BOOTMGR is missing

novagirl

Looking for a bit of help with my Sony Vaio. Runs using Vista.

It was working fine and then the battery went flat, so plugged into the electric and turned it on again. It comes up with BOOTMGR is missing. Pres CTRL+ALT+Del

Now I know not al lot of things about computers and I don't have any disks. It came all pre-installed.

Two things I need to know really. Can I fix it myself or is it wiser just to take it to a shop to be mended?

Also, have I lost all my files and photos? I very stupidly haven't back up anything! :eek: Thank you all so much with any help you have to offer.

Edit : I have contacted a local computer shop with the exact same details and they've suggested a price of £40 labour and then roughly £50-£60 for a NEW hard drive.

Donnie

You don't need a new hard drive.

Hold on a moment....

Ok

You need the Vista Recovery Disc and a blank CD/DVD.

Download and save it to a working computer.

Download and install ImgBurn to the working computer(de-select the option to install the Yahoo Toolbar) and create the Recovery Disc using this guide(skip step 2b).

Once disc is created, pop it into the sick computer and re-boot. Hit Enter when you see 'Boot from CD' or similar and then follow these instructions.

You saved yourself £100 and gained some knowledge.

sassi

you only need to use the recovery tools, which is not as scary as it sounds, i gave my old xp desktop to a friend, and she got this error, i managed to get it working again, and all her precious piccys backed up.

YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW HARD DRIVE!!!!
be very careful who you give the current hard drive to, you need to be 100% sure they will be making a copy of the discs image before they do ANYTHING else.

If you don't have a Vista disc, see if you can borrow one from someone?
see here- you should not have to pay someone

http://cyberst0rm.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-fix-bootmgr-is-missing-in.html

if you cannot borrow a disc from someone you could use another pc to burn one of the many disc images found online http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

novagirl

Thank you both so much! You are both wonderful. My laptop is going to a friend as he said he can sort it for me. I'm going to save this thread as it is very impressive instructions and guides. Can't thank you both enough. Like you say, saved myself £100! MSE at its best.