Win 7 stuck in a boot loop on dual boot machine

[ChildOfMana]

Hi,

Sorry for the long post but I'll try to give as much info as I can...

I've just installed Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit and Linux Mint 12 on a Compaq Presario CQ60.

I created a 25Gb partition for Windows, a separate partition for data (around 180Gb) and then installed Linux Mint 12 on another 25Gb partition.

Edit: just to clarify I installed Windows first.

Windows was working fine - I installed all the necessary drivers, security software and Windows updates etc before installing Mint 12.

After installing Mint 12 I booted back into Windows to check everything was fine and to format the data partition to NTFS from within Windows. After this I restarted the machine and booted into Mint to check all was fine on that side of things - it was.

I then left the PC for a while but when I came back to it I tried to boot into Windows and it just keeps restarting the PC when it gets to the Windows logo. It happens over and over again.

I tried booting from the Windows disk to do a start up repair but that doesn't work either.

The one thing I did notice though was that the start up repair tool reports that Windows is now residing on drive E instead of C!! This is weird as it had definitely assigned drive letter C to the main Windows partition last time it booted. Perhaps this is the root of the problem?

What I don't get though is that after installing Mint I booted back into Windows and everything was great. So now I don't know if Windows, Linux or perhaps GRUB is to blame for this?

If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[seavixen32]

I've never used Linux so in that respect I'm no expert, but you might want to check these tutorials,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/116098-dual-boot-windows-7-ubuntu.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/154377-unetbootin-create-bootable-live-linux-usb.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139576-startup-repair-infinite-loop-recovery.html

 

[gregrocker]

The drive letters given in Repair mode may be different than when booted into OS.

What do you mean Startup Repair didn't work? Please try it several times and post back the exact results given.

 

[ChildOfMana]

The drive letters given in Repair mode may be different than when booted into OS.

What do you mean Startup Repair didn't work? Please try it several times and post back the exact results given.

Sorry I should have been more descriptive on that bit.

I tried it only once and it failed to find or repair any problems. It gave me the error codes in the attached picture.

Do you suggest I try it several more times then? Does that sometimes work?

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, if it doesn't start after several attempts, confirm that Win7 partition is marked Active then run it three separate times with reboots to repair or rewrite the System boot files to the Active Partition.
Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

You can also mark Active and post back a picture of your partitioning using free Partition Wizard
bootable CD. After marking Active Win7 partition or it's 100mb System Reserved partition (preferred if you have it), click on disk # to highlight it, then from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, Apply, reboot. This can preclude the need to run the Repairs.

Be aware that GRUB on the HD can corrupt Win7 beyond Repair, which is why it's best to have Linux on separate HD booted only via the BIOS.

Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7

 

[ChildOfMana]

Okay thanks gregrocker. I haven't got time to attempt all that now unfortunately but will do so tomorrow night. I'll let you know how I get on.

I really hope it's not corrupted beyond repair though. Such a nightmare to reinstall everything!

It was happily sitting alongside Linux for a while though so hopefully it's not that.

 

[ChildOfMana]

Hi guys. Really sorry for the necro post but just wanted to update you and ask another question (more out of curiosity than anything else).

I finally got round to implementing the fix gregrocker recommended and it worked... sort of.

After 3 passes of startup repair with restarts Windows started booting properly again.

I did a few program updates, a little work and some web surfing then shut down again. Booted back in to Windows just to check and all seemed fine.

Next time I used the PC I booted into Linux. Whilst there I accessed the shared data drive. Next time I tried to boot Windows it got stuck in a boot loop again. I fixed it the same way and - out of curiosity - booted back into Linux, accessed the shared data partition, restarted and tried Windows... boot loop city!

So I figure either the act of booting into Linux and/or accessing the shared data drive from Linux is what is causing Windows to throw its dummy out.

Does anyone know if this is a known or common issue? I only ask as I'm dual booting Mint 12 and Win 7 on two other machines without this problem. I also used to dual boot Mint 11 and Vista on this same laptop and didn't suffer this problem.

Anyone know what could be happening and whether or not it's fixable?

Thanks, and my sincere apologies for the long post.

 

[theog]

The best way of running Linux with Windows on one Hd drive is in VM.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/116098-dual-boot-windows-7-ubuntu.html



To Remove Linux take look at this post:
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/178280-error-0xc0000225-boot.html#post1514443

Remuve Linux from Dual Boot. (Base of)



Boot up using the Startup disk CD or Windows 7 DVD. (not the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disk) If you have a Netbook, you will need a CD/DVD drive.

Make sure no USB drives are plugged.



If you have not made your Startup Repair CD

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

Do you have a mate with Windows 7 & CD/DVD RW Drive, how could burn one off.



View attachment 167861



1) Boot CD or DVD & open a command prompt.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html



2) Use the Rebuild BCD in this tutorial:

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



View attachment 167862 View attachment 167863



3) FIX MBR.



View attachment 167864



4) Delete Linux Partitions

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2668-partition-volume-delete.html?ltr=P



View attachment 167865 View attachment 167866



View attachment 167867



5) Create New Partition.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2668-partition-volume-delete.html?ltr=P



View attachment 167868 View attachment 167869

The best way of running Linux with Windows on one Hd drive is in VM.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/116098-dual-boot-windows-7-ubuntu.html

 

[ChildOfMana]

With respect if I'm going to remove anything it'll be Windows. I've used Linux almost exclusively for about the last 7 or 8 years and find it more than suits my needs. It is handy having the odd Windows partition knocking about though. And I do like Win 7.

I was just wondering really why on this PC I've suddenly run into problems with Mint 12 and Win 7 when on other PCs I've not had any trouble - even though they're installed on the same drive. Also didn't have trouble with Mint 11 and Vista on this same PC.

Just curious really. When something goes wrong I like to know why and how to fix it if possible. Learning from your mistakes is often the best way I find

Anyways, any ideas what specifically has caused this and whether it's likely to occur again if I start from scratch and have another go? Also do you think there's anything I can do to prevent it happening again (bearing in mind I have to use the same HDD) whilst still having a dual boot setup?

Thanks for the responses so far guys.

Edit:

The best way of running Linux with Windows on one Hd drive is in VM.

This particular PC - whilst theoretically capable - is not in practice powerful enough for a usable VM setup. I have two main rigs where I have Win 7 (and XP too) in VMs on my Linux desktop. On my laptops though I prefer to have native installs where possible.

As you can probably tell I like to have my cake and eat it too Therefore I'd like to keep a dual boot setup between Mint 12 and Win 7 on this PC if possible. If it's a no go then fair enough but I wanted to find out a little more info first.

 

[boyans]

After installing Mint 12 I booted back into Windows to check everything was fine and to format the data partition to NTFS from within Windows.

This is maybe the problem. On Mint 12 installation this partition had another signature which changed after formating.
You have to check what is mounted in Mint 12 and correct disk signature (GUID) for this partition/drive.

I suppose Mint 12 is reassigning a new disk signature when booting/mounting, then Windows is reassigning the same partition when booting and so on the loop.

 

[flemur13013]

You have to check what is mounted in Mint 12 and correct disk signature (GUID) for this partition/drive.

Try removing references to the shared partition from /etc/fstab, then add it manually - or just leave it out. I've had linux problems with two physical partitions mounted to the same directory (e.g. the correct HD "/" partition and a USB backup of "/" were both mounted to "/") because the GUID can get copied when you backup a full partition (I stopped using GUIDs in fstab). You may have some similar problem.

 

[ChildOfMana]

Cool, thanks guys.

I might try removing the shared partition altogether then and handing the space over to Windows. After all I can easily access the Windows partition from Linux if I need to move data between the two.

Or do you envisage that causing issues too? It never has in the past but then this particular problem I'm having hasn't either.

 

[ChildOfMana]

Argh this is seriously annoying me now!

I don't think the boot loop problem has anything to do with Linux. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong here though.

I decided to start afresh so I installed Windows 7 on one partition and Linux Mint 12 on another partition. This time I didn't create a shared partition. After installing Mint I booted into it, mounted the Windows partition and then restarted and booted back to Windows (to test if the act of mounting the Win partition from within Mint casued any issues). Windows booted fine. So far so good. I then set about setting up Windows and installing all the updates and drivers etc. During this process I restarted the PC a good number of times without issue. I didn't boot into Mint at all but the last time I restarted the PC - after installing a driver for the trackpad - the boot loop problem occured again. In exactly the same way as before.

I don't think it has anything to do with the trackpad driver as when it happened the first time it was well past the point where I'd installed that driver.

Obviously I could be wrong but I don't think it's the fault of Linux either as this time I hadn't touched the Mint partition when the boot loop happened. Also, as previously stated, I'm currently dual booting Mint 12 and Win 7 on 2 other laptops (with GRUB installed on the same drive) and both of them are working fine and have been for months.

The poroblem seems to occur only on this one PC, and it clearly isn't a one-off.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Do you think it could be a hardware issue - or perhaps even an incompatibility with Win 7 (the PC originally shipped with Vista)?

I'd really like to get to the bottom of this one if possible.

Thanks guys... and sorry to be a pain!

 

[ChildOfMana]

Anyone?

 

[gregrocker]

You might want to ask in a Linux forum as we mostly see problems where GRUB corrupts Win7 here.

Other resources which have worked repeatedly:
Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7
Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in Perfect Harmony - windows 7 - Lifehacker

 

[ChildOfMana]

But it appears that Windows is the one throwing it's dummy out here?

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate it still might be GRUB causing the issue as you've suggested, but was just wondering if it could be anything else Windows (or hardware) related causing it. As I said it only seems to be affecting this one laptop.

I will of course hop on over to the Mint Forums and ask the same question there though.

Cheers.

 

[gregrocker]

Are you using GRUB? The problems we see here often are GRUB code corrupting Win7.

I'd wipe the HD and then follow these to install and use EasyBCD to create the Dual Boot: Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7
Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in Perfect Harmony - windows 7 - Lifehacker

 

[ChildOfMana]

Are you using GRUB? The problems we see here often are GRUB code corrupting Win7.

I'd wipe the HD and then follow these to install and use EasyBCD to create the Dual Boot: Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7
Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in Perfect Harmony - windows 7 - Lifehacker

Yeah I am using GRUB still. I'll try again then using EasyBCD. At least I'll find out that way if it's GRUB causing the problem. Just thought it might have been something else as it's only affecting this one PC - despite the fact that the exact same partitioning scheme is in use on my other PCs. Which is weird!

Thanks for the links.

 

[ChildOfMana]

Just out of curiosity is a Wubi install known to cause the same or similar problems? AFAIK it also installs GRUB... doesn't it?

 

[gregrocker]

GRUB has been the problem in the past.

A solution is separate HD's, or dual booting using Barman's approach in link here: Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7