Deleted system reserve, stuck, cant boot

[hc806]

I wasnt thinking and deleted the system reserve partition when formating to windows 7. Now I cannot boot at all. It is an asus laptop. It is stuck on the Asus screen and nothing happens. I cannot even go into the bios, nor can it read the harddrive or dvd drive or usb. is there a solution to fix this problem?

 

[FliGi7]

Deleting a partition shouldn't have anything to do with the ability to enter the bios. You can enter the BIOS when you don't even have a hard drive attached.

Since you can't boot into the drive, you'll need to use a LiveCD to boot the system. Then you can use the TestDisk utility to attempt to recover the lost partition.

Download and make a LiveCd from one of the following:

TestDisk Livecd - CGSecurity (Ubuntu Rescue Remix should do just fine if you don't have a favorite)

Then, run TestDisk accordingly:

TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity


If you can somehow get it to boot up, Microsoft has a method of recovering deleted partitions as well:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245725

 

[hc806]

i thought that it shouldnt affect the bios either, but for some reason, I cannot boot into the bios, would it have anything to do with the cpu battery?

 

[gregrocker]

You said you deleted SysReserved when formatting to Win7. If you formatted the HD to install or reinstall Win7 then it shouldn´t affect booting the installer.

If you´ve truly formatted to install or reinstall, then the DVD should autostart if in the drive. If not try using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first screen. Do you get the prompt to "Press any key...?"

If on the other hand you mistakenly deleted SysReserved and have Win7 still on the HD and needed to boot, you can either recreate SysReserved by using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to create a new Primary Partition in the space, mark it Active, then boot the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to rewrite the Sys Reserved partition.

The other method is to instead mark Win7 partition itself Active then do the 3 Startup Repairs. You can also use PW CD to resize Win7 into the old SysReserved space.

 

[alphanumeric]

If the ASUS screen you mentioned is what I think it is, that is the BIOS. My ASUS motherboard flashes a ASUS screen listing the BIOS key options at the bottom, like press DEL to enter BIOS setup, etc. It also lists the key to press for the quick boot menu. If it's freezing at that screen there is something else besides a deleted partition going on. Unplug any external devices like USB external drives, and try again.

 

[hc806]

actually i think the system reserve has nothing to do with it, but basically it will not boot into bios, it just keeps restarting on the ASUS screen which doenst even get to the part where it loads and says which key is bios key.. i think there is some hardware issue

 

[alphanumeric]

Yes, I agree, it sounds like a hardware problem, boot issue. Thats why I suggested unplugging any external devices. External USB hard drives are known to cause this situation. If it was a desktop PC I would recommend reseting the BIOS to fail safe defaults with the clear CMOS jumper. On a laptop that is very difficult if not impossible to do. Remove the battery and unplug the power pack, then press the power button to completely drain any residual voltage. Then try booting it up again. If that doesn't work you may have to remove the optical drive and or the internal hard drive and try again. I'd probably re-seat the RAM modules too. If it still won't boot after that I don't know what to suggest.

 

[gregrocker]

Can you please clarify exactly what you did since you have not made this clear at all. You said you deleted the System Reserved partition when formatting your HD. But formatting deletes everything anyway. Did you mean that you deleted System Reserved mistakenly? I have now asked you this twice.

We can help you fix a deleted System Reserved partition by either replacing it or marking Win7 partition Active to run Startup Repair 3 times. We do this here all the time, but we need you to be clear on what you have done.

We can also help you boot the installer to reinstall if that is your problem.

First try tapping the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key at boot:
Asus - F8
HP/Compaq - Esc
Sony - F2
Acer - F12
Gateway - F10
eMachnes - F10
Toshiba - F12
Dell - F12
IBM/Lenovo - the blue Thinkvantage button

Do you get the prompt to ¨"Press any key to boot DVD/CD?"

 

[hc806]

actually it was having boot issues before, but would randomly be able to boot into windows.. thinking that there was something wrong with the OS I reformatted the computer.... and now it will not even boot up at all. but i dont think it is a OS booting issue, but more of the hardware issue becasue it just gets stuck on the Asus screen, and cannot even jump into the bios settings, or choose to boot from any options..

also i do not have any externals plugged in, or any usb hardware. I have reseated the ram before, but i think i may try without the optical and harddrive to see what happens, if anything ill try and remove the cmos battery, or maybe the cmos battery needs to be replaced...

 

[hc806]

Can you please clarify exactly what you did since you have not made this clear at all. You said you deleted the System Reserved partition when formatting your HD. But formatting deletes everything anyway. Did you mean that you deleted System Reserved mistakenly? I have now asked you this twice.

We can help you fix a deleted System Reserved partition by either replacing it or marking Win7 partition Active to run Startup Repair 3 times. We do this here all the time, but we need you to be clear on what you have done.

We can also help you boot the installer to reinstall if that is your problem.

First try tapping the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key at boot:
Asus - F8
HP/Compaq - Esc
Sony - F2
Acer - F12
Gateway - F10
eMachnes - F10
Toshiba - F12
Dell - F12
IBM/Lenovo - the blue Thinkvantage button

Do you get the prompt to ¨"Press any key to boot DVD/CD?"

i do not get any prompts because any of the bios shortcuts, or booting shortcuts dont work.. it just stays on the ASUS screen, the screen restarts every so often though

 

[gregrocker]

You have to tap the key anyway, just in case you didn´t know.

Try resetting the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Is the mobo or computer still under warranty? If so next I would have tech support walk me through reflashing the BIOS. If not, you can try that with our help. Go to the Support Downloads webpage for your exact mobo or computer model and look for the latest BIOS version update. What kind of installer does it offer?

Flashing the BIOS can be risky, so it would be a good time to seek out an experienced computer friend, tech support, perhaps a shop, or rely on us to walk you through before acting unless you are a skilled hand at it.

 

[hc806]

ill look into flashing the bios later on tonight, as for warranty it is definetly out of that haha..

it is a fairly old laptop around 4 years old, so even if i cannot save it this time, it will be time for a replacement

 

[alphanumeric]

I've had a desktop PC or two act funny and not post due to a flat CMOS battery. It could be a pain to get to and unplug on a laptop but might be worth a try at unplugging it.

 

[flyguy5187]

Hi,
this is the closest thread that I have found that relates to my problem, if anybody still checks this thread or can refer me to the right one I'll really appreciate it!

So basically I have done something very similar to the OP but instead of a notebook I have a desktop that I just built. So I was trying to install the OS into my 3TB hard drive and after finding the exact same one on sale, I bought another to set up RAID 0. I noticed in disk mgr that my partitions were all messed up (3 total - 350gb, 2.xxtb, and 6xxgb) I figured I can delete them all and merge it to create one big drive sicne I had UEFI BIOs and mobo was able to recognize the 3tb HDD. So i went ahead and deleted everything so i can do a fresh install and not knowing otherwise, i deleted the 100mb boot partition or whatever you call it. after my first restart, i got the bootdisk error message with the ctrl+alt+del to restart. Thinking I didnt format it correctly, I took the drive out and formatted it on another computer, now all i get is the ASUS welcome screen with the msg on the bottom to press del to enter bios. I have restarted multiple times and it seems like pressing anything is unresponsive. HOWEVER, after disconnecting the hard drives, I was able to boot from the DVD and get to the W7 repair screen. The tricky part is that after I go through this process and plugged in the HDDs mid-boot, the system was not able to recognize the HDDs at all. So where do i go from here?

I tried doing the Clr RTC ram jumper but have not yet removed the battery on MB, should I do that or try to fix bood partition or something? HELPPPP!

sry if this was lengthy but i figured I be as detailed as i can so one of u experts can tell me exactly what to do. Thanks!

MOBO is P8Z68-V/GEN 3 btw and HDD is Seagate Barracuda XT ST33000651AS

 

[gregrocker]

Many HD's that large require a BIOS update to be read. Check the Support Downloads webpage for your model mobo for latest BIOS update.

If none then reset the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

You need to follow this procedure to install to UEFI BIOS: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

Set HD first to boot, reboot and tap the key given on first boot screen for BIOS boot menu, choose DVD drive.

If this fails, wipe the HD with Clean command: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation.
If disk will not boot via BIOS or one-time BIOS boot menu key after trying it repeatedly, use free Partition Wizard bootable CD which will autostart, wipe the HD, then DVD should autostart.

 

[alphanumeric]

@ flyguy5187, I'm not sure if I follow what you are doing but I'll post some questions and maybe we can figure something out. First off, are you really trying to RAID two 3 TB drives in RAID 0? RAID 0 is a stripped array which would be the equivalent of a single 6 TB drive. Thats a lot of DATA to loose if one drive hiccups. It may also be why you are having trouble with drive detection. That big of an array may be too big for your motherboard BIOS to handle. You didn't fill in your system specs so I don't know what you have for hardware. Secondly, if you delete all the partitions, you have removed the OS. The disk would not be bootable as it is blank. To install Windows from the DVD you would need to change the boot order in the BIOS to your DVD drive. Then switch back to the hard drive on the first reboot. I'm not exactly sure where you are in this process so I'll wait for your response. You probably should have started your own thread instead of posting a new problem in this one. You will usually get more looks and thus more help that way.

 

[flyguy5187]

hey thx for the quick responses guys but unfortunately those options did not really work =/ and I have started a new post per alphas advice

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...-cant-boot-read-hdd-now-help.html#post1812348

so basically ive updated to the latest version of the BIOs and did a jumper reset/MB battery pull and still cannot get the mobo to recognize the HDD. And @alpha, sry I mistyped my RAID config - I wanted to set up a RAID 1 as mirror. I definitely think it is something wrong with my HDD as this started to happen right AFTER i deleting the partitions at windows setup. I wasnt able to proceed with the rest of the setup as it forced me to restart after deleting those partitions. I also switch SATA ports for the drives and still same outcome.... and as for re-partitioning my HDD, I won't have a problem following those directions but the problem is that i can NOT get into BIOs with the HDD plugged in...=( Is there any way around that?

The only thing Ive come up with so far is maybe install the OS onto the HDD with another PC and then put it back in to my current one and run from there? I tried with my dad's HDD and although it gave me a bootmgr error message, i was able to get it started with the DVD drive and get into DISKPART from there. I will try this method while waiting for you guys to respond. thanks so much!!

o and btw... here is the rest of the info,

CPU: cpre i7-2600k
MB: ASUS p8z68-v/gen3
RAM: Kingston HyperX 16gb DDR 1600
HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda XT ST33000651AS
dvd drive,750w psu, and no vid card yet lol

 

[georg123]

Well i had the same problem on an asus MB on a desktop pc. I think its just a bios bug. For some reason it won't boot unless the hdd can boot too. What i did was:
1) remove the hdd and boot the system with a windows disk.
2) While on the screen that prompts you to select the partition to install windows i reconected the hdd and hit refresh. Miraculously the system recognized the hdd but i got a message that windows cannot be installed on this disk because the hardware might be not able to boot from this device.
3) I deleted all the partitions and then created a new one (only one)
I restarted the pc and ... finaly the bios got passed the initial screen and the hdd was still connected.
After that it didn't had the same problem.
Ofc i had to re-install all the software from scratch.

 

[flyguy5187]

thanks for the heads up but I tried that and apparently my HDDs couldn't be recognized but someone else gave me another way to fix and all is good now!