Solved Very odd problem

[taz1458]

I have a almost brand new Dell Inspiron manufactured just 2 months ago. yesterday when I went to town it was fine. After I came back Windows Boot Manager was up and it said that it could not load, try using your disk to repair, blahblah blah. Tried that and it will not work. I ran the diagnostics for it and it said that there was no problem with the hard drive. I put my secondary HDD back in and got it booted up, but when I look for the original hdd, it says recovery, but it is the size of the normal hdd. I have absolutely no clue what is the matter with it and any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[richnrockville]

Welcome Taz:
I suggest that you give dell a call as your machine should still be under warantee so they should solve
your problem.

Rich
filling out your system spec's might help.

 

[taz1458]

Problem with that is, it was a replacement and my warranty is now up. I finally got the bootmgr is missing error and stsartup repair is currently running. See what happens, if that does not work then I will post up specs.

 

[mgorman87]

Hello,

Please attempt a start up repair on your system following the instructions from the link below

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

If you can, I would like you to run a hard drive diagnostics

Seatools Hard Drive Diagnostics

 

[taz1458]

Startup repair did not work, as it gave me the thing to forward error to microsoft or something like that. I ran the Dell hard Drive diagnostics last night and everything passed and came back fine.

 

[taz1458]

Alright, here are my basic specs. if you want more let me know and I should be able to get them:
4GB Ram
Intel Core i5 CPU
760 @ 2.80 gHz
Windows 7 64-Bit
-----------------------------

Now here is the thing im wondering. Since I can get into my other hard drive, if I went into that one, and deleted the reovery partition from my normal one, would I then at least be able to get the stuff off of it? If not how would I at least do that, because I do not believe that it erased anything since my hdd passed all the tests and came back fine. Another thing, Im not sure if it recovered my old hdd's Windows 7 onto my normal hdd or what, but no matter which hdd I keep plugged in it brings up the same thing which in reality shouldn't even be possible. Please help if you can, thanks in advance!

 

[mgorman87]

So is there anything on the hard drive that you need? Or are you willing to format it and reinstall windows?

And I'm confused as to what you are doing with the hard drives. Your one hard drive doesn't boot. But if you hook up another hard drive your computer boots to that? Im confused

 

[taz1458]

Correct. my original one when I try to boot from it gives me the BOOTMGR is missing error press ctrl+alt+del to restart. My other one(will call hdd2 for this purpose) will boot up normal and everything into my account that I had for my old PC. There is a lot of important stuff that I need from hdd1 to use. Thats why Im hesitant to reinstall Windows.

 

[mgorman87]

How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

 

[taz1458]

Where do I find that at? Is that on the Windows 7 DVD?

 

[mgorman87]

If you click the link it tells you exactly what you need to do

 

[taz1458]

Didnt realize it was a link, sorry about that. I hit the FixMBR & ScanOs. I tried to fix boot but it says not recognized internal or external command. When I did the Os it did recognize that there was a Windows installation there. What do I want to do now?

 

[mgorman87]

I would try the other's that you haven't done. And if nothing works, attempt the repair in red

Bootrec.exe options

The Bootrec.exe tool supports the following options. Use the option that is appropriate for your situation.

Note If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the Windows RE command prompt:

• bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
• c:
• cd boot
• attrib bcd -s -h -r
• ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
• bootrec /RebuildBcd

/FixMbr

The /FixMbr option writes a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-compatible MBR to the system partition. This option does not overwrite the existing partition table. Use this option when you must resolve MBR corruption issues, or when you have to remove non-standard code from the MBR.

/FixBoot

The /FixBoot option writes a new boot sector to the system partition by using a boot sector that is compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7. Use this option if one of the following conditions is true:

• The boot sector has been replaced with a non-standard Windows Vista or Windows 7 boot sector.
• The boot sector is damaged.
• An earlier Windows operating system has been installed after Windows Vista or Windows 7 was installed. In this scenario, the computer starts by using Windows NT Loader (NTLDR) instead of Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr.exe).

/ScanOs

The /ScanOs option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7. Additionally, this option displays the entries that are currently not in the BCD store. Use this option when there are Windows Vista or Windows 7 installations that the Boot Manager menu does not list.

/RebuildBcd

The /RebuildBcd option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7. Additionally, this option lets you select the installations that you want to add to the BCD store. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD.

 

[taz1458]

Am trying the one in red as I speak. Others still gave me the Bootmgr error.

 

[taz1458]

ok, when I do the bootrec /RebuildBcd and it comes up to the Add installation to boot list? Yes(Y)/No(N)/All(A) what do I select?

 

[mgorman87]

Not sure. I would guess you would say Yes

 

[taz1458]

I hit yes and get "The system cannot find the path specified."

 

[taz1458]

Tried restarting and still getting the BOOTMGR is missing error.

 

[mgorman87]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

Try that if you haven't done that already

 

[mgorman87]

I found this if that last one doesn't work

10 step FIX Windows 7 [all versions]

1.) Boot from "WINDOWS 7" DVD;
2.) Select "Repair computer";
3.) Select "Cancel" to exit the repair wizard;
4.) You will now get a screen which displays 'command prompt','system restore','memory diagnostics',etc......
5.) Select "command prompt";
6.) Type your "DVD-DRIVE LETTER" in command prompt, press ENTER;
7.) Now if your Windows 7 is installed in C drive, type "copy bootmgr c:\" without codes, press ENTER;
8.) After successful copy type "exit" without codes, press ENTER;
9.) Reboot computer;
10.) Select "start windows normally";