOT: Couldn't find BOOTMGR"

I have booted the computer with the disc that came with the Mobo and it sees it. I have put the Win7 disc in another computer and know it works.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Luciano

LucRad · 22 Nov 2009

OK so far no luck..have ruled out bad DVD player as it ran other discs.

Have changed my "Storage Configuration" to IDE and AHCI. There is a third option RAID which I have not tried.
Have chnaged my cJ-Micron eSATA/PATA Controller Mode from IDE to ACHI several times
Have changed SATA cable
Removed all but one ram chip
removed sound card
unplugged and reseated sata, power cables (even tried a few different ports)

still stumped despite my best research

mikkie · 22 Nov 2009

There is nothing wrong with your hardware. It is a conflict between the boot code on the Win7 disk and your hardware. For some reason this Win7 bootcode does not like some motherboards. Go to this site UNAWAVE - Code 5 Error whilst booting Windows 7 DVD and DO EXACTLY what he has laid out and you will load Win7. You will need a Vista disc, but not the whole install disc. Go here for that: How to Make a Windows Vista Repair Disk If You Don’t Have One :: the How-To Geek Take your time setting up the ISO disk and it will work. If I can do it (which is saying a lot) you can too! BTW, my motherboard was not one that was listed in the Unawave fix, so the problem affects others as well.

LucRad · 22 Nov 2009

Ok I created a vista repair disk but the instructions on the top link "unawave" aren't the same as the version of imgburn that i have so took me off track and can't get it right....uggggg....grrrrrr