Sudden fail to boot - possible partition issue? Win7 Ultimate 64bit

Hi all,

First time here. I've been reading through lots of issues and resolutions of failed boots.
I think I have a slightly unusual problem because some items aren't working.

I've disconnected all other drives and just have the primary Win7 (ultimate 64bit) drive and DVD drive connected.

The main bootable drive is a GPT drive (3TB and boots).
Issues started when I did a normal restart after seeing RAM usage was high.
Suddenly no booting into Windows - 0xc0000225 - the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

The Win7 repair disc I attempted to create from my work PC (also 64bit, but not ultimate edition) didn't work at all.
The Win7 install disc I inserted works - but the system repair options are unavailable because apparently it's a different version (SP1 through years of updates maybe?) I dunno.

Using SHIFT + F10 I get to the console, from where I've been following other posts' guidance on what to do.

If I go to DISKPART, I can find the 3 partitions on my GPT drive
Partition 1 System 100MB
Partition 2 Reserved 128MB
Partition 3 Primary 2794GB

However, after selecting partition 1 I am unable to mark it active because: "The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk"

If I list Vol, I can see that Vol0 is the Win7 CD, Vol 1 is drive C formatted as NTFS as one would expect, but Volume 2 (Now selected due to selecting the partition 1) is listed as FAT32? This seems weird. (Also has hidden attribute)

Using BootSect I can copy the boot files, only under force. (/nt60 /force /mbr)
But I am informed again it is a non mbr system.

Using Bootrec I can run fixmbr, fixboot and scanos, but when I try RebuildBCD it completes and is then unable to add the record to the boot list because:
"The requested system device cannot be found"

I've run CHKDSK /f on the drive.
I've also done SFC /Scannow - which eventually terminates with the message "there is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again."


Is it possible the FAT32 format is incorrect? It appears that the GPT disk is giving issues because of this?

I would really appreciate any help or insight as to what is going on and how to fix it.

(As an aside - I managed to get a USB repair 'disk' working to some degree - but the system repair could not find any entries of a windows installation - which I think points towards a partition issue? I ran the system repair utility form there about 20 times but to no avail - I read somewhere else that the USB could have driver issues and not work properly, and so that's why I've switched to the DVD.)

Thanks in advance for anything that would help - I really appreciate it!

FAT32 is the EFI partition, no? I am no good with EFI BIOS though.

Hi GokAy, thanks for replying.

It possibly could be - In my BIOS I see that my boot options are, in order:
1) P0: (Primary Hard disk)
2) IBA GE Slot 00C8 v1365
3) Windows Boot Manager
4) UEFI: (Primary Hard disk)
5) P2: (DVD Drive)

So there is a UEFI option...
But sadly yields the same result.
I just downloaded and used Hiren's boot cd - nothing helped but what's interesting is that when trying to start Win7 from three, it noted that BOOTMGR couldn't be found, and the boot partition wasn't set.

So it seems for some reason the GPT disk doesn't know where to boot from.
Somehow I need to manually reset it - but I'm not sure what will actually work?

Yes, you have a 100mb EFI System followed by a 128mb MSR partition which always means EFI install. There is no MBR or Active partition on EFI install.

Unfortunately there are also not much in the way of repair options we can offer except to reboot enough to get the Win7 disk to run Startup Repair.

Otherwise you can rescue your files to do a Clean Reinstall Windows 7 following those steps to get and keep a perfect install.

Hi Gregrocker, thanks for replying.
After searching more I definitely agree with you that its an EFI install on a GPT disk.

Is there any particular reason why the only real avenue is the startup repair? (I only ask as the startup repair disk I created from work is Win7 Enterprise, and that explains why it isn't allowing me the option) Does anyone have a link to a Win7 Ultimate 64 bit? I'm not sure if SP1/non-SP1.

As an aside - I used Hiren's boot cd and left partition wizard scanning overnight on a full scan - this morning it shows the attached image as a result - two large 3TB portions, and a number of 3mb boot sections.


If I select the top 3TB section - everything below greys out.
If I select the lower 3TB section, a few of the others grey out including the top 3TB section.

So what I'm wondering is - if I manage to recover the correct partitions, I think I need 3 of them;
the correct 3TB section (my work and data), and the correct FAT32 section (I *think* the top one) and the right boot portion (probably the earliest one on disk, from the time I installed win7 originally)
- could it possibly resolve?

Otherwise - I'd really appreciate any links to a Win7 Ultimate (maybe without SP1, or with SP1) iso disk images so that I can burn a new disc and use the correct startup repair?
I tried to extract my Win7 key using an ProduKey in Hiren's boot cd but it won't detect the HardDrive from the Mini XP shell, and so I can't get the key out either.

Thanks

You can download the ISO from Microsoft Software Recovery (search google) and download with your retail key.

You can make a Universal Installer quite easily. Just follow this Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc - Create

Thanks Gokay, I had no idea it was still possible to create one with both 32 and 64 bit.
I notice that the ISO image links are all dead - I'm assuming the only route is either the Microsoft Link or OEM for obtaining one through official channels?

I notice they were recently pulled from the link in that guide.

They are not valid anymore. Only official way is to have a retail or system builder's product key. OEM doesn't work.
You can download both 32bit and 64bit ISOs from Microsoft Software Recovery