The 0xc000000f prolem: boot inaccessible

[obi]

Hey all, my laptop has recently gotten the 0xc000000f error that is pretty common.

"Status: 0xc000000fc
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible"

Sony VPCEB Windows 7, came pre-installed, no disk of any sort.

This error started occuring after I USED THE POWER BUTTON TO SHUTOFF after a computer freeze. I read that what I did might have ruined my HD, so I might have to restore to default, but i have very important work on my computer I would rather not lose..

For several hours, I've been culling through and attempting several solutions I've found on the internet.

Cannot log onto any account.

Seeing how I do not have a windows 7 install disk, I borrowed my friends PIRATED copy of win7. Attempting to get into the repair computer option only leads to it attempting to load forever.

I burned my own copy of a win7 recovery disk, but that turns out to give me an I/O error (is this just result of a bad burn? the only thing capable of burning disk is a VERY old and slow computer)

Any type of advanced boot option only leads to the error.

I've read that there is just something wrong with my BOOTMGR, but the only way to fix it is with the recovery console. I have not installed it pre-error and the only way to get it is through the repair computer option which does not work for me :[

Please help me out guys!

 

[DeanP]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools (Select SeaTools for DOS)

 

[obi]

I did what was sent to me above.
I failed the short test, which prompted my to do a long test which came this notice:
"Please save this code if you are planning a warranty exhange. Seagate product warranty status depends on how the product is sold. If your hard drive is a component in an OEM system, then the OEM covers the drive warranty.

Unfortunately, your Seagate harddrive has failed an important diagnostic test, probably caused by problem sectors which are difficult to read. Now is a good time to make sure you have a current backup of your important data.

Seagate recommends that you consider repairing the problem sectors. SeaTools for DOS may be able to save you from the inconvience...etctec"

what now? Clean install?

 

[obi]

Repair was unsuccessful on the hard drive. :[

 

[SIW2]

Great.

 

[DeanP]

RMA the laptop is the best solution.

 

[mrsour]

i just had this problem what happend was the boot "flag" in your system has been altered and windows can't see itself. what did was use a linex live cd (mint 10) use the linex partion manager to reflag your system to boot after that the repair disk will pick up the error and correct the problem automaticly

if it won't repair automaticly use the dos command
/fixmbr
or
bootsect /fixmbr

in linex to set the boot flag click the partion win7 is on (if you don't know it will most likely be the biggest)
then right click click propertys and check boot.

 

[SIW2]

Thanks.

I don't think that was the problem here, tho.

Seatools reports it as a bad drive.

 

[mrsour]

when i had this problem the windows store techy told my i also had a bad drive and that it was impossable to fix (the wanted to charge me 200 bucks for a new install) but the only thing wrong is the mbr boot load manager because it tells the system the file paths so if it has been corupted the whole hard drive will apper to be corrupt even though it is just the mbr partion

good luck.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, we have seen and dealt with this on hundreds of occasions.

In this case, however, it appears to be a drive problem.

If he could get the repair dvd to load - he could have tried startup repair, you never know.

Sadly, the op doesn't seem to be able to do that.

 

[obi]

Thanks to all of you for your responses!
I'll try out mrsour's solution in the hopes that my drive actually has not gone bad.
And tomorrow (hopefully), i'm getting a copy of a windows 7 recovery disk to use that my friend has successfully repair with.

 

[SIW2]

Hope it works for you - let us know how you get on.

 

[mrsour]

if that dosn't work out for you the live linex cd should be able to access the files stoard on your hard drive and you can back up importent files via thumb drive cd or external hard drive.

 

[obi]

hey all, sorry for the late reply ._.
i had trouble burning a linux iso since i dont have a reliable computer to burn anything.
right now im open in linux,

but i have no idea how to navigate it and when i attempt to type in boot /fixmbr it says "no command 'boot' found did you mean etc"

can someone give me step by step instructions! sorry, i dont know much about computers!

edit:
actually found my way to the partitioning manager and i flagged my largest drive to the boot (boot was not assigned to it orginally) but now its taking a long time to load. is this normal? im planning to leave it running over night.

 

[mrsour]

bootsect /mbr
is a command for windows command promt if it says it's not there then you not an the correct administrative level to change such a thing. to get a admin consel you can put in a recovery disk put easy BCD on you computer or you a simmiller recovery program if you need help with linex go to the website for you version i have yet to see one that does not provide toutorials for beginners.

linex will take awile to load scince it's booting off a cd
if you have more trouble with bootsect type bootsect /help and it will give you step by step instuctions for what you want to do

and if you can't solve the problem in linex click mycompter or somehting simmiler to that and you can selcet a hard drive to backup any thing improtent

 

[obi]

Ok. So now that I have reflagged a different partition to boot, whenever i try to boot up nothing comes up other than a "no operating system found"
also when i try to use Gparted again to view my partitions, no devices are found even though i could see partitions before i changed boot flags.
i probably did something wrong huh

 

[mrsour]

unless you need something on the drive i would wipe it useing minitool by selecting fill sectors with 0