Repeated boot sector loss on SSD Windows moved to F: partition?


  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
       #1

    Repeated boot sector loss on SSD Windows moved to F: partition?


    First time ive posted on this forum, but Ive gotten losts of help from it in the past. Hopefully you guys can help me or give me some ideas on a problem im having.


    Ive had this computer for about a year at this point but starting 3 months ago I have had to reinstall my operating system 3 times do to the SSD drive failing to boot. This just happened for the 3rd time last night and Im out of ideas and to keep my sanity I need to find the root of the problem before I put another OS on the drive.

    On start up the first 2 times the computer said it needed to repair the start up and just ran startup repair, but just hung and never did anything but said searching for problems. This time im getting a "Boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible error".

    I ran the windows disk and selected repair.

    The windows installation is now on F: where it was on c:

    My system was windows partition was c:
    RAID 0 Raptor drives where D:
    Media 320GB Seagate drive on E:
    DVD F: or G: I cant really remember now.

    The drives are all visable in bios and I am booting from the SSD Drive

    In windows repair I tried dong sysrestore, but it says I have no restore points which I know I had some.
    Start up repair says my boot sector is corrupted I have run it multiple times.
    I have tried to run bootrec it was all the commands where successful, but when I run the /scanos command it says no windows partitions found.

    Another thing that is scary is when I try to get to the f: partition in the command console it says "the semaphore timeout period has expired."

    I tried running a chkdsk command on the F: where it says windows is and it says it cant run the command because the partition is RAW.

    I dont know what the deal is I even had mushkin DMA me a new SSD 3 weeks ago and the same problem cropped up again last night. I dont know if its bad cables or a bad raid controller on the Mobo or what, but 3 times losing the OS in 3 months is getting me frustrated. Any advice would be great Ive probably spent 30 or so hours trying to recover my OS over the last 3 months. If you need anymore info just ask. Thanks in advance.
      My Computer

  2.    #2

    Please post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image.

    Win7 should not be on F if you correctly booted the installer to Clean Install Windows 7 to the target SSD with all other HD's unplugged. Delete all partitions during the install at Steps 7 and 8.

    You have an unnecessary complication with RAID which confers no advantage and causes only problems with Win7. It isn't even Redundant which is the first letter in its name, since you'd lose all data if you lose one HD.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    I don't think I can get a screen shot of disk management because I can't get into the os not even safe mode.

    So the only solution is another installation of windows?

    Also the reason I have the drives set for raid 0 is so I can combine them into 1 volume it's mainly for game files so I'm not really worried about them being lost.

    The ssd has the important files and that is a stand alone drive.

    Would a picture of diskpart be of any help?
      My Computer

  4.    #4

    Make sure you have the latest firmware for the SSD, and look for drive diagnostics on the Downloads page.

    If you really want Win7 on the F drive (most users don't) and don't want to reinstall it correctly, then unplug all other HD's, confirm that F is Partition Marked Active then run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times

    If this fails everything else that can be done to repair unbootable Win7 is in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to do the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 (same for retail).
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    No I don't want my windows on the f: partition and that is the strange part on all 3 occasions I just boot up my computer and windows has moved from the c: partition over to the f: partition without me doing it at all. The only reason I know it's now on the f partition is that is what it says when I boot the windows disk and search for windows installations. All of the partitions have changed all around without me doing it.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4,466
    Windows 10 Education 64 bit
       #6

    The drive letters being different when you boot from the Windows DVD doesn't mean they have actually changed in the installed version of Windows. One doesn't correlate to the other. If you haven't already, double check your SATA cable to make sure it's firmly connected and hasn't come lose some how. If you have a spare I'd swap them out. Make sure the power connector is also firmly connected. I think I would run some diagnostics on that drive. You should be able to get utilities to do that right from the manufacturers web site.
      My Computer

  7.    #7

    Since Win7 is on F only in boot repair mode and this is normal, proceed with the steps I gave you in the last post to repair. Be sure to unplug all other drives first.

    The drive diagnostics tests are in the introduction to Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start.

    If you get the error messages trying to mark Active in Diskpart, use free Partition Wizard
    to Set Active partition -Partition Wizard Video Help.

    Then since you are using PW you can run Partition Wizard Rebuild MBR Video Help.

    If it still won't start run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    I just replaced the drive after crash number 2 so I'm thinking the drive is ok unless I got 2 bad ones from mushkin. Ill run those tests and wizard and ill let you guys know the results thanks for the help thus far.
      My Computer


 

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