Time now for that long avoided re-install of win7 on laptop

"Boot" is another listing like Active, Primary etc which tells us in PW that it is the partition holding the boot files and actively booting Win7. In Disk Mgmt it is called "System," while "Boot" is the presently booted partition - in PW "System" is the presently booted partition, which you don't have since Win7 is not booted.

All you need to do is ask back for these questions rather than frustrate yourself searching for any other than simple definitions. This is the top tech site on the web (ever) so you can find out pretty much everything you want to know here. Most of the repair and install regimens for Win7 were developed here in beta.

It is strange that in BIOS setup the same HD listed as first HD to boot is also "excluded" which is an unusual settiing and may be the problem. What choices do you get when you arrow down to either of those HD listings and press Enter?

Check also on the Advanced BIOS tab for more HD listings. If both HD's are not available for selection under BIOS Boot Priority order, it is normally because one is already selected as first to boot HD elsewhere under Storage, SATA or other devices.

If you don't have another Win7 machine of the same bit version to burn a Repair CD, then easiest is to burn the latest official ISO file for your licensed version of Win7 to DVd or flash stick using the tool provided in Step 6 of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start. MS in their wisdom restricts the Repair CD download more than the actual OS download, so it is only licensed to be sold by EasyBCD online.

gregrocker said:

"Boot" is another listing like Active, Primary etc which tells us in PW that it is the partition holding the boot files and actively booting Win7. In Disk Mgmt it is called "System," while "Boot" is the presently booted partition - in PW "System" is the presently booted partition, which you don't have since Win7 is not booted.

OK, so since the same line that shows the 200mb partition to be active also says 'System' at the front of that line, then its all good ... or what

[...]

It is strange that in BIOS setup the same HD listed as first HD to boot is also "excluded" which is an unusual settiing and may be the problem. What choices do you get when you arrow down to either of those HD listings and press Enter?

Pressing enter has no response at all. It appears all you can do is move them up or down with + or - keys. And you can press 'x' to exclude them from boot order.

Check also on the Advanced BIOS tab for more HD listings. If both HD's are not available for selection under BIOS Boot Priority order, it is normally because one is already selected as first to boot HD elsewhere under Storage, SATA or other devices.

I don't see anything like that... nothing about hdd under advanced column. I think it was set the way it is in the 'Boot' column, by the manufacturer because it has appeared like that since early days.

I did notice in the 'Main' column where you can see what port each device is associated with, if you scroll to the hdd and press enter, you can finally see how the ID numbers shown in the 'BOOT' column are different. They are somewhat abbreviated when displayed in "Boot". But in "Main" they appear like so:

[HTS725050A9A364 - (S1)]
[HTS725050A9A364 - (S5)]

So, everything after the first paren (In 'Boot' column) is elided (not visible) making them appear to be identical.
Still no real indication which should be first. But PW shows the one with the boot partition so appears good right?

I asked earlier if any one could describe a happenstance where the booting disk could get changed without human intervention to purposely change it. Is that a likely scenario? If not then we can probably assume it is still as it should be.

If you don't have another Win7 machine of the same bit version to burn a Repair CD, then easiest is to burn the latest official ISO file for your licensed version of Win7 to DVd or flash stick using the tool provided in Step 6 of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start. MS in their wisdom restricts the Repair CD download more than the actual OS download, so it is only licensed to be sold by EasyBCD online.

I think the EasyBCD has changed since you last had a look. On there site it tell you NOT to use EasyBCD for this kind of problem, and points you to their download called "EasyRE for Windows 7". It costs $19. I tracked it down, downloaded and burned it. It will not boot this problem machine. Instead it produces this error:

"No suitable display device found, booting blind" and that is as far as it gets.

So all their praise of what a great disc it is seemed a little misplaced since I have successfully booted the problem OS with PW, Acronis, SystemRecoverCD and a Win7 install disc. And yet their disc, the EasyRE failed miserably.

I did test it on a working win 8.1 OS and it booted that one. So not a bad burn or corrupt download.

It is a very small content disc... 58mb, so I'm guessing there are not enough tools or drivers etc on it to do much. Not such a terrific deal when all is said and done. And yet at
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

they claim:

Download EasyRE, our bootable repair & recovery

• Fix all boot errors
• Resolve startup BSODs
• Restore registry and settings
• Clean up virus infections
• and more advanced features

Well . . . , not so far.

I've written to them about it so maybe they will know some gimmick.

I CAN boot with the Windows 7 install disc I got from the pointers in this thread, but was hoping still to maybe figure out what is actually wrong first.

So, I can boot with PW... should I do something with that?
I can boot with Win7 full install disc, should I do something (I mean besides re-install [yet]) with that?

Kaktussoft said:

Can you boot to recovery environment->command prompt:

Code:

bcdedit /enum all >c:\bcd.txt

Put c:\bcd.txt to usb stick and post the file to sevenforums from a working computer

If I could do that, we would not be having this hefty thread.

I guess one can get there from a Full install disc. But I'm not sure how that works either.

But just trying to get somewhere booting the machine with no bootup disc; I first see an image where I can press f2 to get to bios. After that it goes to that error message that started the thread.

A further report: Booting from the install disc, I ran 'Startup repair'. It found no problems whatsoever

Kaktussoft said:

Please let someone make a system repair disk. Or download a win7 install disk. You need one of them to troubleshoot!
I didn't read the whole thread but "advanced boot options" ->"repair your computer" is in the list? Is that option working?
Advanced Boot Options

I haven't been able to get to the screen you are talking about

Update: I currently have the problem computer booted with a linux boot disc (SystemRescueCD) and am copying certain data from C:\Users to a second hdd.

There is some more stuff under C:\ I will be getting so will be hung up with this for a bit.

I'm not quite clear what you are asking when I boot with the Install Disc. I don't recall the exact selection but it found the OS and offered to Install windows or Repair startup problems.

I chose the repair item. After following the dialog, I was told there were no problems found. I was able to look at a lengthy list with many many tests that had competed successfully.

On another visit, and I don't recall just how I got there, but I got a command line. However is was on the startup disc at X:\
I didn't really see what I could do there, I guess I could probably mount my OS, but did not know how.

About pressing f8, with no Install boot disc it leads to the error that started the thread
So is F8 also an option when booting from Install disc? I didn't try that, assuming it is.