BOOTMGR is missing error after replacing motherboard

TimothyEBaldwin

Lil306 wrote: »

Not necessarily, that's just Microsofts crap method of telling you it can't find the boot device.

I've had the error myself, usually because I forgot to plug something in or change the bios boot order:rotfl:

But as it's Microsoft's error message, the fact that it is displayed means the BIOS was able load Microsoft's bootsector program off a disk, possibly the wrong disk as it is written to every disk formatted by a recent version of Windows.

Lil306

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

But as it's Microsoft's error message, the fact that it is displayed means the BIOS was able load Microsoft's bootsector program off a disk, possibly the wrong disk as it is written to every disk formatted by a recent version of Windows.

Quite possibly, that message can appear when there is data on a disk but the wrong one is installed. The message above would suggest it's reading data from the USB disk and that's what is generating the message

It's why I want to go to basics first. Check BIOS settings for boot order, check if hard disk is found through other systems, check for drivers. etc

Sublime_2

I've tried changing the SATA cables, and slots, tried startup repair umpteen times, etc with no effect. The drive refuses to be seen in the bios.
I tried the cd that came with the motherboard, but it won't start properly, as it can't recognise the drive (an OEM seagate barracuda PC world replaced 18 months ago).


I tried an Ubuntu disk, which looked like it was installing, before I got a VGA not supported error. There must be a workaround to this on the net.

If I can get Ubuntu installed. :j

Watch this space. Was even thinking about getting a new hard drive. Quite liked this one, I assume it should in theory work with SATA 1.5.

Lil306

Sublime wrote: »

I've tried changing the SATA cables, and slots, tried startup repair umpteen times, etc with no effect. The drive refuses to be seen in the bios.
I tried the cd that came with the motherboard, but it won't start properly, as it can't recognise the drive (an OEM seagate barracuda PC world replaced 18 months ago).


I tried an Ubuntu disk, which looked like it was installing, before I got a VGA not supported error. There must be a workaround to this on the net.

If I can get Ubuntu installed. :j

Watch this space. Was even thinking about getting a new hard drive. Quite liked this one, I assume it should in theory work with SATA 1.5.

Recovery CD's don't work because they're locked to the BIOS on the motherboard usually. I know mine was.

Have you tried Hirens' boot CD to see if the disk is detected in there.

Sublime_2

Lil306 wrote: »

Recovery CD's don't work because they're locked to the BIOS on the motherboard usually. I know mine was.

Have you tried Hirens' boot CD to see if the disk is detected in there.

Whats exacerbated my problem, was I'd used an upgrade edition to do a clean install of windows 7, and deleted my oem vista recovery partition, as was an OS I didn't use full of preloaded carpware. I then did three partitions on it.

I've never heard of that. I will be borrowing a friends pc tomorrow, so will make both a cd, and a usb one.

Thanks.

Sublime_2

Would it be worth updating the bios? Thats it if I could do from USB stick. I've located a new version.

spakkker

If you update bios make a note of any changed settings in bios due to the overclock as you will most likely lose them. I wouldn't worry about updating bios -I'd think more about a fresh install.

Lil306

spakkker wrote: »

If you update bios make a note of any changed settings in bios due to the overclock as you will most likely lose them. I wouldn't worry about updating bios -I'd think more about a fresh install.

Seconded,

Make sure you supply the SATA drivers for your HDD aswell for better performance.

Updating BIOS won't do much, system restores are done by a hardware lock. So unless you're good with a soldering iron I wouldn't bother

Make sure you use a boot CD or USB first though to obtain all your files if you can get to them

Sublime_2

Lil306 wrote: »

Seconded,

Make sure you supply the SATA drivers for your HDD aswell for better performance.

Updating BIOS won't do much, system restores are done by a hardware lock. So unless you're good with a soldering iron I wouldn't bother

Make sure you use a boot CD or USB first though to obtain all your files if you can get to them

I can't update my hdd drivers. I've looked on the internet. Its a Seagate Barracuda 500mgs 7200 rpm (believe OEM version).

debitcardmayhem

Hi , try using gparted live (look for the USB option ) on here it seems to recognise most disks/vga's
I think that the mbr would have pointed at your oem vista partition and even a new install would look for the old boot folder on that partition. My W7 partition installed it's bootmgr on my old vista partition. I then deleted everything from that except for the boot folder, and shrank the partition to 1 GB.