Partition Table Does Not Have a Valid Partition

[jjr]

I have this issue I can start windows ok but I can not create a rescue disc or access repair vie the F8 key ,

I have restarted to boot to my Win 7 64 Boot disc and clicked on repair startup ( did not know what else to do : -)

I ran and and got this error: ( see pix)

After that it prompted me to restart saying if it was fixed PC would start normally, it did not. Tried it again and it booted fine. So I ran the repair again and the same error message came up and to restart I did and it started normally. It does mention it could take several tries to fix.

Question is should I continue? Am I on the right direction for a fix?

Like mentioned the pC has booted fine and the only real issues that I have noticed is that I can not burn a recovery dvd or boot to the F8 and choose the option to repair the pc that will not work.I can booto to my Win6 disc and click on repair on that and it does open.

U have 7 Dell XPS 8700 Desktops both running WIndows 7 65 Premium only difference that I remember is the amount of ram. Would anyone know if I took the HD out of my PC with the smaller amount of ram would it work in my one that have more ram? Also FWIW I did buen a recovery dvd using the smaller ram PC and it does work in the one I have a issues with.

The last question would be a last ditch effort as I would just clone a Hdd and use it that way..

If nothing else can be done I can live with it the way it is as I have Acronis to recover if needed.

 

[Megahertz07]

Check the drives heath. Download:
- Crystal disk info
- harddisksentinel

Both are portable. Don't need to install.

Your drive 0 is UEFI-GPT but your drive 2 is MBR and is set as active that shows it once had a OS as Legacy-MBR
As it now is a data drive you must set it as inactive. You can do it under Disk Manager or with diskpart.

 

[jjr]

I did a ckdsk and that passed, the drive I have in now is brand new.

I believe how this all started was that I send my win 7 PC in for repair and when it came back it had win 10. I used acronis image to bring back to 7. I don't know if I screwed something up but it a prob now.

So my storage drive that is active i just set it as inactive. If I do so can I loose any info?

Drive 2 is for storage and I do not have t much on it yet, could I just format it and after what do I choose? Healthy?

Thank you

Check the drives heath. Download:
- Crystal disk info
- harddisksentinel

Both are portable. Don't need to install.

Your drive 0 is UEFI-GPT but your drive 2 is MBR and is set as active that shows it once had a OS as Legacy-MBR
As it now is a data drive you must set it as inactive. You can do it under Disk Manager or with diskpart.

 

[dg1261]

I send my win 7 PC in for repair and when it came back it had win 10. I used acronis image to bring back to 7.

That's very crucial information to know about.

So you have an Acronis image of your old Win7 installation ... but is Disk-0 the same disk that used to have Win7 (when you made the Acronis image) or is Disk-0 a new addition by the repair shop? Did the repair shop do an "over-the-top" upgrade from Win7 to Win10 (i.e., were all your old Win7 programs that you had installed still there)? Or did the repair shop instead do a clean install of Win10 with none of your Win7 programs carried over?

The reason that's important is it would help determine what you had before. Your Disk-0 is currently setup as UEFI/GPT, but Win7 installations were typically BIOS/MBR. If your XPS8700 was BIOS/MBR when the Acronis Win7 image was made, that may explain why it failed to successfully restore when the image was restored to a UEFI/GPT disk.

 

[jjr]

Yes disc zero is where my os was originally and still is


The shop was square trade warranty, went in for a apparent bad Mobo, they just sent it back w Win 10 so I really do not know what they did.When I did the recovery I lost everything I had stored on drive 2 that is when the mess started.

After trying to fix that I noticed they had my sata cables reversed frimw what I remember between my 2nd burner and if I remember that number 2 drive.

So apparently in my first recovery the os was sent to drive 2.

I'm far from a techie so could I just format dive 2 and just leave that active. If format will not remove the partitions could I just use easeus to merge all the partitions then format?

I do not want to screw anything more up. Or as a test could I just unplug drive 2 and run the Win7 repair option?

Thanks

That's very crucial information to know about.

So you have an Acronis image of your old Win7 installation ... but is Disk-0 the same disk that used to have Win7 (when you made the Acronis image) or is Disk-0 a new addition by the repair shop? Did the repair shop do an "over-the-top" upgrade from Win7 to Win10 (i.e., were all your old Win7 programs that you had installed still there)? Or did the repair shop instead do a clean install of Win10 with none of your Win7 programs carried over?

The reason that's important is it would help determine what you had before. Your Disk-0 is currently setup as UEFI/GPT, but Win7 installations were typically BIOS/MBR. If your XPS8700 was BIOS/MBR when the Acronis Win7 image was made, that may explain why it failed to successfully restore when the image was restored to a UEFI/GPT disk.

- - - Updated - - -

My original acronis image is gone I have a image of my current.

Also I have a identical xps 8700 running the same os. Only difference is the ram, problem machine has more ram.

Would it be possible to put a image on a hhd from the good machine and try it on the bad one?

 

[Megahertz07]

A active partition tells that the partition is ready to boot.
Setting it to inactive doesn't change the data on it.

Check disk only checks logical issues.
For hardware issues use -- Crystal disk info or harddisksentinel

 

[SIW2]

The confusion might be from the efi folder on disk 0 40mb fat32 partition.

 

[jjr]

The confusion might be from the efi folder on disk 0 40mb fat32 partition.

Can I just delete that partition?

 

[SIW2]

I am not sure what effect that would have on the diagnostics.

Might be a good idea to make an image of that little partition first.

 

[jjr]

At this point I simply give up, I wish that I could just reinstall Win7 but I do not know where to get the drivers as well don't i need SP1?

Then more I play with it the more I screw it up

I was able to create a rescue disc from my other pC which I also screwed up but at least I'm still able to backup to Acronis and with the rescue disc and Win 7 disc I should be good.

 

[erpster4]

At this point I simply give up, I wish that I could just reinstall Win7 but I do not know where to get the drivers as well don't i need SP1?

for the Dell XPS 8700 computer? here from the Dell support site (just change the "operating system" version listed there to "Windows 7 64bit" for win7 drivers)