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Resolved PC Will Not Boot After HDDs Re-Arranged

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by Mr. Chip, 2014/07/23.

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  1. 2014/07/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    If indeed there is corruption I think I would go with the drives arranged as you want them initially. If no luck revert back to the original set up.
     
    PeteC,
    #21
  2. 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip Lifetime Subscription

    Mr. Chip Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    OK, I will get the drives the way I want them and try your idea out. The other guy is offline for the day. I should have an update in 15 minutes.
     
    Mr. Chip,
    #22


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  4. 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip Lifetime Subscription

    Mr. Chip Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Pete,
    I have the drives plugged in the way I want them. I loaded Windows Recovery and it did not detect any OS on any of the drives. I am now at the command prompt. How much longer till you sign off? Any chance you can give me one more hour?

    P.S. Murphy's law - my keyboard would not work at the command prompt because it is wireless. had to scrounge around for a USB keyboard. Am reloading Windows recovery now.
     
    Last edited: 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip,
    #23
  5. 2014/07/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    1 hour and no more :) - 14.30 hrs your time.
     
    PeteC,
    #24
  6. 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip Lifetime Subscription

    Mr. Chip Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thank you! Thank you! Oh and did I say THANK YOU!!

    Now for the strange thing. My USB keyboard also did not let me type in at the command prompt. I just plugged in an ancient keyboard with a round purple connector and will try that in two minutes. What confuses me is that my wireless and USB keyboards worked when I pressed F8 to give me the boot options. Any ideas why I can't type in the command prompt?

    UPDATE - Never mind the keyboard question. The ancient round purple one works after reboot.
     
    Last edited: 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip,
    #25
  7. 2014/07/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    PS/2 keyboards (The ancient round purple one) are not hot pluggable - should be plugged in with PC off and then reboot -as you discovered!
     
    PeteC,
    #26
  8. 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip Lifetime Subscription

    Mr. Chip Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Progress!

    I ran bootrec.exe /ScanOS

    It scanned all my drives and found one Windows Installation at D:\Windows

    It is calling my boot drive D instead of C, but I read that this utility may use different drive letters.

    Now what should I do? My options with bootrec include:

    1) /FixMBR - per Microsoft: This option writes a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-compatible MBR to the system partition. It does not overwrite the existing partition table. Use this option when you must resolve MBR corruption issues, or when you have to remove nonstandard code from the MBR.

    2) /FixBoot - per Microsoft: This option writes a new boot sector to the system partition by using a boot sector that's compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7. Use this option if one of the following conditions is true:

    • The boot sector was replaced with a nonstandard Windows Vista or Windows 7 boot sector.
    • The boot sector is damaged.
    • An earlier Windows operating system was installed after Windows Vista or Windows 7 was installed. In this situation, the computer starts by using Windows NT Loader (NTLDR) instead of Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr.exe).

    3) /RebuildBcd - per Microsoft: This option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7. Additionally, it lets you select the installations that you want to add to the BCD store. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD store.

    Note Use the Bootrec.exe tool to troubleshoot a "Bootmgr Is Missing" error. If rebuilding the BCD store doesn't resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD store and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD store is completely rebuilt.

    To do this, type the following commands at the Windows RE command prompt:

    bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
    c:
    cd boot
    attrib bcd -s -h -r
    ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
    bootrec /RebuildBcd
     
    Last edited: 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip,
    #27
  9. 2014/07/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    I hope that what you read is correct - having D:\ as the boot drive is real bad news, even though it will work, but program installs often look for C:\ and give no option to change.

    I am in unknown territory here, but instinct tells me that FixMBR would be a good starting point. You may need to run RebuildBcd if that does not work.
     
    PeteC,
    #28
  10. 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip Lifetime Subscription

    Mr. Chip Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Pete - I know I am down to my last 20 minutes. Some good news - I had partial success. I ran /FixMBR successfully.

    I then tried to run /FixBoot but I got an error message that /Element Not Found

    I exited the command prompt and rebooted and Windows 7 popped up!!! The system said I need to reboot for changes to take affect. I rebooted and again Windows came up.

    Here is the good news:
    Most of my drives are visible.
    I logged into my network successfully and see all my network shares
    My boot drive is labeled C

    The only issue is my second SSD drive is NOT visible for some reason. Should I reboot into BIOS and see what it tells me?

    I checked under Device Manager and in Disk Management and the second SSD is no where to be seen.
     
    Last edited: 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip,
    #29
  11. 2014/07/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Great sigh of relief at this end :D Almost home and dry hopefully.

    Yes, check in the BIOS to see if the SSD is recognised - if not check cable connections.
     
    PeteC,
    #30
  12. 2014/07/24
    Mr. Chip Lifetime Subscription

    Mr. Chip Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Pete, thank you for your amazing patience on this. The SSD does not show up in the BIOS. I did see that the BIOS had the wrong boot order for the HDDs. I fixed that and booted again to Windows successfully.

    I happen to have a brand new 256 GB Samsung SSD that I was going to install on my son's PC. I am thinking of replacing the invisible 128 GB SSD with this new one. I can use the extra space and this way the drives will be easy to tell apart in BIOS.

    Last question of the night. Should I do the following:
    1. Shut down
    2. Unplug the invisible SSD and plug the new one in
    3. Boot up and configure in Device Manager

    If you are unsure how to install a new SSD I can look that up online. Thank you again. This BBS always gets me out of jams. Have a great night. :)
     
    Mr. Chip,
    #31
  13. 2014/07/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    You're welcome :)
    I would think so, but am not familiar with SSD's.

    Logging off - good luck!
     
    PeteC,
    #32
  14. 2014/07/24
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    retiredlearner,
    #33
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