Windows 7 Startup Repair Loop (Boot manager failed to find OS Loader)

[anglethang]

Hey guys.. I am very anxious and frustrated about this issue. I have searched frantically all on multiple forums but the solutions are all over and I just can't..
I have seen some really knowledgeable users here while looking at threads to solve my problem so this is my best bet.. I really do not want to lose all my data :/

I am willing to follow any instructions provided as I am very desperate.

Background Information

My laptop automatically boots into Startup Repair, and once it finishes "repairing", the laptop restarts and boots into Startup Repair once again, looping the whole process. The diagnostic and repair details from Startup Repair showed that the "root cause found" was that the "Boot manager failed to find OS Loader", and the repair action for "File repair" and "Boot configuration data store repair failed".

This is the second time this issue has happened, where I tried to boot up my laptop after hibernating it. Prior to encountering this issue again, reboot, sleep, and shutting down my computer worked fine. Also, I think before the two times the issue happened, I was installing some Windows Updates. I am trying to avoid restoring the disk back to factory state.

What I have tried

• Letting Startup Repair finish. Just simply loops back.
• Running chkdsk /f on my C: drive. No errors and fixes.
• Pressing F8 to access Advanced Boot Options does not work. Goes to Startup Repair.
• System restore to the point before the Windows Update occurred. Did not work.
• Windows Memory Diagnostic tool, Memtest86, Memtest86+ showed no errors.
• Run this in CMD. This is where it gets weird.

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

  I'm not sure what happened, but after rebooting, I encountered an error by Windows Boot Manager in which Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file for \Windows\System32\winload.exe. Pressing Enter brings me onto this screen, where either pressing Enter once again or pressing F8 brings me back to the screen before with the error message. Restarting the computer or anything now always brings me to the screen with the error message by Windows Boot Manager.
  
  To resolve this, I tried following a bunch of instructions from this thread, and making C: (where Windows is) drive the active partition instead of D: (labelled System) solved this and returned me to the Startup Repair Loop issue.
  Additionally though, now if I try to boot from a USB, it says Bootmgr is missing, which is bad. I could boot to Kali Linux via USB before I attempted a bunch of solutions, where I could mount the Windows partition in read-only mode in Kali Linux.
  

Current situation

So far, I have deleted the bcd and bootmgr files and ran Startup Repair 3 times with reboots in between to restore them for a number of times. I'm not sure which of my actions contributed to what problems (such as the Bootmgr is missing problem appearing later) and I am confused and frustrated. Thus, I await your professional help. I'll return in about 12 hours because of sleep.

 

[torchwood]

What you didnt say is
I loaded the dvd prior to running the commands, did you??

Roy

 

[anglethang]

Yea, though before the winload.exe error I could quickly cancel Startup Repair and get an option to run CMD (Hence the commands I ran before encountering the winload.exe error were not through the DVD).
While trying to get rid of the winload.exe error I probably ran a lot of other commands which resulted in not being able to boot from USB now (Bootmgr is missing).

Main issue is the Startup Repair loop for now, I guess.

 

[anglethang]

Bumping (not sure if this is allowed), really no help from you guys :/?

Or how about ways to salvage data?

 

[Megahertz07]

Did you updated your BIOS recently? Did you checked the BIOS settings?
What OS you have on the USB, Win 7 installation disk or Kali Linux?
Do you have any kind of encryption on the disk?
You said that you can't boot Kali Linux? You should always boot another OS on another disk, UNLESS:
- Your BIOS is set to boot UEFI mode and the disk is Legacy - MBR (or vice-versa)
-Your USB disk is corrupted. In this case, on another computer, format and rebuild the the bootable disk.

I've seen that your laptop can have different configurations.
Please edit you profile and add all hardware information you have.
Is your disk a M.2 SSD?

 

[anglethang]

Thank you so much for your reply!

- I have not updated my BIOS recently. I have access to the BIOS settings yes, nothing abnormal there.
- I have a bootable Kali Linux on USB, and a Windows Recovery Disc. The computer itself has Windows 7 Professional.
- There is no encryption on the disk to my knowledge.
- Prior to everything, I could boot anything from USB (as long as it's installed properly onto the USB) just fine. There wasn't a problem with the BIOS settings being set to the wrong mode/or the usb disk being corrupted.

Only when I made C: drive the active partition (as mentioned in my first post) as an attempt to solve my original issue, after the process, I somehow ended up with "Bootmgr is missing" message if I tried to boot by USB (I do this by going to Boot Options, and select the USB). The Windows 7 Recovery Disc still runs fine.

My disk is a 1TB HDD, there is no SSD at all. Also, I think the main issue is still the laptop not being able to boot up due to the errors encountered rather than not being able to boot from USB.

 

[Megahertz07]

Did you launch HP update? It could update the BIOS.
Did you did any kind of partition change to the disk?
Your BIOS type is UEFI not Legacy. The commands you gave are for Legacy.
I've looked at he manual http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/...943810&docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-c04357136
To boot to a divice: (pag86)
To dynamically choose the boot device, by pressing esc while the “Press the ESC key for Startup Menu” message is displayed at the bottom of the screen, and then pressing f9 to enter the Boot Device Options menu.
Did you try to boot the Kali Linux on USB on UEFI mode?

Look this link Drivers & Software - HP Support Center.

 

[Megahertz07]

This software can help you
Bootable Partition Manager| MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition

 

[anglethang]

Hmm ok... how does it help?

Any idea on what options I should use or any instructions that I can follow? I do not want to mess up further :/

 

[Megahertz07]

Make a bootable CD or USB flash drive of partition Wizard. Use Rufus
When you get a image of your disk, take a photo and post as an attachment (Go advanced - Mange Attachments - Browse - Upload)

 

[anglethang]

Ok, I'll update you with the details once I get on to it! I need to sleep now

 

[Megahertz07]

Be sure to download the Bootable Partition Manager| MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition 64 bits.
As you have a UEFI BIOS you don't need to use RUFUS. Just extract the iso to a USB flash drive and boot on UEFI mode.
Take a photo of your disk and attach here.

 

[anglethang]

Hey, I realised I missed out one of your posts, so I'll answer your questions here.

Did you launch HP update? It could update the BIOS.

I launched HP update quite a while back before I encountered this problem. There was an update for the BIOS, but I remember it was not carried out (the update).

Did you did any kind of partition change to the disk?

None.

Your BIOS type is UEFI not Legacy. The commands you gave are for Legacy.
I've looked at he manual http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/...943810&docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-c04357136

I just checked my Boot Mode in my BIOS options again, and it actually says its Legacy, not UEFI.

To boot to a divice: (pag86)
To dynamically choose the boot device, by pressing esc while the “Press the ESC key for Startup Menu” message is displayed at the bottom of the screen, and then pressing f9 to enter the Boot Device Options menu.

Yeah, this is how I've been booting from removable media all along

Did you try to boot the Kali Linux on USB on UEFI mode?

Since the BIOS is actually Legacy... what should I do?

---

Nevertheless, I set up MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable. Since my BIOS is actually Legacy, I still used Rufus to set up the bootable USB. It booted successfully via USB, and I've attached the image below.

(This might hint that the "Bootmgr is missing" issue only applies to the USB with Kali Linux? This current USB with MiniTool is a different USB as compared to the one with Kali. Maybe I'll reformat that USB again, though it's not very important to get Kali working right. Main issue is still the Startup Repair loop!)

 

[Megahertz07]

Does the Windows Partition also has a System after Active&Boot (Active&Boot&System)?

 

[anglethang]

Yeah, there is. Just booted from it to check again

 

[Megahertz07]

I have asked for more help. I really don't know what is missing.

 

[anglethang]

Alright.

Just a reminder that the original problem was the Startup Repair loop: "The diagnostic and repair details from Startup Repair showed that the "root cause found" was that the "Boot manager failed to find OS Loader", and the repair action for "File repair" and "Boot configuration data store repair failed"."

followed by the winload.exe error by Windows Boot Manager in which Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file for \Windows\System32\winload.exe, after I attempted some fixes.

and finally back to the Startup Repair Loop after I attempted some more fixes. (all the details are in the original post, except maybe I forgot some stuff that I had tried)

Hope I can get help! This is not an easy issue..

 

[lehnerus2000]

Can you get access to (or create) a Live Linux CD/DVD/USB Distro?

You could use it to recover your data to an external storage device.
Remember to copy your drivers, program installers and product keys as well.

Once your data is safe, you could reinstall Windows using the laptop's restore partition/tool.

 

[dg1261]

The screenshot in reply #13 looks odd. Assuming the computer originally came with Win7, I think HP systems normally default to the first partition ("SYSTEM") as active, but the screenshot shows partition 2 is active. If the repair attempts were looking for the BCD and boot loader files on the wrong partition, that could explain why they failed.

You have MiniTool Partition Wizard, so if it were me I would use that to set the first partition active (from menu tool bar, "Partition"->"Modify"->"Set Active"). Then reboot from the HDD and see if it boots or if Startup Repair gets any further.

 

[anglethang]

Can you get access to (or create) a Live Linux CD/DVD/USB Distro?

You could use it to recover your data to an external storage device.
Remember to copy your drivers, program installers and product keys as well.

Once your data is safe, you could reinstall Windows using the laptop's restore partition/tool.

Yeah, I could create a Live Linux USB. I have actually copied all the files on the hard disk to an external storage device using CMD via the Windows Recovery Disc. I'm not sure how I would go about using that data to restore though, as well as how to copy the drivers, program installers and product keys.

The screenshot in reply #13 looks odd. Assuming the computer originally came with Win7, I think HP systems normally default to the first partition ("SYSTEM") as active, but the screenshot shows partition 2 is active. If the repair attempts were looking for the BCD and boot loader files on the wrong partition, that could explain why they failed.

You have MiniTool Partition Wizard, so if it were me I would use that to set the first partition active (from menu tool bar, "Partition"->"Modify"->"Set Active"). Then reboot from the HDD and see if it boots or if Startup Repair gets any further.

If I'm not wrong, the active partition was actually SYSTEM at first. I then tried making Windows C: the active partition instead, in attempt to resolve the error by Windows Boot Manager in which Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file for \Windows\System32\winload.exe. This action seemed to eliminate the error, bringing me back to the Startup Repair Loop.

I'll try making the first partition (SYSTEM) active again. I think I saw the BCD and boot loader files on the C: drive? I could take a screenshot for you, if you want