Solved Error: The partition table does not have a valid...

[lawlercaust]

Hey everyone,

Last night I went out to get food and when I came back my computer was sitting in the BIOS stating "disk boot failure. insert system CD then press enter."
Did a system repair and it states:

Root cause found:
The partition table does not have a valid system partition.
repair action: partition table repair

I read some forums and they stated to go into command prompt and type:
diskpart
lis vol

Sel vol "(Choose appropriate volume)"

act
exi.
my only issue is I'm not sure what volume/partition to select.
I have 3 hdd. Unplugged the two satas that aren't my c drive and I'm left with the following:

vol 0 g udf, being the CD I'm using
vol 1. C. System reserve ntfs partit 100mb
vol 2. F. Main drive ntfs partit 596gb (640gb hdd)

I have tried both and the same issue boot failure error occurs.

what should I do? Thanks in advance.

-Adam

 

[lawlercaust]

Currently shows that the volume 1 system reserved partition is currently active, and healthy.

 

[lawlercaust]

System recovery options shows
"operating system: unknown on (unknown) local disk. I can view everything on the drive and all the files are still there.

 

[mjf]

It may be that your MBR has been corrupted. This may involve the partition table contained within the MBR.
You could try:
1) Run start up repair up to 3 times booting each time.
2) Restore a prior system image. Hopefully you have made one - they a vital IMO.

If this all fails then make sure you backup your personal data and go through the pain of a clean install.

 

[lawlercaust]

Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, I ended up ordering a ssd last night. My computer was getting old anyway, about time I build a new one. Do you know of any utility tools that may repair it?

 

[mjf]

Can you get your data off the HDD?
If so then given you are planning to a new SSD then I'd grab your data and do a clean install.
You could try this (but grab your data first)
TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity
Like most if you are still doing an MBR boot then I recommend keeping copies of your MBR (the partition table being most important).
MBR Backup - Back up your Master Boot Record (Freeware)

 

[lawlercaust]

I unfortunately have not been able to see if I can get anything off the HDD due to work. The SSD should be arriving in the mail sometime today or tomorrow. Package showed up as being one state away around 5am this morning. (Game I play has a DLC coming out at midnight of the 25th so fingers crossed)

Plan is to install the OS to the SSD and then try to backup stuff off the 640gb HHD that I need/want. Hopefully after that I can reinstall the OS to the 640gb and give my older computer to the older brother. He's in a need of a new PC and I might as give him one with some decent capability.

I don't get done with work until 10pm CST, so it will be pretty late until I can give an update. Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

 

[Brooklyn67]

You should reconnect all the drives that were connected when you installed the OS, and make sure that they are in the same sata configuration.

When windows boots it does not look for C:\windows, it looks for Disk 0 Partition 1, or whatever disk/partition combo was in play when you installed your OS. Which is why the other drives should be reconnected.

Remove all usb devices except KB/Mouse especially ext HDD and flashdrives

try to boot now, if boot but BSOD then reboot in safemode with networking and start copying your data to a reliable media.

If no boot, check your disk priority on boot, make sure its set for internal HDD or default.

If no boot, check power cable to the harddrive, they get loose, weak, worn. connect it to a different power cable.

See if you can hear it spin.

It could just be the bootmanager, its not a big deal we can fix that easily but first lets try these steps..

 

[Layback Bear]

Because you are using Windows 7 Enterprise you could take it to your I.T.Department and have them take care of it for you.

 

[lawlercaust]

Its the bootmgr. I ended up going into my bios and telling it to boot to my main hdd. Instead of asking for a boot disk It is now stating the bootmgr is missing.

 

[lawlercaust]

Looks like the drive is corrupted/damaged. Thanks for all the help guys/gals.

 

[mjf]

Have you tried running startup repair from a system repair disk (run up to 3 times)?
Bootmgr missing doesn't necessarily mean your HDD is damaged. Then even so you could try to recover your files using a light linux boot CD such as Puppy Linux or
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ate-live-cd-dvd-usb-use-emergency-backup.html

 

[lawlercaust]

I've tried repairs as well as others. I was able to copy the files off the hdd to an external drive, but as soon as I went to reformat the drive even the windows install disk said that it couldnt install to it. Tried to do It anyway and it said my install disk was corrupted... Even though I used it the previous week.

 

[mjf]

You could try Partition Wizard bootable CD to reformat the drive and do some preliminary drive checks.
Then try an OS install. I would run the HDD diagnostics check.

But when you say an error "install disk was corrupted" do you mean your DVD disc or the destination disc.