cant get win 7 to boot - bootmgr stuck on broken xp HD

[5tr34k]

Hey guys, got a slight problem that i cannot seem to fix!

i have 2 hard drives, one running xp, one running windows 7.
up until recently they have been working fine together, but i think i had/have a virus and it trashed my XP drive (crashes right after desktop loads) which is no worry to me.
my worry is every time i try to boot into windows 7, i recieve the "BOOTMGR IS MISSING - CNTRL ALT DLT TO RESTART" error.

i have tried a bunch of things like attempting to move the bootmgr file from the XP drive to the windows one, and trying to create the bootmgr on the win7 drive, but no luck.

so my question is how can i get windows 7 to boot indepentantly from my messed up XP drive, casue the boot files are on the xp one.

any help would be awesome, if you need more info i will do whatever you need.

Thanks
- streak

 

[5tr34k]

fixed typing these lines in at win7 recorvery consol command prompt:
c:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd
bootsec.exe /nt60 all /force

i think the only line that actually did anything was the last one, casue the rest i had tried in earlier attempts.

now i will have to switch my bios boot priority between my drives to access my xp drive or win7 drive.

Does anyone know if i can now format my windows xp drive with no harm to my win7 drive?

thanks again
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force

 

[Coolness]

Well, if the xp drive is on another hard disk, no problems will be caused. And even if its just a diffirent partition, you can still safely format the other partition.

 

[wallyinnc]

5tr34k, I would advise you to do the following:
- Back up any personal data you have in any drive.
- Disconnect your XP dead drive
- Runs a repair install for Windows 7 (you might need to run it 3 times). This will create your boot files under win7 boot manager. You did that with the commands above, but we want to make sure no traces of the XP boot are still in). AS the XP drive is not there, they will be independent of it (before you had boot being managed by XP, hence your problems)
- Reconnect the former XP drive, format it and go from there.

Let us know if you need help in the process

 

[5tr34k]

hey thanks for the feedback !

i am just wondering what is my risk of loosing files doing a repair install?
i have a lot of stuff spread across 2 disks that i don't fancy backing up.
i could back it up for sure, if you deem this repair installation necessary, just wondering the risks.
thanks you
- streak

 

[gregrocker]

You'll need to unplug the XP drive, boot into the Win7 DVD Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times to rewrite the MBR to Win7 drive.

The bootrec and bootsect commands given earlier are automated in Win7 Startup Repair. It will attempt to repair and then rewrite the MBR. Just run it repeatedly until it starts up.

At that point, plug back in the XP drive and format, run diagnostics if necessary from the HD maker.

 

[SIW2]

Hi 5,

If I understood your posts correctly, you shouldn't need to do anything, except set the 7 drive first in the Bios boot order. Then just format/delete the XP partition on the other HD.

Hope it helps.

 

[5tr34k]

thanks for the response.
so as it sits i can boot straight from my win7 drive.
the xp one has been formatted and is sitting idle waiting for me.
startup on the win7 drive has increased about 20 - 30 seconds for some reason tho.
do you guys think i need to still run the repair installation?

right now i think all is well, just the startup time of windoze 7 increased a bit. (dunno why)

 

[Coolness]

Thats because the bootloader will first either display a menu form which you can choose the operating system you want to run, or wait 3 seconds for you to press esc or something to do this.

 

[gregrocker]

Run msconifig and see if there is still an XP listing on the Boot tab to delete.

Run EasyBCD to see if there is any other listing besides to Win7 to remove. If not, reassert the Win7 MBR using the rebuild tool.

If you still have performance problems, you can run a Repair Install from the Win7 desktop to refresh the OS and reconfigure the boot correctly since the various changes you made might have corrupted the remaining boot.

 

[Coolness]

Run msconifig and see if there is still an XP listing on the Boot tab to delete.

Run EasyBCD to see if there is any other listing besides to Win7 to remove. If not, reassert the Win7 MBR using the rebuild tool.

If you still have performance problems, you can run a Repair Install from the Win7 desktop to refresh the OS and reconfigure the boot correctly since the various changes you made might have corrupted the remaining boot.

Ive noticed, you tell a lot of people to do a repair install. just curious.

 

[gregrocker]

Run msconifig and see if there is still an XP listing on the Boot tab to delete.

Run EasyBCD to see if there is any other listing besides to Win7 to remove. If not, reassert the Win7 MBR using the rebuild tool.

If you still have performance problems, you can run a Repair Install from the Win7 desktop to refresh the OS and reconfigure the boot correctly since the various changes you made might have corrupted the remaining boot.

Ive noticed, you tell a lot of people to do a repair install. just curious.

Especially where the boot config is in question, a Repair Install allows the installation to be completely refreshed and the boot correctly reconfigured with no destructive effects at all.

It would be the last step before clean reinstall. If the boot config isn't in question, then sfc /scannow would suffice to check OS integrity alone.

 

[Coolness]

Run msconifig and see if there is still an XP listing on the Boot tab to delete.

Run EasyBCD to see if there is any other listing besides to Win7 to remove. If not, reassert the Win7 MBR using the rebuild tool.

If you still have performance problems, you can run a Repair Install from the Win7 desktop to refresh the OS and reconfigure the boot correctly since the various changes you made might have corrupted the remaining boot.

Ive noticed, you tell a lot of people to do a repair install. just curious.

Especially where the boot config is in question, a Repair Install allows the installation to be completely refreshed and the boot correctly reconfigured with no destructive effects at all.

It would be the last step before clean reinstall. If the boot config isn't in question, then sfc /scannow would suffice to check OS integrity alone.

Awesome! see you.