Windows 7 won't boot, trying to recover MBR! Don't want to lose import


  1. Mr Davo
    Posts : 173
    Windows 7 (XP, by Virtualization)
       New #1

    Windows 7 won't boot, trying to recover MBR! Don't want to lose import


    Hi Everyone,

    A friend of mine experienced a BSOD crash on their Windows 7 computer. Unfortunately I was not in a position to see the exact message that was presented, however in my experience this doesn't always make a great deal of difference. After offering to fix my friend's computer I quickly discovered that one of the installed RAM sticks is faulty. I replaced both RAM sticks, and tested - all is fine on the RAM front. However the hard drive also appears to be corrupt. Windows 7 will not boot, and I have tried the following to rectify the situation:

    1). Booted into Windows Recovery (using the W7 installation disk)



    2). Windows didn't detect an Operating System install, so I made my way to the Command Prompt



    3). Executed a number of commands that would normally fix the MBR and other boot related issues, notice after both the bootrec.exe /fixmbr & the bootrec.exe /fixboot commands reported "...completed successfully"! Then I issued the bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd command and Windows 7 promptly informed me that it couldn't find any Windows installations...



    4). I then considered the possibility that the wrong partition may be set active on the disk, so I tried swapping the Active partitions around (and once this didn't achieve anything I switched back!)



    Having had no success with the Recovery options I physically removed the hard disk and connected it to a docking bay -

    *** Whilst the docking bay is connected to Windows 7 (64 bit) I get the following message ***



    *** When I then use an XP Virtual Machine, and connect the drive to it I get a slightly more promising message ***



    I still really want to recover this disk, and boot into Windows 7 from it. There is quite a bit of personal data on this disk that my friend cannot replace. Any suggestions on how I might go about fixing this will be greatly appreciated.

    Kind Regards,

    Davo
      My Computer
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  3. Britton30
    Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       New #2

    Did you try running the Startup Repair? Perhaps 3 times.
      My Computer
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  4. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #3

    Code:
    chkdsk/f  c:
chkdsk/f  d:
    No errors? all repaired? If repaired ... run it again.

    Code:
     
sfc  /scannow  /offbootdir=c:\  /offwindir=c:\windows
    post results

    Has C folders called windows, program files etc? It looks as nothing is gone?
    What error on normal boot?
      My Computer
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  6. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #4

    Code:
    diskpart
list vol
select disk 0
select part 1
detail part
    post output
      My Computer
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  7. Britton30
    Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       New #5

    Since OP can't boot he can't run cmd.
      My Computer
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  8. Kaktussoft
    Posts : 10,796
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bits 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #6

    Britton30 said:
    Since OP can't boot he can't run cmd.
    He can in win7 recovery environment
      My Computer
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  10. Britton30
    Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       New #7

    Kaktussoft said:
    Britton30 said:
    Since OP can't boot he can't run cmd.
    He can in win7 recovery environment
    Oh, I see, I missed where you mentioned the RE.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

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