Will Not Boot - Bad Pool Header

[bnailchi]

Thanks for all that you have done to help. I have been working much of the day on this, trying to prepare what I need on flash drive to do the clean reinstall. To be honest, I am really not sure if I am doing this correctly. I wonder if I am over my head -- I mean REALLY over my head now. Is there anything I could really screw up if I don't do it correctly? Is it best to get a professional to do this job?

BJ

 

[YoYo155]

Not really, with the risk of losing data not being present there isn't anything you can mess-up
If you do just have another go at it.
No need to have a professional do it it's really straight forward, if you have any questions just ask .

 

[bnailchi]

Your response is encouraging. However, unfortunately for me, the process is not turning out to be very straightforward. Frustrations are rising in the house. My husband has threatened to take a shotgun to his laptop. Thankfully, he went fishing instead.

I was preparing a bootable flash drive using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. All seemed to be going fine and Step 4 of 4 was completed. However, it included the message:

Files copied successfully. However, we were unable to run bootsect to make the USB device bootable. If you need assistance with bootsect, please click on the “Online Help” link above for more information.

So, I went to the online help and it said:
When creating a bootable USB device, I am getting an error about bootsect
To make the USB device bootable, you need to run a tool named bootsect.exe. In some cases, this tool needs to be downloaded from your Microsoft Store account. This may happen if you're trying to create a 64-bit bootable USB device from a 32-bit version of Windows. To download bootsect:

1. Login to your Microsoft Store account to view your purchase history
2. Look for your Windows 7 purchase.
3. Next to Windows 7, there is an "Additional download options" drop-down menu.
4. In the drop-down menu, select "32-bit ISO."
5. Right-click the link, and then save the bootsect.exe file to the location where you installed the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (e.g. C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apps\Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool).
6. Once the file has been saved, go back to the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool to create your bootable USB device.

However, this does not seem to apply to my situation. First, we did not purchase Windows 7 directly from the store. So, we have no purchase history. And it seems that this solution is for a 32 bit ISO when we have a 64 bit ISO.

I tried the flash drive in the laptop to see what would happen anyway, but it is not bootable and I run through the same old error loop that we have been dealing with all along.

Any thoughts on how to successfully get a bootable flash drive so I can get this process going before my husband returns from fishing?

Thanks again!

BJ

 

[YoYo155]

Listen, as much as I would love to help you go through this I certainly do not want to cause any dispute
between your husband and yourself.
Please sort it with him before posting back.

 

[bnailchi]

Thanks for your message. He's frustrated at not having his laptop working but we are both grateful for your help. All is fine here. We took the dogs and all went fishing together today to get a break. I am ready to jump back in and give it a try.

So, where I left off yesterday was I had tried to create a bootable flash drive. I successfully downloaded Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 U (media refresh), X17-58997.iso from the link in Step 1 of the Clean Reinstall web site to my laptop.
I used the Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool to burn the X17-58997 file to a 4GB flash drive. In that process, I got to Step 4 of 4 which completed except that I had a message,
Files copied successfully. However, we were unable to run bootsect to make the USB device bootable. If you need assistance with bootsect, please click on the “Online Help” link above for more information.

The information in the Online Help seems to refer to a 32-bit ISO when we are dealing with a 64-bit ISO. So, I am a bit confused as to why I have this bootsect problem. I did try the flash drive in my husband's computer to see if it would work and it didn't. Oh, well....

Any suggestions about how to solve the bootsect problem so that I can make a bootable flash drive for a successful reinstall?

Thanks again!

BJ


Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 U (media refresh)

 

[YoYo155]

Hi .

On second thought. Before we get into formatting and trying to reinstall Windows,
I would like to some what verify the health condition of the HDD.

Testing the HDD:

1. Download SeaTools for DOS if you don't want to use a CD to test the HDD you can use YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator to create a bootable USB (instructions are found at the bottom of both pages).
2. If SeaTools for DOS is unable to recognize your HDD:
3. Visit HDDdiag and follow the instructions | Or follow the instructions below.

If SeaTools For DOS does not recognize the drive;
Boot into the BIOS using the *Fx key.
Look for an entry called SATA Mode (or something similar), it should be set to IDE / AHCI.
It's probably set to AHCI which is why SeaTools doesn't recognize them in the DOS environment.
Set it to IDE then save and exit usually by pressing the F10 key.
Now boot into SeaTools and it should detect the drives.
Start the Long Test and let it run.
Upon completion don't try to boot into Windows as it will only result in a BSOD, go back into the BIOS
and change the SATA setting back to what it was in the first place.

• *Popular BIOS access keys.

If the HDD passes the long test continue with the installation of Windows, you can use the same software
as mentioned above to create the bootable Windows installation.

:ar:YUMI, is the easiest way I know you can create a bootable USB, just make sure you have
at least a 4GB USB that you can format (delete all of the content from).
View attachment 294199

 

[bnailchi]

Thanks for your response. Just letting you know I received it, am still active here, but am trying to get some time on my laptop which is now shared. I am up for the challenge and should get to testing the HDD within a day or two.

 

[YoYo155]

Thanks , take your time and post back with the results.

 

[bnailchi]

I'm back. I am working on the process for testing the HDD as you detailed previously. This is what I have done so far and am now stuck:

* I started by attempting to create a bootable flash drive by using YUMI- USB Multiboot Creator (YUMI-1.9.9.6B.exe) and SeaTools for DOS. Using YUMI, on step 2 (Select a Distribution from the list to put on your USB), I didn't know which option to choose since SeaTools was not on the list. Step 3 says to browse and select the ISO in Step 3 to be the same as that selected in Step 2. So, Under the heading ‘unlisted bootable USOs’ , I selected ‘Try Unlisted ISO (via SYSLINUX)’ and then went to Step 3 to browse and select SeaToolsDOS223ALL that I had previously downloaded onto my desktop.

I clicked on the Create button and received this error message:

Yumi couldn’t find a configuration file
Please report ‘SeaToolsDOS223ALL.ISO’ not supported!
YUMI will now remove this entry.

I clicked OK.
The process finished.

Is there another way to create a bootable USB other than using YUMI or is there a better selection I can make on Step 2 of YUMI to make this work?

Another question: In SATA mode, is IDE the same as AHA (as opposed to the ACHI option)?

Thanks again! BJ

 

[YoYo155]

That is odd as I'm able to create it :sarc:.
Either way you can use RUFUS to create it easily.
View attachment 294704

Let us know if you're having more issues .

 

[bnailchi]

I tried to use RUFUS and received this error message about SeaTools:
“This version of Rufus only supports bootable ISOs based on bootmgr/WinPR, isolinux or EFI. This ISO doesn’t appear to use either…”
If you are able to do this, what am I missing here?
Thanks again! BJ

 

[YoYo155]

What type of USB thumbdrive are you trying to use?
Is it generic, or loaded with security software such as U3 from Sandisk?

It might also be the current version has changed things a bit, although I doubt it here try this version
which works for me.
View attachment 294736

 

[bnailchi]

I am using a generic flash drive.

I prepared a USB with YUMI-0.1.0.2.rar and SeaTools and that worked without error. Thank you!

However, once I put it in the USB port and turned on the computer, I encounter the same old loop:

· Dell logo
· Starting Windows logo
· BSOD - Bad Pool Header error message
· Dell logo
· Windows Error Recovery

No matter what I select from there, I end up back in the Bad Pool Header loop until I launch a repair (which does not work) and I click on Finish to shut down the computer.

What other option(s) do I have, if any, to get SeaTools to run to do the HDD check?

Thanks again! BJ

 

[YoYo155]

Good to know that this version works .
Every BIOS is a different when it comes to the temporary boot selection menu the most popular
keys are the F2, F10 & F12 try these out and report back, if successful you will presented with a selection
of the bootable devices currently connected to the PC.

 

[bnailchi]

Ok. There has been some progress. I was able to use F12 to boot SeaTools from my flash drive. SeaTools ran and here are the results:

Drive List
all headings are faded out with nothing listed

Selected Drive Information
No hard drives found
If you believe this to be incorrect, check cables,
drive power connection and jumper settings
And then try again

Test Information and Results
Scanning for controllers...
No controllers detected
Device scan complete

 

[YoYo155]

OK good .
This what the "if" part of my previous post is referring to when mentioning AHCI / IDE.

If SeaTools For DOS does not recognize the drive;
Boot into the BIOS using the *Fx key.
Look for an entry called SATA Mode (or something similar), it should be set to IDE / AHCI.
It's probably set to AHCI which is why SeaTools doesn't recognize them in the DOS environment.
Set it to IDE then save and exit usually by pressing the F10 key.
Now boot into SeaTools and it should detect the drives.
Start the Long Test and let it run.
Upon completion don't try to boot into Windows as it will only result in a BSOD, go back into the BIOS
and change the SATA setting back to what it was in the first place.

I believe the BIOS should be F2 in your case.

 

[bnailchi]

Hello again! Here are the details of what I just did.

· Put the bootable USB drive with SeaGate in USB Port and turned on the laptop.
· When seeing Dell logo, I pressed F2 key
· I forwarded to Advance where SATA Operation is <AHCI>
· Highlighting SATA Operation, I clicked Enter. The choices were ATA and AHCI. I selected ATA.
A blue pop up window said, “SATA Operation is being changed! Attention! Changing this setting may prevent your operating system from booting or require a reinstall. Are you sure you would like to continue?” I clicked “yes”.
· I clicked the F10 key. I selected Exit and save changes.
· I booted into SeaTools and ran it. Here are the results:

Drive List
Model ID ST9500325AS; Serial Number S2WKTSYZ; Revision D005DEM1; Test Progress – Idle

Selected Drive Information
Device 0 is Seagate Device ST9500325AS S2WKTSYZ On Generic PCI ATA
Max Native Address 976773167
Device is 48 Bit Addressed – Number of LBAs 976773167 (500.108 GB)
This drive supports Security Features
SMART Is Supported and ENABLED
SMART has NOT Been Tripped
DST is Supported
Logging Feature Set Is Supported
POH 1608 Current Temp 26

Test Information and Results
Scanning for devices…
Scanning for devices on Generic PCI ATA…
Scanning for devices on Generic PCI ATA…. (NOTE: yes, this was listed twice)
Detected 1 devices
Device scan complete


· I then went into the BIOS and changed the SATA setting from ATA back to AHCI and saved it.

This is progress! At least I am making it through the test. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say about the results.

BJ

 

[YoYo155]

Hello .
It is progress in a sense that you manged to boot into SeaTools and have it recognize your HDD,
but you didn't run the test .
You need to select the Long Test at the top left under Basic Tests .

 

[bnailchi]

I took a holiday break with family and am back.

Thanks for the clarification. I am in the process of running the Long Test in SeaTools. How long does the test run? It has been running for almost two hours now.

Thanks.

BJ

 

[bnailchi]

I ran the Long Test in SeaTools for over six hours with no conclusion. I didn't know how long I should let it run, so I stopped it and shut it down.

Should I try again and let it run longer? If so, how long should I give it?

Thanks again!

BJ