Multi-Boot Nightmares

First run through of Startup Repair I get the same issue as before:

Problem event name : StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: Unknown
Problem Signature 04: 157
Problem Signature 05: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 06: 1
Problem Signature 07: BadDriver

When I check the Startup Repair log, all tests completed successfully (including Boot status etc.) except for:

Root Cause Found:
------------------
A recent driver installation or upgrade may be preventing the system from starting.

Repair action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x57

I'll try and rerun after reboot and will then try the 'bootmgr is missing' fix mentioned previously, unless I should try asomething else. I'm starting to wonder if, on this particular disk the issue might not be boot/MBR related, but I'm no expert.

Jules

OK - after 2nd and 3rd run throughs of Startup Repair, it tells me Startup Repair could not detect a problem.

However, when I then try and boot into Windows the situation is exactly as before: I get the Windows logo, short wait and where I would normally get my login screen I get:

'autochk program not found - skipping autocheck'

Followed by a blue screen.

Will try the bootmanager is missing fix, and then perhaps a system restore from the Windows boot page, I'll also try booting in safe mode, but I doubt any of these things will make a difference.

Wondering if I should give up on this volume for now, and see if I can get my clone to work properly on its own.

Jules

Thanks Bare Foot

A couple of things:

1. When I run Bootrec /RebuildBcd, it says:

'Total identified windows installations: 0'

Does this mean it's still not seeing my Windows volume propery?

2. When I run sfc /scannow (using the command prompt from the recovery environment), I get:

'There is a system repair pending which requires a reboot ....'

And the same message reappears after each reboot. Should I keep running it?

Thanks again

Jules

No worries Bare Foot - appreciate all your help.

Safe mode doesn't help - same blue screen, with classpnp.sys the last thing on screen. 'Last known good configuration' gives me the same autochk error.

Time to try the other disk I guess.

Jules

I removed my original Windows 7 drive and replaced it with the drive which has the clone on it.

After running Startup Repair 3 times I was able to boot into Windows (prior to that I got a Boot mgr missing error). However, it looks like my Windows 7 clone volume is corrupt. I get 'preparing desktop' for an age, and then a blank blue desktop with no taskbar and no icons. Maybe Norton's 'copy disk' function doesn't create a proper bootable OS volume.

I suppose I'm pretty much hosed, but if anybody thought it was worth me trying to clone my original Windows volume again, to replace the new volume which is corrupt but does at least boot, it would save me about 4 days of installation work. Then again, maybe the original volume is broken too.

None of it makes much sense to my addled brain.

Thanks for any help.

Jules

Hold on - looks like the new volume has called itself Drive H - that's probably why it's not working.

Is there an easy way to change the drive letter back to C in the recovery environment?

Thanks

Jules

Mmm ... used diskpart in the startup recovery environment and it was already set to C, yet when it boots into windows it's set to H. So I reset it using 'assign letter=' but it's still booting up as H.

Also tried changing it from the command prompt which I can just about get to in my dodgy windows volume, but it won't let me change drive letters on the current boot volume.

Please forgive my ongoing ramblings.

Jules

OK - found a registry hack which changed Drive H to Drive C. Windows on this cloned volume now appears to boot correctly. Not totally confident about how robust it is as an OS but will try and give it a spin.

Now need to replace my other drives and make sure this doesn't screw up the boot sequence. Presumably if I leave the other drives out of the BIOS boot list for now, I should be safe. Feel like I'm in partial solution wilderness, but I guess a seemingly working clone is better than nothing at all.

Jules

PS. Any tips on absolute failsafe cloneing of the OS volume, to use as an alternate boot partition?