Boot File for Windows 7 Corrupt, please help

Hi there guys I have Windows 7 RC and have been using it it for months without any problems.

I installed Microsofts new AV program and that was running fine, I guess. Today I installed a wireless keyboard and was playing around with it and the system crashed. I restarted it and when it came to the boot screen (mine is dual boot with Vista) it just restarted. Tried Vista it came up with boot load error. I tried the RC disc to repair and first it said it fixed it but tried again and nothing. So I was thinking about re installing OS again, went through the setup and windows said it could not install on disk 0 partition 1 as that had a boot system, it just would not show that HD at all even though it has other partitions. When to the motherboard setting and there it only shows 1 WD HD and the Pioneer DVD-ROM. My system consists of the following
1 X Samsung 1TB, several partitions inc OS for both Win 7 and Vista
1 X WD 2TB, 2 partitons
1 X WD 2TB, no partitions

The Samsung did not show up nor did the other WD
I have now opened the case and plugged the samsung via USB to my XP machine and all partitions show up, on Win 7 the boot file is messed up and the Vista partition has no boot file at all.

How do I fix this guys. I dont mind re-installing Win 7 but there must be another way to do this, any help on this will be much appreciated thanks in advance guys

The WIN 7 OS partition, has a bootmsq file which is messed up, what does an original WIN 7 Boot msq file look like

Can you use something like EasyBCD running from your XP box, but linked to the other HDD?

I don't have my W7 or Vista box with me now, so I can't remember how the bootloader works on them off hand.

I guess another thing would be to try and load W7 on a USB drive and see if you can gain access to those two partitions. If so, worst case, backup the data, fix the partitions, and then overlay the data to get it back.

Also, have you tried doing the following?? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

Hi Perrybucsdad thanks for the reply, at the moment I am scanning the HD to see if there are viruses on it.
I have downloaded EasyBCD but it does not run it says it fails to initialize, do I need any other software to run this?

The information link from microsoft sounds promosing, I will give that a try, just can't belieived what happened

How does easyBCD work, will it repair a broken boot sector file? I had it it dual boot with it repair both options?

Thanks again

I have only used it once, and I apologize, I can't remember how it works. It's all GUI, so you shouldn't have too much problems with it. Check to see if it will run on XP, maybe that is why it won't initialize.

Will it fix the broken file... well, if the boot file is messed up, hopefully it will allow you to see what is there and fix it. Also, I'm wondering if the reason it can't initialize is because of the issue with the boot file.

I wish I had more to give you, but do the full HDD scan and maybe that will reveal something.

F

you can also do the same with the built in bcdedit. just go to the search>type cmd>type bcdedit>

there is a tutorial on its use here BCDEDIT - How to Use

hope this helps and let us know if you need help with any of this

ken

formation4 said:

I have downloaded EasyBCD but it does not run it says it fails to initialize, do I need any other software to run this?

If you are trying to run it in Windows XP you will need to install the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 first.

sup3rsprt said:

formation4 said:

I have downloaded EasyBCD but it does not run it says it fails to initialize, do I need any other software to run this?

If you are trying to run it in Windows XP you will need to install the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 first.

Good catch Sup! I totally forgot about the .NET files. Sorry about that F.

typically when a drive is labeled as "system" by Windows, it means either A) the computer has booted Windows from that partition or B) it has some boot files on it

Look at the J: drive for a hidden folder called boot and/or a hidden file called bootmgr (you have to enable show hidden files, or do a dir /a from command prompt)

Is it there?

Also, please attach a screenshot of your Disk Management.