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Boot Issue referred over from Windows Updates thread

M

midcareer

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Apr 16, 2016
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124
Windows 7 (Multi-)Boot Issue referred over from Windows Updates thread

Hello

bruce1270 has been helping me with a Windows Update issue, but I encountered a Blue Screen Boot issue during his help and he has asked that I now post a "new issue" in this forum to deal with the Boot issue.

Please see my original Windows Update thread at :
Message/Post #44 reports the Boot problem and Posts #44 to #55 document the steps I have already undertaken to deal with the Boot issue under advice from bruce1270

I would be very grateful for help please.

Thank You.
 
Hi softwaremaniac

I ran the "SeaTools for DOS - HDD Diagnostics" software from a created boot disk and the results were :

Long Test (took 3 hrs) - PASSED ; Short DST (took 2 mins) - PASSED
​

Unfortunately I was unable to run my HDD manufacturer's diagnostics as I could not locate the Toshiba bootable DOS Diagnostic Tool ver 7.0 for IDE/ATA/SATA specified at the TACKtec Corp webpage. The specified weblink no longer functions and web searches I undertook did not reveal an alternative location.

Just to advise that in around 12 hours time I am likely to be out of web contact for 2 to 3 days - but I will reply as soon as possible after I have web contact again.

Thanks
 
Got the the Command prompt via a Windows 7 installation disk, did as you asked and got the following message:

Sucessfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations : 0
The operation completed successfully.
​

This despite a prior screen (after selecting "Repair your computer") saying in a pop-up screen : "System Recovery Options - searching for Windows installations" and then showing "Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)" as the single OS found (despite Windows XP also being bootable previously
 
Forgot to add that I nevertheless tried another reboot of Windows 7 but the results are still exactly as before - Windows 7 fails to boot and does so in precisely the way I have described in my recent prior messages in the connected thread.
 
Hi. . .

How old is your Windows 7 installation?

How old is your system?

See if you can boot into Recovery - try the hotkeys to get to a menu - Get access to BIOS settings & Boot Menu: F-keys/Hotkeys by System Manufacturer (OEM)

If you get into Recovery - what are the selections?

I ask about your Windows 7 installation date as it may be time to reinstall Windows.

Did your system come with Windows 7 or is it a Vista upgrade to Windows 7?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2
 
The problem with a lot of these disk tools is that SMART is somewhat useless up until right before it trips, at which point you're almost already SOL with your disk and data on it. It would be better to run smartctl (smartctl -x <disk>) from smartmontools if the disk is suspected, to see whether or not it's already throwing or fixing errors, and in what frequency, before waiting for SMART to trip.

Given the behavior, I would recommend getting a full SMART readout before doing much else, including a reinstall. If the disk is going, a reinstall won't fix anything (although if SMART is clean, a reinstall at this point is probably a good idea as well).
 
Last edited:
Hi, apologies for taking time to reply but I've been offline since 31/12/18.

My answers to your questions are as follows :

I've had the machine around 7 years and the Windows 7 install is around 6 years old. The machine came with Windows 7. I can boot into Recovery but only via the Windows 7 install disk - see earlier in thread.

In Recovery, the options are :

Startup Repair
System Restore
System Image Recovery
Windows Memory Diagnostic
Command Prompt
​

I tried "Startup Repair", under advice, on 31/12/18 (see earlier post) and the Windows Boot Manager Screen changed from "Windows 7" to "Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)" and the other dual-boot option "Windows XP" (which I could still boot into, but which I no longer routinely use) disapeared as an option.

I just tried "Startup Repair" again. It ran for quite a lengthy period and then reported that it couldn't solve the startup problem.

I used "EasyBCD" to set-up the dual-boot system 6 years ago when I last installed Windows 7. Given this, I am very tempted to use the suggestions within the following document produced by EasyBCD before I resort to a re-installation or to a recovery from an image I have from two months or so ago.
Are there any obvious reasons why I shouldn't try the suggestions given by Neosmart ?

Note : Again, under advice, I previously ran "SeaTools for DOS - HDD Diagnostics" and no issues were found (see earlier post)
 
cluberti said:
The problem with a lot of these disk tools is that SMART is somewhat useless up until right before it trips, at which point you're almost already SOL with your disk and data on it. It would be better to run smartctl (smartctl -x <disk>) from smartmontools if the disk is suspected, to see whether or not it's already throwing or fixing errors, and in what frequency, before waiting for SMART to trip.

Given the behavior, I would recommend getting a full SMART readout before doing much else, including a reinstall. If the disk is going, a reinstall won't fix anything (although if SMART is clean, a reinstall at this point is probably a good idea as well).
Click to expand...

I saw your SeaTools results, but I would highly suggest that you follow the above instructions by cluberti.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2
 
Unfortunately, I don't understand cluberti's instructions sufficiently to be able to implement them. For example, what does SOL mean and, if I download smartctl to my working machine, what do I do with it and how do I get it to run on my non-booting machine ? Can you help please ?
 
Hi Midcareer,

would like to see your disk management set-up, see attached
(the interesting part will be 7 or XP first)

Roy

SOL = sh*t outa luck
 

Attachments

  • sys1.PNG
    sys1.PNG
    205.9 KB · Views: 1
Total identified Windows installations : 0
Click to expand...
That doesn't look good. It will be impossible to repair something that doesn't appear to exist.
You also said that the computer came with Windows 7 but in post #9 mentioned XP!
I assume XP was installed after Windows 7. Since that is not the ordinary way of doing things (older Windows OSes are generally installed before newer ones) , what did you do to install XP? This probably compounds the problems.
 
your right plodr allthough it is possible to install xp after 7 but you'll likely get this

Error loading Operating System after XP restarts:

Then you need this
  • Using your Windows 7 installation disc, boot to the command prompt at startup.
  • Type in these comands below, and press enter after each one.
    • bootrec /FixMbr
    • bootrec /FixBoot
    • bootrec /RebuildBcd
  • Exit the command prompt and restart the computer.
  • At this point, Windows 7 should boot up the same way before trying to install XP.
then run easybcd

(note its allready se-up, but is it right?)
Thats why i asked for the DM set-up

Roy
 
Just for curiosity, launch bcdedit from the command prompt and see if it says device partition=C: and osdevice partition=C: (this should be ran in the correct windows partition and not from the x: partition).
Example:

Code: 
[B]Windows Boot Loader[/B]
-------------------
identifier              {current}
[B]device                  partition=C:[/B]
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 10
locale                  it-IT
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {08a055d6-5220-11e8-bb0c-cca7eecb4a89}
displaymessageoverride  Recovery
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
[B]osdevice                partition=C:[/B]
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {08a055d4-5220-11e8-bb0c-cca7eecb4a89}
nx                      AlwaysOn
bootmenupolicy          Standard
 

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