bootmgr is missing - tried everything, need help!

[AddRAM]

Windows should be on the ssd, 120 GB is more then enough for windows with a lot of room to spare.

Your games should be installed on the hard drive, from C: windows.

:banghead:

 

[gregrocker]

Plug back in the SSD, mark its partition Active, reboot into BIOS to set it first hard drive to boot.

then run 3 startup Repairs

 

[JBmorris]

Hello

I have a strange issue with my w7 64 ultimate system. All was working well earlier today, shut the system down for a bit, went to switch back on I am getting bootmgr is missing error and the system wont boot. This has happened once before, a simple windows startup repair fixed it in 2 minutes. However this time I have tried every solution I can find on the net to no avail. My setup is a 500gb hdd drive with windows on and a 120gb sata drive. However the 100mb system reserved part is on the sata drive. In the bios I hav always had to point to boot from the sata drive otherwise windows wont boot. If I tried booting from the windows drive I would get the bootmgr is missing error. That has always been the case.

I have tried running startup repair but it says it cant automatically fix errors and I get a problem Signature 07 error code missing boot manager. I have tried every possible command prompt solution I could find on the net but nothing works including deleting the whole boot record and creating a new one.

I have downloaded magic partition wizard but I am not 100% sure what I should do on their to try fix my problem. When I went on their first time, my 100mb partition on the sata drive was showing as unallocated space which I am guessing isnt right. Should I have the windows drive (only 1 partition)marked as active or the 100mb space on the sata drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated, if you need anymore information just ask!

Hmm... I'm not sure if I'm gonna be right but... Your HDD may have lost the bootmgr file? Or Your HDD may have gotten Defective? Moved Bootmgr file from specified location? Like I said I'm not sure so, Yea.

 

[marcl]

Plug back in the SSD, mark its partition Active, reboot into BIOS to set it first hard drive to boot.

then run 3 startup Repairs

no go unfortunately Greg. Should the 100mb partition be active or the other one? I tried both anyway. Keep getting the same errors. Wrong version etc etc then the same errors I described above.

Edit: are there any manual repairs I can try?

 

[gregrocker]

The point of plugging back in the SSD is to try to revive the System Reserved partition. This is why we never delete it until after we're sure that C can be made to boot itself. So it would need to be marked Active.

You must run at least 3 Startup Repairs to make sure it will start. If you haven't done that on HD then unplug SSD and do it correctly now. Confirm C is Partition Marked Active.

Is it possible you actually have Win7 on the SSD and don't realize it? If so unplug the HD to try the repairs.

You can try the manual bootrec and bootsect commands from Step 12 of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start which offers everything that can be done to try to start the OS, leading up to if necessary rescuiing your files to do a perfect reinstall to the SSD where it belongs. Be sure to unplug the HDD if you do this.

Afterwards you can install EasyBCD to the new install on the SSD to add the old one from HD to a Dual Boot to compare and make sure you have every thing before deleting Win7 from the HD to use it for storage as should be the case.

 

[marcl]

Ive definitely run startup repair at least 3 times. Just fails everytime with errors. Im just running chkdsk now to see if that helps. I will try the bootrec stuff when that has finished.

Is it worth deleting the boot and temp folders out of both drives so I am starting a fresh?

Windows is 100% on c: hdd

 

[gregrocker]

Well it wasn't 100% on HD since you left the SSD plugged in when you wrongly installed it to the HD (instead of the SSD as it should be) and it wrote the System Reserved partition which boots Win7 to the SSD. Still not sure how that ju jujitsu was done exactly.

But the install is so wrong-headed I'm not sure I can support it further since this is the top tech forums exactly because we don't encourage Worst Practices.

 

[marcl]

I am 100% sure its on the hdd not 100% of the installation. Google that situation, its pretty common when 2 drives are installed.

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, we see it here all the time. But the SSD would have had to be empty to allow it to create and format the 100mb System Reserved partition. Otherwise the installation media places the boot files on the first-in-order Primary partition, or the partition which is marked Active.

Report back results of steps in #25. Why again is it you dont' want to install on SSD, if you must eventually reinstall anyway?

 

[marcl]

Will do. How about my suggestion in regards to the folders?

 

[gregrocker]

You can try that if the Repair utility won't do it itself. By the third attempt it has given up repairs and is rewriting the boot files anyway. But you can delete old and then copy them in manually to be sure.

Note that the ones I uploaded below are hidden so you won't see them until you unhide files in Folder Options>View.

 

[marcl]

Ok thanks will do. By the way, when rebuilding and exporting bcd, what drive letter should I use? The instructions say c: but should I use the drive letter of the 100mb partition?

 

[gregrocker]

I would make all attempts first on the HDD since that's where Win7 should be booted from if its installed there.

If this fails before trying to revive 100mb on another physical driv I'd try to construct a new System Reserved on HD: Resize C from the left by 200mb using Partition Wizard CD to Resize Partition - Video Help to try creating a System Reserved partition from scratch as Primary NTFS marked Active, then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times . We've done it here repeatedly.

 

[marcl]

Just tried running the SFC scan now tip number 8 and it says the offline image has a different architecture than the running system this is not supported for system repair?

 

[gregrocker]

You'll need to download and burn to DVD the 32 bit installation media to support 32 bit repair: Steps 1 and 2 from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[marcl]

I would make all attempts first on the HDD since that's where Win7 should be booted from if its installed there.

If this fails before trying to revive 100mb on another physical driv I'd try to construct a new System Reserved on HD: Resize C from the left by 200mb using Partition Wizard CD to Resize Partition - Video Help to try creating a System Reserved partition from scratch as Primary NTFS marked Active, then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times . We've done it here repeatedly.

Done this and still nothing Greg. Ive unplugged the ssd and tried to just repair on the windows drive but nothing. Tried moving the partition to create a new system reserved but wont repair. Ive followed the 12 step guide down to step 10 but nothing has worked. I got the usual compatability, missing boot manager, master boot record is missing or corrupt errors when trying to repair. When I boot I get ntldr is missing error and then sometimes I get a disk read error.

No idea how this happened in the first place as I made no changes to my comp, was working fine, shut down for 20 minutes then just didnt work next time I started. Starting to think its a lost cause unless any last suggestions? Best way to reinstall without losing any data/settings?

 

[gregrocker]

Did you replace the installer as suggested to overcome the incompatibility error? If not all the repairs run may have been futile anyway because that was not done in the beginning.

Just go ahead and reinstall to the SSD. I'm out. The idea that we tried so hard to start an OS on HD instead of unused SSD which holds its boot files is nonsense I can't support with any sense of integrity.

 

[Layback Bear]

Have a question Greg.

Is it possible to get a NTDR using Windows 7?

I thought the XP was the last system that you could get the NTDR.

From post #36

When I boot I get ntldr is missing error and then sometimes I get a disk read error.

From post # 4

When I try to boot from the ssd now I am getting ntldr is missing error rather than bootmgr??

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, Jack, I saw that. She must have had XP on one of the drives leaving bootable code that is interfering. Another reason to delete all partitions on SSD for reinstall with only it plugged in.

 

[marcl]

Xp has never been on the system. I built it myself and only ever had w7 on there.

Greg, is replacing the installer the 32 bit link you posted earlier? Thats the only thing I havent done yet (need to pick up a blank dvd tonight). Does getting the 32 bit version still apply even for a 64 bit os?