Drive c:\ recovery failed, -> bootmgr is missing, & will not boot from

hello,

sorry to trouble everyone, wondering if anyone can please to help. it would be much appreciated. i have tried reading all over in quite a number of other places, but cannot find solution.
i have a sony vpce vaio notebook vpceb2g4e, originally owned by my german girlfriend. original windows language was in german, but my better language is english, even though both not my first or second language.

when i inherited the notebook, there were problems with the display - pixelated is not the word, but lot of strange lines that pop up on the screen, which i could not get rid of through system restore, amd (or other) driver updates, etc. so combined with the difficulty of trying to understand this and other windows identified problems in german, i thought to do a "c:\ drive partition recovery", and restore the notebook back to its "original, factory-installed settings". please note there is only the c:\ drive on the computer, no other partitions.

for sony notebooks, it is possible to recover c drive from the "vaio recovery wizard" or the "recovery center". i used the recovery center and followed the instructions given exactly. before i did so though, i first created a set of recovery dvds, also following the instructions given in the receovery center.

so during the c drive recovery, i followed all the steps as instructed, and the notebook indicated that it was if i remember correctly that it was in the process of reformatting and recovering to original factory settings, etc. then suddenly, the computer stops running and shuts down. please note that i had the battery in the notebook, was fully charged, and also had the power cord connected. i think the progress showed about 70% completed at that point of sudden shutdown.

thinking this was just a short or some strange occurence, i waited a while and then turned on the computer again. but computer powers up and shows, "bootmgr is missing, press ctrl+alt+del" (translated from german, of course). when i tried "ctrl+alt+del", it comes back to the same screen. repeatedly.

following some other help blogs, i press f10 on power up, which gives a blackened screen that says:

"windows-startoptions edit(? maybe the better translation is menu?) for vaio-receovery center start"
"path: \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe

"[ /MININT RDIMAGEOFFSET=8192 RDIMAGELENGTH=3161088 RDPATH=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\sources\boot.wim"

options at bottom of page are "enter" or "cancel". when i press "enter", the notebook goes to a page that shows "recovering c drive" with progress bar. and again after about 68-70%+, it shuts down on its own again.

when i press "cancel", it takes me to a "windows start options" page that says "choose the highlighted process/program to start - in this case, there is only 1 option, and that is the option for "recovery center". below that there is the standard language that tells me that i can f8 to get to ABOS/ABOM.
when i press "enter" on the highlight, the notebook then tried to run the recovery again, and again, fails at about the 70% mark.

further to this, or more accurately, after giving up on this, i tried to simply insert the recovey dvds i had created, and that process goes well, with the system recognizing the first dvd, then telling me to insert the second dvd, then the third dvd, and then again, same result, sudden shut down.

can anyone help, please???

What sometimes works with failed Factory Recovery is to wipe the hard drive first with Diskpart Clean Command
then try running the disks again.

But that is still the inferior factory install so you'll be better off all around if you instead do the vastly superior Clean Reinstall Windows 7. Be sure to read the Special Note for Sony Owners at the end.

If all these still fail then test the hard drive with the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan, which also BTW has the quick wipe function on it and also on the Partition Wizard disk which can check the HD.

hi g-rocker,

thank you for your post. can i ask you what exactly is the problem?

A) i understand the boot manager is missing/corrupt (whatever the cause for it). so without the bootmanager, the os already on the notebook (pre-installed windows 7) is unable to boot up.
but doesnt this also mean that because the boot manager is missing from the computer (sort of like a missing driver), if i try booting from the recovery dvds, since there is no boot manager to boot up the dvd, that the dvds will also not boot?
or is my understanding wrong?

B) and how does a command-prompt clean disk help to replace the boot manager? i ask this because if i use the "clean all command", then for sure the existing windows installation, if it is still there (because the clean install i tried died 70% way through (so i don't actually know if it is still in there), will be cleaned away. then i am only left with the dvds as recovery means. and if those do not work, then i have to repurchase a new windows os.

also, if the command-prompt clean disk does not replace/renew the boot manager, then how will i be able to get the recovery booted back from the dvds? isn't the solution, to a lay person's understanding to find a way to fix/replace the boot manager? then i can try the clean install from the recovery partition again first? and then if that is not possible, from dvds after, again?

hello g-rock,

thank you for reply. ok, i went ahead with your instruction of drive wipe as per the link you provided. there are however, a couple of things that i could use your help or clarification on, please:

1) when i bring up command prompt, instead of c:\windows\system32>....., i get x:\windows\system32>...
is this ok? if i am not mistaken, x:\ is for the recovery drive? am i still on the right path? (see attached picture)

2) disk 0, the only disk available shown (which should be correct, because there is only c:\ on the notebook), shows free space of 0 bytes. is this correct? is it that it shows this (possibly) because during the attempted clean install of c:\ previously, the drive was being reformatted, and since for some unknown reason, the notebook shut down, therefore the drive was not properly/fully formatted, resulting in 0 available space?

3) according to the instructions in the link, after i do a "clean" or a "clean all", i have to create a new partition or volume, again going back to command prompt to do this, is this correct?

sorry for so many questions. thank you for indulging me.. and my ignorance.

I cannot translate the results of Diskpart shown but if it says the disk was cleaned then proceed with the commands as obviously they are working.

If there are problems with the install then Troubleshoot Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums.

Otherwise stick closely to the steps in Clean Reinstall Windows 7 until it is set up and running perfectly, then capture a Win7 backup image so you never need to reinstall again. Maintain the install following only those steps and you will keep a perfect install for as long as you do.