Windows 7 bootmgr not found. bootrec /rebuildbcd and /fixboot give 'Element not found" error

[pikay2k]

ello, I've run into a problem with my Windows 7 install. For context, I originally had Windows XP dual booting with Windows 7 because I wasn't sure if I wanted to make the upgrade at the time. Windows XP was on my old 300 GB HDD, while I had Windows 7 on my 1.5 TB HDD (with 83GB allocated into my Windows 7 partition while the rest is used for storage).

Yesterday my 300GB HDD died (R.I.P.), and I realize that along with it, I must have still been using that hard drive for my boot loader. With the drive dead, I can no longer boot into my Windows 7 partition, even though bootrec /scanos reads that it's still there.

My issue is that /fixboot and /rebuildbcd both give me an "element not found" error when attempting them. My Windows installation doesn't appear in the list of installations to repair on my recovery CDs. I've set the partition as active via Diskpart and Partition Wizard, but it still refuses to boot. It used to be a logical partition, but I set it to primary with Partition Wizard, so it should be fine.

I have executed the automatic startup repair option 6 times, and my installation still isn't listed under my repair DVD. The repair informs me that my Partition Table is corrupted, and that Windows should work after a restart, or repair will try again next restart. However, Windows is not repaired and automatic repair still doesn't fix anything. It's rather frustrating, because I know for a fact my files are all there and unharmed, but there's simply no way for me to get into them. I'm running out of ideas. I've searched extensively for a fix to this, and it seems everyone can find a fix but me by simply marking the partition as active and running /fixboot with automatic repair.

The only other thing I can think of is perhaps making another partition, throwing a Linux distribution with Grub onto it, using that to boot into Windows 7, and then do a repair install from there. Would that work out? Any better suggestions are of course welcomed with open arms.

 

[Saltgrass]

You have removed the old drive...?

You now have one 1.5 TB drive with 2 partitons. The first with Windows 7.. You have set that partition to active?

A Startup Repair should fix the system. The first time you boot into the Repair Environment, it might tell you something has been repaired and you need to reboot. The second time, it may say the same thing, but this time bypass and go to the Repair Options and run Startup Repair at least twice more the same say. On the first reboot, the OS should be showing up in the Repair list.

If you have Partition Wizard, could you use a camera to take a picture of your Drive partitions and attach using the paperclip on the advanced replies. It might help see what is going on, but your first idea about the old drive containing the boot files is probably correct.

 

[pikay2k]

You have removed the old drive...?

You now have one 1.5 TB drive with 2 partitons. The first with Windows 7.. You have set that partition to active?

Correct. I've already removed the old drive, and my 1.5 TB drive has 2 partitions, with the Windows 7 partition being active.

A Startup Repair should fix the system. The first time you boot into the Repair Environment, it might tell you something has been repaired and you need to reboot. The second time, it may say the same thing, but this time bypass and go to the Repair Options and run Startup Repair at least twice more the same say. On the first reboot, the OS should be showing up in the Repair list.

There's a way to bypass it? I've just been restarting after each automatic repair. I had no idea you could start another repair without restarting.

If you have Partition Wizard, could you use a camera to take a picture of your Drive partitions and attach using the paperclip on the advanced replies. It might help see what is going on, but your first idea about the old drive containing the boot files is probably correct.

Sure, I'm currently running chkdsk /r to see if it gives me any errors; so I can't do that now, but I'll have it for you by the end of the hour.

 

[Saltgrass]

You should be getting to the page like the attachment. That is the "Startup Repair" as you can see it listed.

You do need to restart after running a repair, the system needs to set in place the prior changes before it can complete other needed ones.

 

[pikay2k]

Ah, in that case I've done that startup repair a few times and my install still isn't listed. Chkdsk is still running at 21% at stage 4, taking longer than I expected, but my next post will have the image you requested attached.

 

[pikay2k]

Chkdsk came up with no errors, as I expected, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try anyway.

Here's my Partition Wizard. I'm not sure why my dead drive is still shown there when it's not even in my computer anymore. Disk 1 is just another storage disk, there's nothing particularly on it but videos. My 2nd partition is active and primary so I'm fairly sure that's all that needs to be done here.

 

[pikay2k]

Excuse the triple post, but I do believe I've stumbled on something that may be able to help my situation significantly. I messed around with my old hard drive with XP and I managed to revive it (though for how long, I have no idea; I ran chkdsk on it and it booted into XP fine). I can't boot into Windows 7 anymore with this disk because I've changed my Windows 7 partition from logical to primary and also switched the drive letter assigned to it.


Since I can get into XP now, is there anything from within XP I can do to fix my Windows 7 boot manager? If possible on the hard drive that has Windows 7 on it, not the one that has XP on it; since I'm not sure how much longer this guy will last before it dies again.

 

[Saltgrass]

If you haven't changed the old drive, it you set it first in the boot priority, it should boot as before.

Because of the way your partitions are set up, you have been messing with something.

I do not know what the yellow indication is, I have not seen that in Partition Wizard. But making a partition inactive takes Diskpart or Partition Wizard, make the XP boot partition active again if you changed it.

 

[pikay2k]

My XP drive may still die. I revived it, miraculously, but it may poof tomorrow for all I know. I'd still like to make my 1.5TB drive the one with the boot manager rather than my XP drive. I was just wondering if perhaps having access to my XP boot manager would make this easier.

Also, the "yellow indication" is simply a highlight. Perhaps it's from a newer version, but it isn't a warning or anything. Clicking on the drive below it highlights it yellow as well, while changing the top to a neutral blue.


Edit:

Just an update - I managed to solve my problem by removing all drives but my 1.5 TB one with Windows 7 installed, tried the repair again, and it surprisingly let me repair it this time after actually recognizing that there was a Windows 7 installation on my machine.