Solved "No Bootable Device" error after win 7 installation on new hard drive

[Hokeypokie]

"No Bootable Device" error after win 7 installation on new hard drive

I installed Windows 7 on a new (smaller) hard drive using recovery disk. After installation went successfully (according to the pop up the dialog box), the machine restarted and I got the error "No bootable device". The machine is Acer Aspire one netbook with Windows 7 Starter.

The computer detected the hard drive in BIOS. I also connected the hard drive to another machine externally and here's the partition info:

12GB Healthy (Recovery Partition)
102MB NTFS, System Reserved, Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)
97.67GB NTFS, Acer, Healthy (Logical Drive)

How do I get this laptop to boot up with the new hard drive?

 

[scrooge]

did you check your bios and make sure the new harddrive is set to the first device to boot from?

scrooge

 

[Hokeypokie]

Yes I did

 

[gregrocker]

Next, boot the Win7 DVD or Repair CD to run Startup Repair a few times, after making sure Win7 partition or its 100mb System Reserved partition (preferred) is marked Active. Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)
System Repair Disc - Create

 

[Hokeypokie]

The "system reserved" partition is marked active. I created the USB Windows 7 Startup Repair flash drive and ran it. Then I got the screen that says "startup repair could not detect a problem."

 

[gregrocker]

Run Startup Repair three times anyway, with reboots after each attempt.

Next boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD, click on HD to highlight it, from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, reboot.

If Win7 doesn't start, rightclick on Win7 partition, select Modify>Convert to Primary, OK. Then Modify>Set to Active, OK. Then from Disk tab again select Rebuild MBR, OK, Apply all steps.

If still no OS boot, boot the Win7 Repair stick to again run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

Next I would try running the Recovery partition from boot: Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for Recovery media and Restoring a system to factory load

If this fails I would find a Win7 installation DVD to clean reinstall with the Product Key on COA sticker, following these steps to get a perfect reinstall: Reinstalling Windows 7

 

[Hokeypokie]

I ran Startup Repair 5 separate times and still got "Startup repair could not detect a problem".

Burned bootable Partition Wizard CD, Boot from the CD, Rebuilt MBR & Restarted the system. It took a while to boot up then it restarted itself and did some more things while booting up... THEN

It worked! gregrocker is a real guru.

I'm so happy. Now I can go to bed. Thank you so much.