No bootable device

TerriL85 · 13 Dec 2013

We are about to pick it up now. Fortunately, I read your post and was able to ask questions on the phone. The repair tech reinstalled Windows 7 and updated drivers and installed all Windows updates. I asked about the possibility of having to reinstall W7 again down the road and he said I can just use the disk that came with the computer...? As far as the motherboard being faulty, I asked about that as well. I said I've gotten several different 'fixes' so far and none of them worked. He said he narrowed it down to the motherboard because the computer finally crashed and burned in front of a repair tech

So he was able to diagnose while dealing with the actual issue. I can't remember exactly what he said but will be able to refer to his notes later. I think it was that the drives were showing up in BIOS but not recognized by the computer (?). Even the two storage drives weren't being recognized, and that's something I hadn't seen yet.

I really hope this new motherboard is the final fix. If I start reinstalling programs and it crashes again... no, I don't want to think about that!

whs · 13 Dec 2013

He said he narrowed it down to the motherboard because the computer finally crashed and burned in front of a repair tech

That could have been a faulty capacitor on the mobo if I interpret the word 'burned' correctly. So there is hope.

I am still a bit leery about the OS reinstallation. The OS can run without activation for 30 days but then it would shut down on you if the product key does not match the mobo. So ask him whether he has successfully activated the OS.

The other thing he can do is set the mobo ID to the ID of the old mobo. Technicians know how to do that.

rvcjew · 14 Dec 2013

sounds to me after reading the whole thread if it is your motherboard it is your hdd controllers that are dying or intermittent. had that happen to a friend had to RMA the board. would lose drives one day and have them the next lol.

TerriL85 · 15 Dec 2013

Thanks again for the advice. I mentioned everything you said to the tech and he replied that he activated Windows and if I need to reinstall again, just use the disk that came with the machine. Things seem to be humming nicely with the new motherboard. Just running into one problem so far that's perplexing and needs to be asked on the Macrium forum, but since you seem to be familiar with Macrium, whs, thought I'd run it by you, too.

I'm moving everything back to my 4tb storage drives from a Macrium backup image. I purchased Macrium and did a back up late the night before the computer finally crashed for good and went to the shop for the new motherboard. The backup went fine, and I can explore the backup by mounting it in windows explorer. However, there are about 1500 files that won't move to the computer because it seems the file names are too long.

This is confusing because the files were all on the computer before and I'm trying to put them back exactly where they used to be. [None of this would be a problem if the tech hadn't found it necessary to wipe the storage drives unexpectedly after telling me it wasn't necessary.]

I tried to move the same files onto a second computer just to make sure it wasn't an issue with the settings on the repaired machine but the files won't move there, either. Same message, the file names are too long. And they are ridiculously long lol I'm just wondering what I can do to get the 1500+ files back where they belong and where they originated. I was told not to do a restore, even of the D (storage) drives because of the new motherboard, which is why I'm exploring the image and moving files manually instead. Everything but those 1500 files is back and working fine.

I know this is above and beyond what should be asked here, just figured I'd give it a shot before I leave this thread completely. :) Again, thanks for all of your help!!

whs · 15 Dec 2013

It is a 260 character limit for the whole path problem. There are some hotfixes for that.

Fix: Backup fails in Windows 7 if the path length is longer than 260 characters

You cannot back up a file in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows 7 if the path length is longer than 260 characters

TerriL85 · 15 Dec 2013

Thank you :)

whs · 15 Dec 2013

Did the fixes work ?

TerriL85 · 23 Dec 2013

I apologize for not answering sooner, I've been buried in reinstallations. Fun stuff! I actually didn't get to the point where I had to try the hotfixes. I got an answer from Macrium regarding the inability to move the too-long files back to the drive. In order to do it, I needed to restore the drive as opposed to copying and moving files. I have bookmarked the links you provided in case I need them in the future. Thanks again!