\BOOT\BCD 0xc000000d unreadable boot configuration data

I am running Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate on two PCs on my home network. I went to use one yesterday and was presented with a black screen. I rebooted the PC hoping that would solve my issue and was presented with the following error message while trying to reboot:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.

File: \BOOT\BCD
Status: 0xc000000d
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data

I checked my other PC and saw that it had been updated with several Windows patches yesterday. I'm guessing that the broken PC had an issue installing or rebooting from one of the patches.

I ran the repair utility on the windows 7 dvd as instructed by the error message. It was unable to find a previous installation of windows with an error box saying:

The file or directory C:\Boot\BCD is corrupt and unreadable please run Chkdsk utility.

I tried the auto repair anyway, which appears to be working until the end when it gives me the "The file or directory C:\Boot\BCD is corrupt and unreadable please run Chkdsk utility" error again. Then it says it can't save the fixes and says it can't be repaired. When I check the details it says I need to "repair offline" and that it cannot find an OS installed.

In my searches for an answer, I read about rebuilding the BCD through the command prompt. I ran the following commands:

BOOTREC /FIXMBR - said it was successful
BOOTREC /FIXBOOT - said it was successful
BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD - failed saying The file or directory C:\Boot\BCD is corrupt and unreadable please run Chkdsk utility

I ran chkdsk and got no errors.

I only have one hard drive, but when I go to a command prompt (from the repair section on the Windows 7 Install disk) it defaults to D:. I checked C: and it appears to be making the reserved system space drive C:, which would explain why I can't find a windows install on it.

Is there a way to fix that?
If not, does anyone have any other suggestions?
Worst case, If I just go down the path of re-installing windows without formatting the drive, will it pickup my old settings?

Here is what system info I could get (from the BIOS startup diagnostics):
Main Processor: AMD Athalon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
Memory Testing: 2030592K +64M shared memory
Memory Information: DDR2 533 Dual Channel, 128 bit

CPU L2 cache size: 512K x 2

Check your ram.
Memory Diagnostics Tool
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Check with a hard drive diagnostic tools.
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Drive letters in WinPe will probably be different from what you see in windows - that is normal.

I would delete the bcd store and run the commands again. Yes you should be pointing them at the reserved system partition .

Otherwise, at cmd prompt, type:

diskpart

lis vol

( Look to see the drive letter for your main windows partition - if it is D then type as below, otherwise replace D with the letter diskpart gives for the main windows partition)

sel vol d

act

exi

bcdboot d:\windows /s d:

bootsect /nt60 all /mbr

restart the pc - you're good.

That worked, thanks for your help!

You're welcome, glad it worked for you.

Tnx from me too, you just saved me from reinstalling

Glad it worked for you.:)

This thread also prompted me to do a chkdsk on the C drive instead of the one that had the windows files on it. That fixed the same problem everyone else had without having to erase the BCD folder.

Thank you for your help.

This fixed my Win7 problem. Thank you, I've been working on this all night.

You're welcome - glad it worked for you.