Solved Windows 7 only boots from cd

[Butchhardwell]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum and to Win 7. Recently I loaded Win 7 on to this machine as a new install. I built the computer from ground up and everything is new. I have built other machines in the past but this is the first with Win 7. I installed from DVD R/W with no problems. On reboot I received a blank screen with blnking curser in upper left hand corner. On the next reboot I sellected F8 which gave me selections of which drive to boot from (BIOS is set to SATA 1). I chose the DVD R/W and the machine booted with no problems. Everything works fine except I have to boot from the install disk in the DVD R/W. I have searched through the postings here and other places on the net and havn't found anything that quite discribes this problem. The HDD was new and unused (no prervious OS). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Butch H

 

[theog]

Try a startup repair:
How to Run a Startup Repair in Windows 7
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[Butchhardwell]

Thanks Theog for the reply. I ran the startup repair and no issues were detected. When I looked at the log I noticed these listings: System Disk= \Device\Hard disk0, Windows directory= D:\Windows. In System Information Boot Device is listed as \Device\Harddiskvolume1. Don't know if this is important or not.

Thanks,
Butch H.

 

[Jacee]

On the next reboot I sellected F8 which gave me selections of which drive to boot from (BIOS is set to SATA 1). I chose the DVD R/W and the machine booted with no problems.

Why did you choose to boot from the DVD instead of BIOS/ Hard Drive?

 

[AddRAM]

If you can boot into windows from the dvd post us a shot of disk management.

 

[Butchhardwell]

Jacee, The BIOS was set to default to the SATA HDD on reboot. On the first reboot the SATA HDD was selected and I received the blank screen with the blinking curser. I tried rebooting several times to the HDD with the same result. That is when I decided to try the DVD drive and it worked.
Thanks,
Butch H.

 

[Butchhardwell]

I'll try again

 

[Butchhardwell]

Ok I have tried again to upload a screen shot of disk management. If you need more let me know.
Thanks,
Butch H.

 

[Butchhardwell]

Sorry for the double post. Now I understand how this works.

Thanks,
Butch H.

 

[gregrocker]

The configuration is correct. However I would boot into BIOS setup and set the HD first to boot.

Does it still require having the DVD in the drive for Win7 to start? If so run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times no matter what it reports.

If that fails, back up your files and wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command to clear the boot sector, then follow the same steps in Clean Reinstall to make sure drivers are being handled correctly.

 

[Butchhardwell]

Thanks Gregrocker. HD is set first to start. Ran startup repair five times with same results. Still needs instal or repair disk to boot. I will look at the Diskpart clean command tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Butch H.

 

[Butchhardwell]

I had another look at the BIOS. I didn't notice the choices for IDE, ACHI and RAID eairlier. Default was set to IDE. Sooo I selected ACHI mode for SATA 1-4. Of course this messed things up real good. After several restarts and attemped repairs I just went ahead and reinstalled WIN 7. Everything seems to work correctly now. Before all this I tried Easy BCD. Nothing helped. Thanks again for all the replies.

Butch H

 

[Butchhardwell]

abc

 

[Kaktussoft]

So your system DID boot when booting form DVD and didn't press anything from "press any key key to boot from CD/DVD"?

This bypasses the boot device order on harddisk.

 

[Butchhardwell]

Kaktussoft, yes when I reloaded Win 7 after trying to repair. In the process of updating now.

Butch H