bootmgr missing after acer system restore

luckyc1p9 · 25 Dec 2015

computer specs:
acer aspire one 721 series
windows 7 home premium 64 bit
amd athlon II neo processor k 125 (1.7 ghz)
2 gb ddr3 memory
6-cell li-ion battery
(that's pretty much all i can get off the back of the laptop, sorry)

so, this morning, i woke up one of our laptops from sleep mode and was met with a blue screen. so, after starting it back up (i tried to check the dump files, but my access was denied), i decided to do a system restore, retaining the user files- something i'd done several times before on that pc without any issues. however, partway through backing up the files, the computer suddenly shut off, and when i started it back up, the only text on the screen was 'bootmgr missing. press ctrl+alt+delete to restart.' i tried that a few times, but nothing changed. i was able to get into bios by pressing f2, but i'm not sure what the password is, as i wasn't the one who set up this computer originally.
right now, my priority is seeing if i can get the files off the hard disk (i think i have a hard drive interface somewhere, if i can find it) but i'd really appreciate help getting windows 7 at least functioning again. thanks!

ICIT2LOL · 25 Dec 2015

Hello and welcome Lucky mate if getting the data back is the priority try this
BOOTABLE UBUNTU
Make a bootable Ubuntu disk Get Ubuntu | Download | Ubuntu
Set the BIOS to boot from the optical when the machine boots it will show you a screen with TRY or INSTALL > select TRY not INSTALL
When it is finished - it takes very little time you will get a screen like in the pic .
Open the drive you want > User and dig down until you get to the data / settings you may be able to copy / paste the material you want to an external source or other installed drive doing this.
I am not sure if it will but I have recovered tons of data etc using this method both on "dead" or just plain drives that you cannot get data from using Windows.

This does not involve Windows as it runs in the Ubuntu OS but remember use TRY not RUN. By the by there is a Linux Mint bootable stick that will do the same sort of job but for what it is worth making a disk/CD is easier and simpler to do (my opinion).

Get the data back and we can carry on from there.

luckyc1p9 · 26 Dec 2015

thanks for the info. i made a bootable usb since the laptop doesn't have a disc slot, and dug around and found the backdoor password for bios, and was able to get ubuntu up and running and copy all the files i needed onto another usb. oddly enough, while poking around the computer, i found the bootmgr file still intact. any ideas for getting windows 7 up and running again? thanks again.
edit: hold on, i might actually try making a bootable usb for windows- i've had quite a few issues with this pc in the past and i believe that that worked once.
edit 2: well, suffice it to say that i'm feeling a little dumb right now. i tried opening the recovery options again on a whim, this time picking the option that would wipe the disk, and it's working so far. welp, i guess i'll have no way to know if everything i did was useless or not, but at least if this happens again i'll know how to salvage the files, at least. thanks for the help, though!

ICIT2LOL · 26 Dec 2015

Ok Lucky I wioll have a think about it still though it is good to know that you can get at that data.:)