Windows 7 Won't Start or Reinstall, System Partition Missing?

[Product FRED]

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I'll spare the reintroduction

My specs:

ASUS M5A97 (AM3+) Mobo
AMD Phenom II X4 945
2 x 4GB G-Skill Ripjaw DDR3 RAM
PNY Nvidia GeForce 460 GTX 1GB
A 1TB SATA HDD (can't remember the brand)
A 160GB SATA HDD

My issue is, I'll try to boot into Windows 7 Ultimate x64, not a new installation at all, and I get the "Windows is Starting" screen and the little colored balls, but after a few seconds I get a very very quick blue screen and reboot before Windows even loads. There's no way I can read the blue screen error.

So I thought, "Let's just do a startup repair." That didn't work; it said:

Root cause found:
--------------------------
The partition table does not have a valid System Partition

Repair action: Partition table repair
Result: Completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
Time taken = 20632ms
---------------------
---------------------

So I pop in the Windows 7 installation DVD; it tells me there are missing CD/DVD drivers. I point it to the Windows 7 drivers directory on my primary HDD, it still can't find anything.

So I load up my copy of MSDaRT. Some tools load, but it tells me "Tool requires a supported offline OS" under many of the tools, and the ones that do start won't do anything at all because they can't "see" my Windows 7 installation.

Any suggestions? I have an external HDD reader, but I'd rather not have to wipe everything and do a clean reinstall. Maybe trying to fix the partitions with a G-Parted on an Ubuntu Live CD or something?

 

[Kaktussoft]

Press F8 on boot so you see http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/666-advanced-boot-options.html
and select

Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure​

Now you can see the BSOD if windows boots.
Post it please. But I think something is wrong with partition table​

How many partitions do you have on the disk, and how many disks?

in recovery environment->command prompt:

diskpart
list disk (now you see how many disks, detach any external drives first)
sel disk 0
list part (now you see the number of partitions)
sel part 0
det part
sel part 1
det part

etc.
Give me the number of disks please. and number of partitions on disks

So I pop in the Windows 7 installation DVD; it tells me there are missing CD/DVD drivers????
=>sounds impossible you're booting from dvd then! What's exact message?
How did you perform the startup repair... did you boot using F8?

 

[Product FRED]

Gimmie a second, I'm going to answer all of your questions. For now here's the blue screen error:

Off the top of my head, I have 2 hard drives. My primary (1TB) hard drive has a Windows 7 installation in it with the standard partitions, nothing fancy. The secondary hard drive only has some movies and music and stuff on it that I wouldn't want to lose if something like this were to happen. I'm getting you the detailed information though.

I tried the recovery environment both from the 7 installation on my HDD and also from the 7 install disc. I'll get you a picture of the error from the install disc in a second.

 

[Product FRED]

Funny, now that I re-ran Startup Repair, it says:

Root cause found: A patch is preventing the system from starting.

It seemed to see my installation this time though, labeling it as "E:\Windows" (during actual computer use it's the C:\ drive though).

 

[Kaktussoft]

E: or C: who cares! It is just a drive letter and can change and depends on which OS you're booted. Now you booted from DVD. But actually it's the same partition

Try to perform a "system restore" to a date PRIOR to problems.

 

[Product FRED]

This is so weird. Before, it wouldn't see any partitions, so system restore would error out, telling me it can't see a Windows installation. But now it does. I'm rolling back to the last Windows Update. Trust me, I would have done this before, but it wasn't seeing Windows. Now all of the sudden it does.

 

[Kaktussoft]

If it can't see win7 it doesn't know what to "system restore". Same issue with ms DART.
But this was the error
"The partition table does not have a valid System Partition"
And it was repaired with status 0x0 so succesfull. Sure you you tried another boot to recovery environment? It should see it then. I didn't fix it LOL

 

[Product FRED]

It sees all the restore points. I tried the one before the most recent and it failed after trying. So now I'm trying another one. Hopefully startup repair did something to make the system partition readable again so that MSDaRT will work. DaRT has much more tools.

 

[Kaktussoft]

There was something wrong with partition table (located in mbr).
Do this to check if all partitions are still there and no errors

in recovery environment:

diskpart
list vol
exit

Now you see the drive letters

chkdsk/f c:
chkdsk/f d:
chkdsk/f e:

every drive letter you see (except for cd/dvd) devices.
Any errors?

 

[Kaktussoft]

It sees all the restore points. I tried the one before the most recent and it failed after trying. So now I'm trying another one. Hopefully startup repair did something to make the system partition readable again so that MSDaRT will work. DaRT has much more tools.

Does "system restore" crash, or just doesn't fix the problem?

 

[gregrocker]

Work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot.

You must start with disinfecting because it may not repair if it is infected whether you think it is or not.

If you are even booting the Win7 DVD then it is not valid since the error prompting for drivers always means a bad installer. Use the latest in the blue link above. If you cannot repair then wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command before reinstall. But you must be able to boot disks to do the steps.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Funny, now that I re-ran Startup Repair, it says:

Root cause found: A patch is preventing the system from starting.

It seemed to see my installation this time though, labeling it as "E:\Windows" (during actual computer use it's the C:\ drive though).

There must be more info! Something like:

Root cause found:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
a patch is preventing the system from starting
Repair action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x4005

 

[Product FRED]

It sees all the restore points. I tried the one before the most recent and it failed after trying. So now I'm trying another one. Hopefully startup repair did something to make the system partition readable again so that MSDaRT will work. DaRT has much more tools.

Does "system restore" crash, or just doesn't fix the problem?

It failed twice on different restore points.

System Restore did no complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed.

Details:
An unspecified error occurred during System Restore. (0x800700b7)

Here's the partition information:


Volume 0 - F - DVD-ROM - 0 B - No Media
Volume 1 - C - Media - NTFS - 153GB - Healthy
Volume 2 - D - System Rese - NTFS - 392 MB - Healthy
Volume 3 - E - NTFS - 931 GB - Healthy

I'm going to run chkdsk on all of them.

===============

Bad installer? I'll re-download the official Windows 7 SP1 x64 ISO then and try that if I can't fix it without one. Thanks.

No chdsk errors by the way. I'll see if MSDaRT tools work now that the 7 installation is visible. In case it doesn't, I'm re-downloading the Windows 7 SP1 [legal] ISO.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Do you use norton internet security?

 

[Product FRED]

Nope. I know why you're asking though; it can prevent system restore. I only use Microsoft Security Essentials and I have Malwarebytes on the side in case I'm infected. I'm about an hour away from finishing my ISO download, so if anything I'll do a repair install. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Kaktussoft]

why you need an official ISO?? You have a working win7 install DVD, isn't it? Do you think dvd has been damaged??? Very unlikely

 

[Kaktussoft]

Nope. I know why you're asking though; it can prevent system restore. I only use Microsoft Security Essentials and I have Malwarebytes on the side in case I'm infected. I'm about an hour away from finishing my ISO download, so if anything I'll do a repair install. I'll let you know how it goes.

How do you want to perform a "repair install"?? It's called a in-place upgrade install in win7 btw.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html
Here's How:
NOTE: Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose first to be extra safe.

1. Start Windows 7, and log on to an administrator account.
​

But win7 doesn't boot... so impossible

 

[Product FRED]

why you need an official ISO?? You have a working win7 install DVD, isn't it? Do you think dvd has been damaged??? Very unlikely

No, I had the ISO because I purchased it as a download from Microsoft, but now that I look back at it, it says it's only 700 MB in size, which means the image is malformed or something. So I'm redownloading it.

 

[gregrocker]

To run a Repair Install you'll need to get the OS started. More likely you'll need to rescue your files if possible and Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 - the steps are the same for retail