Windows 7 Missing BOOTMGR on the 2nd screen on start up, F11 or ESC can't open recovery!

[wowhai]

Okay, I'm screw, ever since last night, my HP ask me (yes she did) if I want to switch my graphic (I have dual graphic one is intel and one is ATI mobility Radeon), I click okay to switch to power saving graphic intel, and so the screen blacks out. It never respond after black out, I made hard restart and screen freeze at the win 7 icon. No lucky, I hard press again and start up to ask me if I want to scan for my previous startup problem, I did and it tried fixing the problem til next morning. No luck, give me a choice of to do a HP recovery or system recovery, some how I must have accidentally click on HP recovery and preceded to click through all the warnings, til it was at 1% then I realized that it was going to delete all my DATA!!!!!!

Well, I was still very sleepy when I decided to terminate that recovery...by power shut down.
So power up: "BOOTMGR is Missing Press Crtl-Alt-Del to restart"
I went through F11 system recovery to try and see if I can still recover, but no luck, later i tried some steps in cmd window:

bootrec/fixmbr
bootrec/fixboot
bootrec/rebuildbcd
bootrec/scanos
got error says I have zero OS installed!

Bcdboot c:\windows also give me failure when attempting to copy boot files

I restarted, try and try again, but now it won't even let me into system recovery says "BOOTMGR is missing" now I can't even access my command to try some recovery without totally deleting my files.... I tried burning a win7 ultimate iso to a DVD and try boot from there but it says no OS system found.

My computer is HP touchsmart with switchable graphic, HP has a recovery partition that can restore my computer but I don't know how to access it now. Can't get pass the screen of BOOTMGR is missing...

I learn my lesson don't touch computer til im fully sober. I may have done the DVD bootable wrong. And now I NEED EXPERT HELP! MY NOVICE SKILL HAS TAKEN ME NO WHERE, PLEASE EXPERTS REPLY WITH INSTRUCTIONS..........

My original system is win 7 home premium 64x, but all I have at my disposal is a copy of win 7 ultimate 64x.
Some specs of my computer:
HP touchsmart with switchable graphic, intel i5 and ATI mobility
Only has one OS: Windows 7 Home premium 64x
Has HP recovery partition, and 300GB of other space.
have this InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev. 3.5 and currently all I can do is do some random scans.. Primary hard disk self test, and then memory test, I don't expect to see any problems since I have this done with in the HP system recovery environment..

 

[Saltgrass]

The first thing the recovery may have done was to format the drive.

Does hitting F8 during the boot give you any options?

Do you have something you can boot to and get a command prompt so you can check the drive to see if your data is still there? You should be able to get to the Windows Repair Environment by using the Win 7 DVD by choosing the Repair option. You can also download and burn a Windows 7 install DVD .iso with SP1 included.

Link Removed - Not Found

If you are still having problems with the video, perhaps a setting in the bios would help keep it on one or the other output.

 

[wowhai]

The first thing the recovery may have done was to format the drive.

Does hitting F8 during the boot give you any options?

Do you have something you can boot to and get a command prompt so you can check the drive to see if your data is still there? You should be able to get to the Windows Repair Environment by using the Win 7 DVD by choosing the Repair option. You can also download and burn a Windows 7 install DVD .iso with SP1 included.

Link Removed - Not Found

If you are still having problems with the video, perhaps a setting in the bios would help keep it on one or the other output.

F8 doesn't provide any option, but first screen on the start up allows me to press ESC and preceded to startup menu with the follow choice:

F1 system information
F2 system diagnostics
F9 boot device options
F10 BIOS setup
F11 System Recovery

Enter-continue startup


I have tried F11, previous this worked and it let me get to HP recovery with option for command window but now after I mess up it doesn't work anymore, it shows "BOOTMGR is missing..." I am downloading win 7 home premium from your link. Let me know if there is anything is should do while I wait.


Edit:
Also F2 lead me to HP advanced System Diagnostics version 3.7.0.0 with the following options:

System information
Startup test
Run-in Test
System Tune-up
Hard Disk Test
Memory Test
Battery Test
BIOS Management
Error Log
Language
Eit

EDIT 2:-------------------
In the error log I got the following, things that I have done this morning:
Run-In Passed
Tuneup Passed
Start-up Passed
Hard Disk Passed
Memory Test Passed
Battery Test Passed
BIOS have no upgrade available.

BUT I finished downloading the win 7 and burn on disc now I finally booted in to win 7's install window page, how should I move forward without messing up my computer further? Whats my net step on recovering all my files (if it is still possible at this point).

 

[Saltgrass]

You would normally run a startup repair to try to get your system to boot. If it doesn't work, and it may take 3 attempts with rebooting after each, you need to open a command prompt and check the drive to see if your data is still there. If the partial recovery you did erased all the data, it will do not good to try to recover it.

 

[wowhai]

I tried startup repair several times, and each time after a few minute run it says "Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically"
Also I tried System restore but it says "To use system restore, you must specify which windows installation to restore. Restart this computer, select an operating system, and then select system restore"
Again, I only have one OS on this computer and computer is its not reading it and can't find boot files.

I have command prompt now, anything I can do in cmd to help me recover my data?

 

[Saltgrass]

Do you know the command line syntax for file manipulation from a Command Prompt? For instance, have you changed to the C: directory and done a dir command?

You said you ran the bcdboot command. If you were using the wrong Drive letter for the Windows directory, it would not work. Did you check which partition the Windows directory is on before you ran the command?

Do you know what data you need to recover and where it might be located? If you can find it, you should be able to copy it to another location with the command prompt. There may also be other bootable utilities, like Linux possibly that would allow you to boot into an OS and recover the data, but I will have to do some research.

Do you have the option to move the hard drive to another computer?

 

[wowhai]

I'm not familiar with cmd lines for file manipulation, I would probably need some step by step guide, I used bcdboot command lines last time by reading through some post from this forum and other win7 forums with bootmgr missing issues. But since none of it help much I decided to make a post. I do have another computer, that is 05' alienware m7700 I'm not sure if they have compatible hard drive caddy.

Another thing, everytime I ran startup repair it still says missingbootmanager in the detailed log.

 

[Saltgrass]

OK, open the command window. If you want to change partitions, you type the Partition letter with a colon. So you will start in x: but you want to go to c: to check what is listed. Type the following commands with a return after each, and check for the Windows 7 folders, like Windows or ProgramFiles, etc.

c:
dir

If you do not see the windows folders, go to the d: partition and try that.

d:
dir

If you get some message about not being accessible, it may be your DVD drive, or may not be present. But you can try other letters to see what might be there.

If you find the Windows folder on a drive other than c: try using the bcdboot command with the drive letter where the folder is.

You should be able to copy or xcopy your data to another drive by using the command line utilities.

If you do not feel comfortable using DOS commands, you may want to download, burn, and boot to a Linux Live CD/DVD, I like Ubuntu. You should be able to copy your data to another drive using that.

Edit: If you do not feel comfortable with doing any of this yourself, it might be beneficial for you to take it to a repair shop and have them try to recover your data...

 

[wowhai]

I would like to learn this process myself, so I'm 100% comfortable with doing this myself, can you tell me how to use Ubuntu to copy data from one drive to another?

I downloaded Ubuntu desktop and burn it to DVD, when I tried to run it, this error came up:
isolinu

x​

: disk error 80, A

x=427B, drive 90
What is that mean?​

 

[Saltgrass]

I just went through the process, so these instructions should be up to date.

Go to the Ubuntu Download page and select the 32 or 64 bit version. You will be downloading an .iso file that is around 688 MB. When it is downloaded, in Windows 7, all you have to do is put a CD in your drive and then right click the .iso file and select "Burn Image".

Desktop | Ubuntu

When you boot to the CD, it will take some time to load. But you should get a desktop that says Try or Install, so pick Try (not install)

It will continue and present you with a desktop and on the left of the screen you will have a folder icon you can use, and you might have a blank Hard Drive icon you could use. From either place, you can explore the contents of your Drives. If other drives are not showing, like a flash drive, you may have to mount it by right clicking. It seems you cannot mount or dismount a drive if GParted in open.

If you have a place to copy your files to, you should be able to do so, but I have not tried.

While you are there, Ubuntu has a Partition Manager called GParted. If you want to use it like you would Disk Management in Windows 7, start it up. Go to the top icon on the menu (Dash Home) and open the window. On the top is a search bar and type GPa... then select and start it.

 

[wowhai]

I just went through the process, so these instructions should be up to date.

Go to the Ubuntu Download page and select the 32 or 64 bit version. You will be downloading an .iso file that is around 688 MB. When it is downloaded, in Windows 7, all you have to do is put a CD in your drive and then right click the .iso file and select "Burn Image".

Desktop | Ubuntu

When you boot to the CD, it will take some time to load. But you should get a desktop that says Try or Install, so pick Try (not install)

It will continue and present you with a desktop and on the left of the screen you will have a folder icon you can use, and you might have a blank Hard Drive icon you could use. From either place, you can explore the contents of your Drives. If other drives are not showing, like a flash drive, you may have to mount it by right clicking. It seems you cannot mount or dismount a drive if GParted in open.

If you have a place to copy your files to, you should be able to do so, but I have not tried.

While you are there, Ubuntu has a Partition Manager called GParted. If you want to use it like you would Disk Management in Windows 7, start it up. Go to the top icon on the menu (Dash Home) and open the window. On the top is a search bar and type GPa... then select and start it.

I got the file its about 698MB for 64bit that I selected, I have it burn to image with imgburn and when I tried and boot from that disk I get the following error:

"IsolinuX: disk error 80, AX =427B, drive 90"

 

[Saltgrass]

If you are using imgburn, I will assume you are on your old system. Those burners need to run as a slow speed to get a good burn, so slow it down as much as possible, maybe 4x or 8x depending on your system and your media. But I have not used imgburn to burn a Linux CD and am not familiar with any settings it might require.

If you can't get it to burn, you might try going the flash drive route.

 

[wowhai]

I tried 2nd one burning it with 2.4X but no luck, still give out the same error. I burn it with win XP on alienware, so how do I do a flash drive route?

 

[Saltgrass]

Look here for the USB, and notice there are instructions about burning to CD on the page also.

Create a USB stick on Windows | Ubuntu

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/linux/create-a-bootable-ubuntu-usb-flash-drive-the-easy-way/

If you are using a media that is faster than 4x, 2.4 x may be too slow.

 

[wowhai]

Okay, I tried the USB stick boot, everything looks good, gets me to the menu screen, I selected the first option "Run Ubuntu from this USB.." and it gets to the loading screen with all the codes going on the screen, about 10 seconds later the screen becomes black and no response... Any ideas?

CTR ALT DELETE, ESC keys doesn't do anything and the only way to turn it off was do a hard press start up.

 

[Saltgrass]

I am going to look for a USB stick and try loading Ubuntu that way to see if it makes a difference.

Until I get back, you might try disconnecting your hard drive. Maybe it is causing a problem.

 

[Saltgrass]

Well, I just tried it. It boots to the Black and White screen where you pick to Try without installing. Then the Ubuntu splash screen and about 10 seconds later the OS is up and running.

If you were seeing a bunch of codes, my thinking is the HP recovery system is causing the problem. Just a guess, but removing the drive might tell you for sure.

If not and you get a black screen, maybe something is wrong with your video card, or you have the wrong display selected, or the video driver is having a problem. You can choose to run Windows in a basic video mode to test.

 

[wowhai]

Hey my last post was wrong, I left the screen black to go to lunch and come back touch one of the key and Ubuntu desktop is actually up and running, so it probably just mean it took a long time to load up to that screen, now what is my net step in data recovery? I never use Ubuntu before...

edit:
I manage to see my devices, one of them is c drive and other ones are HP_TOOLS and REcovery folder, but the problem is I can't run anything from the recover files, it seems like I have lost everything, including the files in the C drive, is there any way for me to recover my file now?

If not, then how can I install the new version of window without destroy the original HP_TOOS and Recovery drive, I think the folders in those drive might be important for me to do some basic recoveries.

Whats my solution now?

 

[Saltgrass]

Are you able to look at the filing system on the drive? If not, you may need to mount it.

If you can access the filing system, copy the files you need to keep to another storage area. Looks like the best option is to select "send to" then Removable disks and Shares.

If you want to use the network, you may have to select the up and down white arrows on the top right. Go to "Edit Connections", select your connection and then Edit. On the IPv4 tab, make sure the "Require IPv4 ..." box is checked. I seem to be having a little problem getting it to see the network shares, so I might have to work on that a bit.

 

[wowhai]

Salt, I'm able to see the files inside the drives, but I can't find those files that was originally located on my desktop, I can't even locate the desktop file from the c drive, so I guess this means all my data files are gone now, I saved majority of files on my c drive.

Is there a way to recover my data or revere c drive?