Hdd gone-ish, trying to repair partitions.

jumanji · 25 May 2014

Yes, I would also like the snapshots to be uploaded to SevenForums server so that all can see. ( Since I was able to see - though with much less clarity - I did not bother about it.)

Also upload the snapshot of how your drive looks on PW main screen. As greg pointed out it may be necessary to make the System Reserved partition active if it is not already. You can check and do it with Partition Wizard.

Try the command bootrec.exe /fixmbr (including the .exe after bootrec)and check whether it fixes your problem. ( If you type only bootrec /fixmbr, the file cannot be found.)

Since Greg may have already gone to sleep and a direct guidance may not be available till he comes alive, in the meantime you can also create the AVG Rescue CD as in How To Restore The Master Boot Record | AVG Forums and try to restore the MBR if it looks easier for you. I think that would also eliminate any virus and will also give you other tools, should a data recovery exercise becomes necessary.

Kalorvoe · 25 May 2014

Thanks guys. Will try the steps shown with malware bytes/avg etc and report back. It may take me a little while to find someone who I can get to burn an ISO. Stay tuned.

jumanji · 25 May 2014

You already have Partition Wizard. What prevents you from running it again, take a snapshot of Partition Wizard Main screen that shows your drive and upload it? That would atleast confirm that the partition table is intact and you have to deal with MBR fix only.

Again I do not understand. You already tried bootrec /fixmbr. Again what prevents you trying the command bootrec.exe /fixmbr instead?

Kalorvoe · 25 May 2014

Ok. Here is the main partition wizard screen:

Hdd gone-ish, trying to repair partitions.-image.jpg

Startup repair / command prompt / bootrec.exe /fixmbr gives
"The system cannot find the path specified".

Kalorvoe · 25 May 2014

(My phone seems to be having trouble attaching a second photo per post, it's overwriting the first)

gregrocker · 25 May 2014

There is a discrepancy between the Recovery Wizard output which is only 25% completed in the screenshot showing Unallocated Space and PW drive map showing the partitions intact. Did you actually complete Partition Recovery.

If the Partitions are intact then everything that can possibly be done is here for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start. I would skip nothing since the boot-time AV scans will assure the infection is cleaned up and it may not repair until cleaned up.

The steps include the full set of bootrec commands and lead up to if necessary rescuiing your data to do the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which is the same for retail.

If you have data that isn't backed up then you can attempt to rescue it first using Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console with your existing Win7 disk, the AVG Rescue disk Jumanji suggested which can also do the bootable AV scan, or Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition 11.0 Free.

Then do the bootable AV scan, check System Files, confirm the Partition Marked Active
to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times. If this didn't start it I would wipe with Diskpart Clean Command to do the reinstall. You may wish to complete all the repair steps.

Kalorvoe · 25 May 2014

Ok I'll follow the steps. Thanks for your time.

gregrocker · 25 May 2014

There is also no way to see if System Reserved is marked System Active since the labels in the PW drive map screenshot are cut off. System flag means boot files are intact, Active flag points to the partition intended to boot the OS which will not boot without either.

If not then that may be your problem so confirm that SysReserved is Partition Marked Active using PW to rightclick Modify>Set to Active, OK., then highlight the disk, from Disk menu Rebuild MBR, OK, Apply both steps. Finally if Win7 wont start run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

If these fail proceed with the other steps in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start

jumanji · 25 May 2014

Check whether the System Reserved partition is active --- That is a very good point,Greg, which I missed when I asked him to go ahead With Rebuild MBR. Even after that Rebuild MBR, his system did not boot, may be because we did not check it.

When Rebuiild MBR is carried out after checking and making sure of the System Flag and active Flag, I am hoping he should be able to boot.( provided any virus that is preventing the MBR being written has been eliminated.) Let us see.

As far as running the partition recovery is concerned, he had completed both a Deep scan and the Quick Scan, selected the two existing partitions, checked that the Preview Map showed his full disk before Finishing. ( The preview map will remain unallocated until the right partitions are chosen to fill it) In both cases there was no pending operation because of which the partition table could not be rewritten. It was at this stage it dawned on me that if the Partititon Table is not corrupted, and the main Window of the PW shows the drive with all partitons (as against RAW or unallocated in case of Partition Table/MBR corruption) then there is no need to run Partition Recovery Wizard and even if one runs it PW will not rewrite the partition table since it already exists. It was then I ran that little experiment which confirmed it when first sector was examined with Sector Edit Tool of bootice..(my post #15)

With that I shall loop back to the first and second para of this post.

Kalorvoe · 25 May 2014

The System Reserved partition is marked as active.