Solved BOOTMGR is missing on reboot

[rahkurahki]

Hello Sevenforums!

Here are my specs:
Radeon HD 6950
AMD 695 OC to 3.95Ghz
8GB of ram
1 Terabyte hard drive

I'm having a pretty bad issue today! I decided it was time to loose my old XP installation for extra space. So, I removed my XP installation with a tool which I believe was called partition magic (Installed on the computer that is not booting don't remember the exact name). After removing the installation, I expanded my windows 7 installation to be confronted with "BOOTMGR is missing" on restart. So, after all of this, I decided to attempt a system repair. I put in my installation disc and pressed repair system but oddly, I can't press next to continue with the repair. I'm given "This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of windows." I'm not sure what to do from here. I've looked around, googled and I found a similar issue but nothing has helped so far. Thanks for reading hopefully we can get this solved without wiping my Hard drive!

Is it possible that I could insert bootmgr into my windows installation from a usb or something?

Matt

 

[gregrocker]

You'll need to mark the Win7 partition Active first before running Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times
to write the system boot files to the Active partition.

Try using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to rightlclick Win7 partition, select Modify>Set to Active, OK.

Then click on the Disk number to highlight it, from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, Apply both steps. This may preclude the need to run the Repairs from Win7 DVD or System Repair Disk.

Is this factory preinstalled Win7? If not where did you get it and how is it activated?

 

[whs]

When you deleted XP, the bootmgr went out the door with it. In a dual boot installation the common bootmgr always stays with the older system.

If you follow Greg's advice, you will get it fixed. The reason it did not work before was because you had no active partition (that went out the door with XP too). And make sure you run the repair 3 times.

 

[rahkurahki]

Thanks for the help!

I created the disc and attempted to make the partition 'active' yet, I was only given a 'inactive' option. I'm guessing because it is already active? However, I did rebuild MBR and that seemed to work.

I re-inserted my installation disc and I still can't press next in the system repair menu without being greeted with the "this version of system recovery options..." message. However, a few minutes ago I received a message telling me there was something wrong after the system recovery options searched for the partitions and I was asked to restart my computer so it could fix them. I restarted and the issue is still here. The message is still the same as before. Any ideas?

Thanks once again,
Matt

 

[gregrocker]

Matt -

If you're booted into Partition Wizard CD you should be able to see if Win7 partition is in fact marked Active as it will be labeled same. Can you post back a camera snap of the PW drive map with listings, or type them out?

Once PW is marked Active choose Rebuild MBR to see if it will start. If not you'll need to get Win7 DVD or Repair CD to boot if System Recovery Options are no longer on the F8 Advanced Boot Options menu.

I would have already linked to you a fresh ISO of your licensed version if you had answered my question about where you got Win7 and how it is activated.

 

[rahkurahki]

Sorry I was in a bit of a rush I'm using a OEM copy. I bought it from ncix along with my computer parts. I installed it myself.

Disk 1               Capacity         Used           Unused     File system         Type              Status
*:              7.88 MB           0 B            7.88 MB     unallocated           Logical           None
*:             931.50 GB     274.92 GB       656.59 GB           NTFS               Primary         Active

Computer is still not booting after the MBR Rebuild. Still cannot get past the next button on the System recovery options page.

 

[AddRAM]

The only time I`ve ever gotten that message was when I accidently dropped in a 32 bit repair disc on a 64 bit system ( and vice versa ). And are you using it to attempt a startup REPAIR or a restore ? Exactly ?

 

[rahkurahki]

Repair not restore. I don't know how that could have happened unless I downloaded the wrong iso... My computer doesn't have an optical drive yet so I had to make a boot usb to get into the repair my computer section.

 

[AddRAM]

But you said you dropped in your installation DISC.

 

[rahkurahki]

Mhm I have another computer. I plugged my harddrive into it at first and tried with the actual disk but the computer is quite old and It was just as effective to use a USB key. So, I switched to my other computer and I have the same results.
I guess I should have mentioned this earlier!

Sorry!

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 cannot be expected to boot on different hardware without running Paragon Adaptive Restore on the HD or SysPrepping it first on the old hardware.

Extract the ISO from DVD using ImgBurn then write to flash stick using Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu. Boot under USB, Removable or HD's on one-time BIOS Boot Menu key.

Your Active OS partition is not marked System likely meaning it does not have the System boot files intact.

You'll need to run Startup Repair 3 separate times to repair the System boot files.

When you boot into F8 System Recovery Options does it find an installation to Repair? You'll need to click on it to highlight it then tick the options box to proceed to the next screen to run Startup Repair. You can also advance to the next screen without it finding an installation to repair. If this fails your USB stick may be badly written and faulty.

 

[rahkurahki]

Found a fix to this issue! It turned out what addram said was correct!

I did some trial and error last nite (marking the C: partition active ) and I managed to recreate the error message you got ( this version is incompatable etc. ) If I used a Windows 7 install disc with service pack 1 to attempt a startup repair I got the message. So I said huh, let me try the pre service pack 1 version and Wala !!!! It fixed it on the 1st pass!!!

SP1 stick was NEEDED to press the next button. From there, I followed gregrockers instructions, did the 3x system repair and I finally got somewhere. After this, my problem changed to a "pwnative missing skipping autochk" "auto check missing skipping auto check" I then used this thread http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139576-startup-repair-infinite-loop-recovery.html and fixed my issue!

Thank you very much both of you and all of Sevenforums, computer is up and running as usual! I am making a backup image and a restore point right now.

Matt

 

[gregrocker]

If you remove XP from Dual Boot and get "Bootmgr is missing" then the fix has always been to mark Win7 partition Active then run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots.

I have no idea why you needed the fix for Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery if you were not having Startup Repair autostart each time you rebooted. What led you to this solution which has nothing to do with "Bootmgr is missing."