Drive wont Boot

crampo_2

Hi

So heres the situation i have got 4 sata HDD's
3 x 1tb Samsung Drives
1 x 500GB WD Drive

I had Windows 7 installed on the 500gb and then it went t*ts up. So i had a clean install on 1 of the 1Tb hdd's. Everything had been working well. So at the weekend i Wiped the 500gb Hdd off.

Now when it boots it comes up with something along the lines of Insert valid media or press any key to try again. I have unplugged all the other drives so it leaves just the main one, First boot device is this drive and i can also select it in a boot pop-up and its not booting from it.

I can't find the DVD with win7 on it, so i downloaded the windows 7 repair and recovery and installed it on a USB drive. I ran it and it doesnt find any operating systems installed, but also says to load drivers, but what drivers would need to be found.

Can some one help me as im stuck at this point.

Cheers
Crampo

GeoffX

How many hard disks did you have connected when you installed Windows 7? Ideally you should only have one connected and for it to be either unpartitioned or with a single partition on it. If you have multiple drives or partitions then Windows is likely to use them during installation.

- If you can get the machine to boot, type compmgmt.msc into the Start menu's 'Search' box. When this programme runs, click on 'Storage' and then 'Disk Management'. You'll probably find that seperate partitions are marked as 'System' and 'Boot'.

Probably the easiest way to progress is to connect only a single 1TB drive to your first Serial ATA channel and reinstall Windows 7. Once it's finished, connect the others. You may to have to enter the BIOS and ensure that the first drive is the one that boots.

Hammyman

Windows 7 install put the bootloader and boot record on the 500GB drive as it was the first drive in order. Doesn't matter what partition you install Windows on, the bootloader always goes on the first drive sorted by controller and primary/secondary status.

crampo_2

Hammyman wrote: »

Windows 7 install put the bootloader and boot record on the 500GB drive as it was the first drive in order. Doesn't matter what partition you install Windows on, the bootloader always goes on the first drive sorted by controller and primary/secondary status.

The 500gb never booted after it went t*ts up. So does this mean im basically screwed. Then after i installed Windows 7 on the new 1tb it just automatically booted from it. Is there anyway without installed a new os in repairing these. if not is a there a light os that can be run on a usb stick that i could get in and repair this?

GeoffX

Hammyman wrote: »

Windows 7 install put the bootloader and boot record on the 500GB drive as it was the first drive in order. Doesn't matter what partition you install Windows on, the bootloader always goes on the first drive sorted by controller and primary/secondary status.

That simply isn't true. If you have other formatted partitions then Windows 7 is likely to use them during installation. The new 'C' partition will contain Windows and is the 'Boot Drive'. The installation partition - the 'System Drive' - will be the real boot drive and contain the files required to do so.

Having two partitions on my primary hard disk when I last installed Windows 7 means that I now have it on 'C', but the boot files are on 'F'. I haven't bothered looking up how to fix this, but having multiple hard disks or partitions when you install is far from ideal.

Crampo: You need to find a way to install the Windows 7 boot files on your 'C' partition, as well as updating the boot sector to point to 'C'. See if the repair stuff you downloaded can do this with only a single drive connected.

crampo_2

GeoffX wrote: »

Crampo: You need to find a way to install the Windows 7 boot files on your 'C' partition, as well as updating the boot sector to point to 'C'. See if the repair stuff you downloaded can do this with only a single drive connected.

Thanks, I have unplugged every other drive. When it gets to the bit on the windows 7 recovery/repair. It says select a operation system to repair. There isnt any in there, but it says load drivers.
This is the screen that i get.

Its says to loads drivers if no OS exists. But what drivers?

debitcardmayhem

Not sure if it will help in your sit but easybcd from neosmart.net may help. I know that on my lappy I installed W7 RTM alongside Vista and I still have to keep a teeny partition with BCD(windows version) on my old Vista C drive (its only 1Gb now). Basically was too lazy to sort it out, win7(nor vista) bcd is not easy to to sort without patience:D

Hammyman

GeoffX wrote: »

That simply isn't true. If you have other formatted partitions then Windows 7 is likely to use them during installation. The new 'C' partition will contain Windows and is the 'Boot Drive'. The installation partition - the 'System Drive' - will be the real boot drive and contain the files required to do so.

However the BOOT LOADER is installed on PHYSICAL drives in the following order it finds them:

Controller 0, Primary
Controller 1, Primary
etc etc...then
Controller 0, Secondary
Controller 1, Secondary

etc etc etc.

Not sure if it will help in your sit but easybcd from neosmart.net may help. I know that on my lappy I installed W7 RTM alongside Vista and I still have to keep a teeny partition with BCD(windows version) on my old Vista C drive (its only 1Gb now). Basically was too lazy to sort it out, win7(nor vista) bcd is not easy to to sort without patience

At last, the only right answer to be given....