Solved Unable to boot after clean install Win7 Ultimate 64-bit

[Commander Turk]

I recently got my pc up and running again with a new MB and CPU i had installed Ultimate 64 from my USB stick as usual installed fine booted to windows no problem

untill i tried to do a chsk dsk on the main drive which then restarted my pc showed me the OS boot information but didn't show the usual chkdsk screen it hanged so i rebooted and decided to re-install

this is where more problems occured, i formated an clean installed again to restart an be greeted with "Reboot and select proper boot device/media and press any key"

i ran the install again to notice that it doesn't make a system reserved partition this is where the boot files are, i have tried three diffrent ISO's with three diffrent USB sticks an also tried on a laptop and everytime it does not make a system reserved partition

i've used the Windows 7 DVD To USB Tool and the CMD guide to making a bootable windows USB like i've done in the past again same results

i'm hoping that my seagate 250GB barracuda isn't becoming faulty could this be the case? i had also updated the BIOS on the MB but it was working fine after that so i don't think that is the issue

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

 

[jumanji]

Welcome to SevenForums.

Download SeaTools for DOS | Seagate burn it on to a CD and run the diagnostic tests. That should confirm whether your HDD is OK or not.

 

[wanchoo]

It is not necessary that the System Reserved Partition must get created when installing Windows 7. It is only created when installing Windows 7 with unallocated space on the hard disk.

What you can perhaps try is to reformat the hard disk in two or three parts. Say 80 gigabytes for C (system volume) Drive and the remaining in say D Drive without leaving any unallocated space. Now try and reinstall Windows 7 on C Drive and the installation shall take place without any hitch and without the System Reserved Partition.

If however you want to have the System Reserved Partition then use the Windows 7 Setup DVD to install Windows 7 on a pristine hard disk. You can have a look at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html in this Forums' Tutorial Section.

If you also want to check the hard disk then you must also carry out the tests prescribed by Jumanji.

Good luck.

 

[gregrocker]

Try writing latest official ISO download to stick using Universal USB Installer with Win7 in dropdown menu.

Wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command to clear the boot sector. Partition as desired during install or just click Next to let installer create and format your install partition. Steps illustrated here: Clean Install Windows 7

 

[Commander Turk]

@Jumanji

I'm going to run sea tools soon

@wanchoo & gregrocker

i tried both your methods came back with the same results as usual, i had an idea that i wanted to try out i booted up HIRENS BOOT DISK via USB there was an option to boot from the pc's hard drive i executed that and it booted to continue with the installation on changing it back to booting from hard drive via the bios it did the same thing again, so i've used the HIREN boot disk method and it boots fine

as i said i'll run seagate tools an see if i come back with anything, if you guys or anyone else has anymore advice or ideas i'm all ears

 

[AddRAM]

Do you have a working cd/dvd drive ? Do you have any operating systems on a disc you can experiment with to see if you can get a working system to rule out bad hardware ?

Make yourself a Partition Wizard bootable CD. It is priceless.
I use PowerIso to make a bootable flash drive, works perfectly.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html

Use the bootable cd to create your install partition and mark it active so no system reserve partition is created.

 

[Duzzy]

How many physical Hard Drives do you have?
And you did completly wipe the Hard Drive with Diskpart - clean command like Gregrocker suggested?

 

[Commander Turk]

How many physical Hard Drives do you have?
And you did completly wipe the Hard Drive with Diskpart - clean command like Gregrocker suggested?

i followed gregrockers advice i used clean all on that hard drive did a clean install and i get the usual "Reboot and select proper boot device/media and press any key"

I have two hard drives which are both Seagate HD

Main Drive - Seagate 250GB SATA-II Momentus 7200RPM 16MB Cache ST9250410AS

Second Drive - Seagate 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache ST31000528ASAs i said above i can only boot from the hard drive using HIRENS BOOT DISK which is really anoyying.....

@AddRAM

I do not have a DVD drive present in this system so i can't make a bootable DVD unless i remove my laptops DVD drive an connect it up and give that ago?

i'm running the seagate tools on both hard drives at the moment, perhaps a firmware update may help, or perhaps the SATA connection on the motherboard is faulty? mind you i do have 6 SATA ports on this motherboard

 

[gregrocker]

Please boot Win7 with both HD's attached and post back a screenshot your maximized Disk Management drive map with listings, using Snipping Tool in Start Menu.

When you can only boot with a boot disk then you need to repair or rewrite the System boot files to their partition, so we need to see the configuration.

Had you mentioned in your first post that you had two HD's we could have also told you that you need to unplug all but the target HD for install.

 

[Commander Turk]

There are two REMOVEABLE drives ignore them one is hirens boot disc the other is the usb i used to transfer the below image onto this laptop i'm using

something to add i made a new partition on this laptop and used the USB to install win7 on to it when i restarted it booted up fine and continued install an to the desktop with no issues so we can rule out the USB or install files are corrupt

 

[gregrocker]

The OS which is booting is on C which we know because of the Boot and Page File flags.

However the boot files for C are on the 1tb HD unlettered partition as shown by the System Active flags. This is problematic.

The way to fix this is to mark C Active: Partition - Mark as Active

Power down to unplug 1tb HD, boot into BIOS setup to set C as first HD to boot in BIOS, after disk drive.

Now boot into System Recovery Options on Win7 DVD or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the System boot files to C, until Win7 starts and C holds the System Active boot flags.

If this fails I would proceed to test both HD's with Seagate SeaTools extended CD scan, if it passes wipe the target HD with Seatools, try install with all other HD's and peripherals unplugged.

 

[Duzzy]

As I thought the boot files have been written to the second hard drive, Disk 1.
Like Gregrocker said above you should unplug the second drive before installing and then setup should create the System Reserve partition and place the boot files there and mark it as active.

Once you can boot into Windows you can reconnect the second drive and delete the boot files from the second drive safely. I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent solution but you would be able to boot now without Hiren's if you boot from the second drive.

The reason that made me think you had two or more Hard Drives is because Hiren's searchers all found drives and boot's the first Windows 7/Vista bootloader (bootmgr) it finds and if it doesn't find one it then it searchers for the Windows XP bootloader (NTLDR). So because Hiren's could boot it I new there had to be a bootloader somewhere that had no problems booting if there was no bootloader on your internal drives it would have booted the Windows Installer from the USB if it was still plugged in.

EDIT: Gregrocker beat me to it but he gives some better advice that might save re-installing. Also I said "I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent solution...." thats because of what he said, "This is problematic."

 

[Commander Turk]

O.O

Argh! why didn't i notice that... i'm an idiot... >.<

I powered down the pc disconnected the TB hard drive ran the installer again restarted... it started working properly! folks thank you for all your help going to keep your advice in a word document for future referance in case someone i else has similar porblems

KUDOS !