Partitions are corrupted

[cma6]

On my Windows 10 pro system, I have lost the ability to boot into Windows 10. All I get on the screen after boot up is: "EFI shell 2.40".System contains 2 physical HDs. Windows and C: installed on SSD. On the spinning HD, all the other programs and data were installed.BIOS shows only 1 "UEFI Hard Disk." The attached .bmp from Macrium Reflect shows a totally messed up pictures of the hard drives. On GPT Disk 1, C: partition primary is not shown as Active. Both physical drive C: and E:\ show a \Windows folder. However, I installed Windows only on C:.How should I fix this mess to get back to normal boot onto C:\Windows and what tool will should I use? Thanks, cma

 

[SIW2]

GPT Disk 1, C: partition primary is not shown as Active

It won't be marked active because it is gpt partition style.

did you try booting that macrium media in efi mode and at cmd prompt type

bcdboot c:\windows
(then press enter)

 

[cma6]

Booting in EFI mode

It won't be marked active because it is gpt partition style. Did you try booting that macrium media in efi mode and at cmd prompt type "bcdboot c:\windows"?
Interesting idea. How do get the system to boot into macrium media (USB PE) in efi mode? The way I boot into the macrium usb media is to put it at the top of the BIOS Boot menu.

 

[SIW2]

there should be 2 choices for the usb stick on the one time boot menu. pick the one that says efi.

might be by tapping f8 during post on your mobo

 

[cma6]

EFI shell

From your reference to "tapping F8 during post", I assume you meant to get into BIOS in order to get to EFI mode command prompt?

So I got into BIOS (by DEL)/ Boot Menu/ UEFI Application Boot Priorities/Boot Option/
(at which point Boot Option #1 was the Macrium USB stick).

I changed Boot Option from "Disabled" to "UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell" and rebooted after removing Macrium USB stick. I came to the same Shell> command line and tried bcdboot c:\windows but got, as expected, "bcdboot is not recognized as internal or external command"

I don't know if this is progress but I booted back into Macrium boot disk with its mini-windows environment and typed "bcdboot c:\windows" and got "boot file created" or something like that, which seemed a positive step. However, system still boots into EFI Shell.

 

[samuria]

Pull powser leads on other drive see if c boot then. Your second disk has logical paritions which means any corruption all the partition wont be accessable it should be primary

 

[cma6]

Boot into EFI shell

Samuria, that is a very interesting idea.

The tech guy from Macrium pushed your idea hard. His view was that, for some reason, system was cross booting to 2nd or third physical drive and therefore not seeing c:\windows on 1st physical drive. Macrium tech guy insisted I physically removed 2nd physical drive from system (or pull power lead from mobo) and try to boot.
So this last weekend I had a friend come over who did just that. He pulled the power lead on the 2nd physical drive to see if got a boot into the first drive, but unfortunately we still booted into EFI Shell. He tried the reverse with the same result.
It is a great mystery.

 

[SIW2]

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X79-DELUXE

your mobo firmware doesnt seem to be showing you an efi option for the gpt disk or usb stick.
Tapping f8 during post on Asus usually brings up a one time boot menu without going directly into bios.



might be worth having a look at the settings

bios advanced menu > boot tab > Rom or something like that.

also check under CSM and see if it is set for efi and legacy ( some mobos say "both" )

Has anybody else here got that mobo and can advise ?

 

[cma6]

Firmware settings

That's an excellent post. I will try to figure out how to get into [FONT=&quot]one time boot menu without going directly into bios.[/FONT]

- - - Updated - - -

That's an excellent post. I will try to figure out how to get into one time boot menu without going directly into bios. Mobo from 2016 build is Supermicro MBD-X10DRI.
I will try to contact Supermicro to see if they have an idea on how to fix the BIOS issue that you did a great job diagnosing.
BIOS ver. 3.4 of 6/10/2021 ; CPLD ver. 02.a1.00 American Megatrends 2.17.1249 2021
Advanced menu /Boot Feature/ Add on ROM Display Mode: "Force BIOS." The other choice: "Keep Current".

 

[SIW2]

set csm to efi and bios

Launch CSM [Enabled]



Boot Devices Control [UEFI and Legacy OpROM]



F10 to save and exit

 

[cma6]

set csm to efi and bios

Launch CSM [Enabled]

View attachment 422586

Boot Devices Control [UEFI and Legacy OpROM]

View attachment 422587

F10 to save and exit

Thanks for the idea. I will see if I can implement it in my BIOS tomorrow.

- - - Updated - - -

Interesting ideas that I tried to implement. CSM support was already Enabled in BIOS. I did not find anything like "UEFI & Legacy OpRom" in Supermicro BIOS. On Boot Menu/Boot Mode Select is UEFI, though Legacy and Dual are choices.
\Boot\UEFI Application Boot Priorities Boot Option #1 I changed from Disabled to Built-in EFI Shell. No luck.

Supermicro tech: "And from the error message, it does not seem to be a bios issue. If you have this hardware running well last few years with same bios and configuration then it’s not a bios issue. It seems system was interrupted during boot at some point that caused the drive to loose it boot partition so it is not able to see the OS drive as a bootable device. If you have a blank drive somewhere, you should try installing the OS to see if there is any issue which will give you confirmation if there is a hardware issue."

 

[cma6]

Fixing the partitions

When I try to do a clean Windows install, and select various partitions, I get this message:
"Window cannot be installed to this disk, which has MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can be installed only on GPT disks."

 

[SIW2]

for efi installation:

if you dont need anything on those partitions, delete them all then it will allow you to proceed.

if you need stuff that is on those partitions covert the disk to gpt first using a 3rd party tool that can convert non destructively.



for bios installation:

boot the installation media in bios mode

 

[cma6]

Clean windows install

Today I was able to to format and then convert physical disk 1 to GPT and then install Windows 10 Pro on that physical disk. However, no good news: system still boots to EFI Shell and no Windows boot manager in BIOS.
How does one "boot the installation media in bios mode"?

 

[SIW2]

there are usually two choices for usb stick.

one says Uefi and the other doesn't - for example on this gigabyte board:



- - - Updated - - -

here is the manual asustek X79-Deluxe

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/.../E8419_x79_deluxe_um_WEB.pdf?model=x79-deluxe

why did you contact Supermicro ?

is it some kind of oem version of x79-deluxe ?

 

[cma6]

The mobo is a Supermicro from 2016. I got several replies from the tech there. When I have the Macrium Reflect USB stick attached, I do sometimes get two versions of it shown as in your picture. What difference does that make, since I assume both boot to the USB stick?

The key issue is that your BIOS shows, as does every normal BIOS, "Windows Boot Manager." But my BIOS still does not have that, even after a clean install of Windows 10 Pro. So the question is: how to get Windows Boot Manager seen by BIOS, since I assume it was installed on the hard drive. Since we don't have a capable tech in my area, I may have to sell this fine system with great hardware on ebay.
I liked your quotes from Curran and Abbey.

 

[SIW2]

What difference does that make, since I assume both boot to the USB stick?

setup.exe will only install in the same mode in which it was booted.

if booted in uefi mode, it will refuse to install to an mbr partitioneddisk.

If booted in bios mode, it will refuse to install to a gpt partitioned disk.

"Windows Boot Manager." But my BIOS still does not have that

your bios is probably looking for a fat32 partition \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI

perhaps you dont have that on your disk.

When I have the Macrium Reflect USB stick attached, I do sometimes get two versions of it shown as in your picture

that means your bios sees the efi file on the fat32 macrium usb.

 

[cma6]

EFI partition

"setup.exe will only install in the same mode in which it was booted. if booted in uefi mode, it will refuse to install to an mbr partitioneddisk."

Just maybe this is an important insight. I have the Windows 10 install on a USB stick. I put it at the top of BIOS and booted into it and did Windows clean install, which completed.

So how can I boot into that Win 10 install usb stick in BIOS mode?

Or more to the point, how can I create a fat32 partition \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI ?

 

[SIW2]

we are not familiar with your motherboard.

what is the exact model name and number

 

[cma6]

Mobo model

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10DRI-O Extended ATX Server Motherboard.
My system was built around that mobo in 2016.