Solved Wiped Primary partition holding XP, now can't boot 7

[zachary80]

From within windows 7 I used CCleaner to wipe my partition containing XP. When I rebooted, the system wouldn't start at all. I had forgotten that XP was setup on the first ~100gb of the drive as a partition (partition 1), and 7 was on the remaining (partition 2). So I'm guessing that I inadvertently wiped the MBR. I've been trying several methods for hours but cannot get windows to boot.

At this point when I boot the computer, I get the message "BOOTMGR is missing". I have tried running the recovery Startup Repair and have tried using the four main (commands). Since that didn't work, I tried setting the partition former XP partition (partition 1) as active and running them again, then doing the same with the 7 partition (partition 2). With that still not working, I tried following this guide to bootsect, to no avail.

Ideally I would remerge my two partitions, but I don't know if that is possible without messing anything else up. Otherwise I am fine having the former xp partition (partition 1) just be used for data, and windows 7 to work as-is (partition 2). I have the windows 7 installation disc as well as a gparted disc, along with access to a couple working windows pcs.

Thank you for any help.

 

[zachary80]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

I previously followed that guide, it did not solve my issue. I ran the Startup Repair several times, before and after each new guide I followed to see if anything had changed. If I click the details after running the repair, it always reads the same, with the final step saying something along the lines of missing partition table but returning no errors. I can post the full output if it would be helpful.

I should also mention that no matter what partition is set to active, no operating system is listed when I use the recovery mode and to the point where I need to "Use recovery tools". However, ScanOS and RebuildMBR find the 7 partition (partition 2) on drive E:\ - the xp partition (partition 1) is drive C:\.

 

[YoYo155]

Welcome to SF .
In your situation I would use a different PC to make an emergency backup and start with a fresh install.

1. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ate-live-cd-dvd-usb-use-emergency-backup.html
2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
3. Alternatively - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[zachary80]

Welcome to SF .
In your situation I would use a different PC to make an emergency backup and start with a fresh install.

1. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ate-live-cd-dvd-usb-use-emergency-backup.html
2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
3. Alternatively - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

Thank you. I have been reading the forums all afternoon and trying different guides but nothing seems to help. I think I ran into a similar problem in the past when messing with a couple linux installs and was able to fix it. If I have to do a full reinstall, I will probably just buy a newer computer and use my current drive as an external.

Is there anyway to rebuild the boot totally? I don't understand why this is so complicated.

 

[AddRAM]

Have you run startup repair at least 3 times ?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[Sardonicus]

Welcome to SF .
In your situation I would use a different PC to make an emergency backup and start with a fresh install.

1. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ate-live-cd-dvd-usb-use-emergency-backup.html
2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
3. Alternatively - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

Thank you. I have been reading the forums all afternoon and trying different guides but nothing seems to help. I think I ran into a similar problem in the past when messing with a couple linux installs and was able to fix it. If I have to do a full reinstall, I will probably just buy a newer computer and use my current drive as an external.

Is there anyway to rebuild the boot totally? I don't understand why this is so complicated.

Did you run the Startup Repair at least 3 times?

 

[zachary80]

Yes I have run Startup Repair at least 3 times. Which partition should I have set to active?

 

[AddRAM]

The Windows 7 partition.

 

[zachary80]

Just to make sure I am doing this correctly, here are the steps I followed to set the windows 7 partition (partition 2) as active and then run Startup Repair 3 times ---
1. Boot to Win7 disc, click Repair your computer.
2. Select "Use recovery tools...", no operating system listed so click next.
3. Click command prompt, change active: diskpart, list disk, select disk 0, list partition, select partition 2 (366gb size, 99gb offset), active, exit
4. Click startup repair, more info: .... Root cause found: partition table does not have a valid System partition, repair action: Partition table repair, result: completed successfully.
5. Reboot
6. Repeat steps 1,2,4,5 twice

 

[zachary80]

Followed my above post, actually running Startup Repair 4 times, no progress yet.

 

[zachary80]

Well, thanks to the handy "Similar Threads" feature, I was able to find a solution that worked.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...r-deleted-primary-partition-2.html#post767826

I followed those instructions and made a new 200mb partition in gparted, flagged it as boot, went into the windows 7 recovery disc and those steps worked perfectly.