W7 cannot find boot device.

[gets]

I have read and tried other fixes for this on this forum. None work however. A friend shipped me a used computer. During shipment a wire had come off the main HD. I did try to start the machine without knowing the wire was off. I got the "bootdevice" message. After talking with my friend I found and replaced the wire. I tried doing a "repair" using F8 but no luck. I can however use the option to "start my computer using the last known etc." Everything works fine, but when I shut the machine off I get the "can't find bootdevice" again when I restart. What do I have to change in my bios settings to make the machine boot normally?
Thanks in advance.
Bob G.

 

[altjx]

Very interesting. Can you make sure that there's nothing else set to boot first? Check your boot sequence. This may not be the solution but I'd recommend just making sure.

I think I've seen something like this happen before but it was trying to boot from another device besides the hard drive. Interesting to see any responses here.

 

[seekermeister]

Yes, it is most likely the boot priority in the BIOS. On my computer, any time that I add, subtract or change the drives in any fashion, the boot sequence gets changed.

 

[gets]

Thanks for the response. Would you be so kind as to point me where to go in the Bios to change my boot settngs and if C: drive is where the OS resides, how to set it to the proper settings to boot correctly?
Thanks. Bios is Phoenix by the way.
Bob G.

 

[seekermeister]

I'm not certain about your BIOS, but it should have a tab labeled Boot, or something similar. You will need to know the model number of the drive, which you will find in the Device Manager, because the drives are not IDed by drive letter. In my BIOS, there are two places to check on the Boot tab, first where the drives are listed, you need to move the boot drive to the first location, then where you set the priority, place it first there, unless you have need to boot from a floppy or optical drive, and if you do, change the hard drive back to first afterward.

 

[gets]

Ok, thanks for that info. I will give it a try.
Bob G.

 

[gets]

Here is where I am. I used the Windows 7 CD to repair the start up. I can now get to the "Windows Starting" screen but nothing further. I went into the BIOs and everything seems to check out in the correct order. Here are some other oddities. If I go in through F8 and select "use last known working configuration" option it gets me to the desktop just fine. All programs work just fine. Once I was in I tried setting a restore point but it still would not boot up beyond the "Windows Starting" screen. Safe Mode works too. There must be a boot setting off besides the boot order. Crazy huh?
Bob G.

 

[essenbe]

Try running Startup Repair you may have to run it 3 times with a boot attempt in between each try.

 

[gets]

Tried the repair multiple times with no luck. Bios has been set to default. It still won't boot to windows.
Bob G.

 

[essenbe]

Just bear with us and we will try to resolve your problems. Read this tutorial run scannow at boot prompt. This is a system file checker which will verify and attempt to repair any damaged system files, again if it finds problems you may need to do this several times. If this does not work, come back here and we will try another approach. Again make sure your CD/DVD is the 1st boot device in BIOS and that the hard drive containing Windows 7 is the second boot device. While in BIOS insert the installation DVD or the repair CD, save and exit.

 

[gets]

Thanks for you help. I will give it a try tonight after work.
Bob G.

 

[Britton30]

This may seem simplisitc, but is the "wire" that came loose during shipping firmly attached to the HDD? By wire I am thinking it's the power or data cable to the drive.
You may try http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html , then type in chkdsk /f, exit the cmd window and reboot. This will scan for and attempt to fix hard disk errors at your next boot. It will take 10-20 minutes to complete.

 

[gregrocker]

In addition to Disk Check run from Repair Command Prompt, run the HD maker's extended diagnostics/repair bootable CD scan: HD Diagnostic to clear the HD.

However if the hang is at the boot animation this is almost always a driver failing to load. We see it when trying to start Win7 on new hardware. Was this HD moved from another computer?

If so the solution is to SysPrep to move HD to another computer on the old hardware only. If you don't have access to the HD's previous computer then you'll need to boot Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to run on the Win7 installation to remove all drivers so it will start on new hardware.