MBR - Restore Windows 7 Master Boot Record

jaymac10 said:

SO I'm probably just going to re-format the hard drive, then re-install Windows 7 and be done with this CRAP!

But I do thank everyone for their help! But I'm not sure I can fix it any faster than just re-installing!

I concur that would most likely be quicker and should work if the partition table is not damaged and the 7 install DVD can recognize the hard drive.

I also noticed from your screen shot (thanks btw, it really helps!) that your boot code has been put inside your XP partition. We have received numerous complaints that XP trashes the boot code for 7 at times (unknown exactly why). The real issue here is that XP does not have the ability to manage Vista or 7 because they are newer than XP. The 7 bootmgr is able to include XP. I recommend to all that they use the 100 MB reserved system partition which includes bootmgr (unplug the XP hard drive when installing 7 to allow 7 to create the bootmgr there) to protect the boot manager menu when modifying partitions. It will allow one to continue to boot to other OSs if one of them gets damaged.

Cheers!

.

Hi i am new to this forum. I have a problem with a new installation of windows 7. I installed it fine onto a new drive but when i connected my old drive with windows vista on it booted to vista without asking me,i wanted to move my documents and photos to the new drive. i switched off and disconnected the old drive and started the computer again but this time i got a message : drive 1 primary 00 vista/2008/7 ntfs insert startup disk in floppy drive press f2 to run setup. i just press return to start windows 7 o.k. but when i look in msconfig boot tab nothing is listed. i have tried a startup repair but it says that the disk is the wrong one and wont load the tools.Please can someone help.

paul129 said:

Hi i am new to this forum. I have a problem with a new installation of windows 7. I installed it fine onto a new drive but when i connected my old drive with windows vista on it booted to vista without asking me,i wanted to move my documents and photos to the new drive. i switched off and disconnected the old drive and started the computer again but this time i got a message : drive 1 primary 00 vista/2008/7 ntfs insert startup disk in floppy drive press f2 to run setup. i just press return to start windows 7 o.k. but when i look in msconfig boot tab nothing is listed. i have tried a startup repair but it says that the disk is the wrong one and wont load the tools.Please can someone help.

Hello paul129, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums!

This is puzzling as you installed 7 with the Vista disk removed, I would expect 7 to boot if you removed the Vista disk again. I would recommend to you to leave the Vista disk unplugged and use your 7 install DVD and do a "Startup Repair" like explained here: System Recovery Options If that doesn't work you can always just reinstall 7.

Without knowing what computer/motherboard you are using, I can only give vague suggestions how to overcome this after you have 7 working again. Some motherboards offer a "Boot Menu" during the booting process; you have to watch the screen and see if there is an F# key you can press to start the boot menu. Then you can choose to boot from the 7 hard disk when you want 7, or choose to boot from the Vista disk. Here is a sample boot screen for illustration:



If you do not have the "Boot Menu" option, you can go into the BIOS and put the 7 Hard Disk as the first boot device (and likewise go back and set the Vista Hard Disk as first if desired) so you can boot to 7. You will have to determine which key to press during the boot process to open the BIOS, "Delete", F1, F2, or something else. Then look around and find the "Boot Order, or Priority, and select the 7 hard disk to boot first. You will want to connect both hard drives before you open the BIOS and make your choice. You should be able to access your Vista files form 7.

However, I recommend using the "Easy Transfer Wizard" to move your profiles and settings to 7. I just finished replacing my 7 RC with the 7 Upgrade I purchased and the "Easy Transfer Wizard" is a real convenience!

Please let us know how it goes!

Thanks for the reply. I have taken out the vista hard drive and still get the errror at startup : drive 1 primary 00 vista/2008/7 ntfs insert startup disk in floppy drive press f2 to run setup. I dont have a floppy drive installed as there is no place for it on my motherboard. if i press return windows 7 starts up and runs o.k. but why do i get this error on startup. it comes before the animated windows 7 logo. when i go into msconfig boot tab there is no opperating system listed. i have booted to the windows 7 dvd and it lists the opperating system in the box as windows 7 when i try to load the tools it says that it is the wrong opperating system. I cant figure this one out. have you any ideas please. thanks again.

paul129 said:

Thanks for the reply. I have taken out the vista hard drive and still get the errror at startup : drive 1 primary 00 vista/2008/7 ntfs insert startup disk in floppy drive press f2 to run setup. I dont have a floppy drive installed as there is no place for it on my motherboard. if i press return windows 7 starts up and runs o.k. but why do i get this error on startup. it comes before the animated windows 7 logo. when i go into msconfig boot tab there is no opperating system listed. i have booted to the windows 7 dvd and it lists the opperating system in the box as windows 7 when i try to load the tools it says that it is the wrong opperating system. I cant figure this one out. have you any ideas please. thanks again.

Thanks for posting back. When you installed 7 while the Vista hard drive was connected, 7 put its boot code into the Vista partition. To get 7 to boot without this error, you need to do a clean install (or custom), delete the 7 partition so 7 can create the 100 MB system partition that holds the boot code when it reinstalls 7. That will fix the boot error message and we can add Vista to the 7 boot menu later if you wish.

If you look in "Disk Management" and see the 100 MB partition already there, you can just run the MBR repair (three times to fix all) and you woun't need to reinstall. If you like, you can take a snapshot of your Disk Manager screen and attach it to a post so we can see what you see?

Cheers!
Robert

Thanks for the reply. I have formated my windows 7 drive and reinstalled.after removing the vista drive. When it rebooted i got a message that the boot mgr is missing. ( bang head against brick wall !!! ) I went back to the shop that sold me the hard drive and he said try a new cable and swap the ports , this i did and it worked!! so far is working great. When i was at the shop i bought an external hard drive case so i can put the vista drive in and copy my photo and documents without having to boot it. I would like to thank you for all the help and advice you gave me.

paul129 said:

Thanks for the reply. I have formated my windows 7 drive and reinstalled.after removing the vista drive. When it rebooted i got a message that the boot mgr is missing. ( bang head against brick wall !!! ) I went back to the shop that sold me the hard drive and he said try a new cable and swap the ports , this i did and it worked!! so far is working great. When i was at the shop i bought an external hard drive case so i can put the vista drive in and copy my photo and documents without having to boot it. I would like to thank you for all the help and advice you gave me.

You are quite welcome. Glad you got it sorted. I will remember the "try a different SATA port!!

The external drive case is an excellent idea. It is a great place to save your Windows 7 "Backups and Images".

Happy surfing!
Robert

iseeuu said:

jaymac10 said:

SO I'm probably just going to re-format the hard drive, then re-install Windows 7 and be done with this CRAP!

But I do thank everyone for their help! But I'm not sure I can fix it any faster than just re-installing!

I concur that would most likely be quicker and should work if the partition table is not damaged and the 7 install DVD can recognize the hard drive.

I also noticed from your screen shot (thanks btw, it really helps!) that your boot code has been put inside your XP partition. We have received numerous complaints that XP trashes the boot code for 7 at times (unknown exactly why). The real issue here is that XP does not have the ability to manage Vista or 7 because they are newer than XP. The 7 bootmgr is able to include XP. I recommend to all that they use the 100 MB reserved system partition which includes bootmgr (unplug the XP hard drive when installing 7 to allow 7 to create the bootmgr there) to protect the boot manager menu when modifying partitions. It will allow one to continue to boot to other OSs if one of them gets damaged.

Cheers!

.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I think all of my problems were due to bad RAM.

I just purchased another 4 gigs of Corsair Dominator Ram and when I installed them, crap started to happen.

Since removing them, I have not had one BSOD...

Cheers,

Jay

Hi. I recently installed Ubuntu and it sort of took over.
On STEP 4, there is no 'boot' in the list.

Why not?