Hard disk damage or corrupt boot manager? [Solved]

[Sakuya]

For some reason, I could not start up Windows 7 today. My computer would go through POST and then when it gets to the Starting Windows screen, it would freeze, or it would freeze on the black screen before that logo appears. I booted into my Windows 7 DVD and did a Startup Repair which failed. The first time I did it, the notes said that the boot manager was corrupted or missing. Doing it again and a third time, it said hard disk could not be found, if it's installed, it's not responding. What's strange is that this Recovery Console detected my Windows 7 installation on my D drive, which it isn't. I have 3 drives, C, D, and E. Windows is on C while D and E only have my personal files. I also cannot run a chkdsk from the command prompt. I've also tried System Restore which said the system cannot find the file specified (0x80070002).

Windows was working fine for several months before this. I don't recall installing/uninstalling anything yesterday either... Any help is appreciated! I really am in denial and hope against all odds it's not a hard drive failure because I just happened to not have backed up my files recently.

If there's any solution just to get my files out of that hard drive, please share as well. Thanks.

Edit:
By the way, booting into Safe Mode or Last Known Config would also freeze halfway. That's why I used the Windows 7 DVD.

[lowellriggsiam]

The last time that happened to me, it was with XP, and the problem was my motherboard. The listing for drive D, is a temp drive that is created during setup, so really it is ficticional listing.

[redwudz]

Have you checked in BIOS to see if all your drives are listed? It's usually the first BIOS screen. (Holding down the 'Delete' key during boot opens the BIOS screen on most computers) If BIOS lists the drive, then there is some hope.

You might try a Linux live disc or Windows PE disc and boot from that. Then you should be able to see your drives and maybe transfer data off one if it has gotten corrupted. Just from your description, it sounds like a failed for corrupted boot drive.

If the MBR (Master Boot Record) on the startup disc is corrupted, Windows won't boot. That may be the 'boot record' problem. Restore won't work either. The ''D' drive designation isn't unusual. When you boot from a disc, the drive letters change.

But I would try the W PE or Linux live disc and see if you can recover some files. Alternately, if you have another computer, you may be able to try the boot drive in it as a data drive and then extract files from it.

There are also diagnostic programs from most of the major HDD companies and you might try running one of them. Just go to your HDD manufacturer and see what's there.

[Sakuya]

Have you checked in BIOS to see if all your drives are listed? It's usually the first BIOS screen. (Holding down the 'Delete' key during boot opens the BIOS screen on most computers) If BIOS lists the drive, then there is some hope.

The BIOS lists the hard drive. I booted into Knoppix and the drives are again listed but when I try to access them, I get this error: "Error org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.UnknownFailure". Is it possible to take out the hard drive and put it into an external case so it acts as an external drive? I have one that's the same size...

[redwudz]

You can try it in an external box. That should work if the drive isn't damaged or damaged too badly. Then it's probably most important to rescue your data. And it would be safer doing that in a external enclosure than in the PC as a boot drive.

I would also try the HDD diagnostics from the manufacturer when you get it in that external case. Good luck.

From there it will probably take a data recovery program if you can't get the data out any other way. When you have done that, then you can reformat the drive and see if it recovers, or just replace it. If it's still under warranty, even better.

[Sakuya]

Dang it, the defective hard drive has a different connector and I can't connect it to my external enclosure! It has this type marked in blue whereas the enclosure has the type with the rows of dots. Is there any other way I can try. It's unbelievable how many methods I've tried that doesn't work. I downloaded the latest Ubuntu 9.10 and tried to boot from it but for some reason, it couldn't read the CD. I tried the free Paragon Rescue Kit Express but again it freezes at the Windows loading screen. And I've also tried Bootrec.exe from Command Prompt in which /RebuildBCD couldn't find any Windows installations and all the other options /FixMBR included, it said it could not find the specified path. Are there any other solutions to recovering my files or fixing the MBR?

[redwudz]

That's a SATA drive, so you would also need the SATA data connector. There are Molex (The four pin power connectors common with most power supplies.) to SATA power adapters, you might be able to locate one of those. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812104652

What I use is a HDD to USB adapter like these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=USB%202%2E0%20to...se&Order=PRICE

I've also used this Windows PE disc if the drive is still in the PC: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Ultimate Boot Disc is also popular: http://www.ubcd4win.com/

[handyguy]

Try it on another computer with another cable, sometimes for me its the cable.

[DarrellS]

Since it doesn't read the drive as a boot drive, why not add a new boot drive and install Windows and then move the data from the old drive to the new drive (you'll need to reinstall programs and drivers). Windows should still be able to see the old drive, just not boot from it. I would disconnect all drives before installing the new boot drive, install the old drive to recover data, remove old drive and install all other drives. This way you don't accidentally name your boot drive something other than C: or overwrite any of your data.

[Sakuya]

Ultimate Boot Disc is also popular: http://www.ubcd4win.com/

I tried this and it works wonders! I've backed up all my data now. I noticed some diagnostic tools and MBR tools. Are there some that can help rebuild the area that's causing the boot problem?

[touran]

For some reason, I could not start up Windows 7 today. My computer would go through POST and then when it gets to the Starting Windows screen, it would freeze, or it would freeze on the black screen before that logo appears. I booted into my Windows 7 DVD and did a Startup Repair which failed. The first time I did it, the notes said that the boot manager was corrupted or missing. Doing it again and a third time, it said hard disk could not be found, if it's installed, it's not responding. What's strange is that this Recovery Console detected my Windows 7 installation on my D drive, which it isn't. I have 3 drives, C, D, and E. Windows is on C while D and E only have my personal files. I also cannot run a chkdsk from the command prompt. I've also tried System Restore which said the system cannot find the file specified (0x80070002).

Windows was working fine for several months before this. I don't recall installing/uninstalling anything yesterday either... Any help is appreciated! I really am in denial and hope against all odds it's not a hard drive failure because I just happened to not have backed up my files recently.

If there's any solution just to get my files out of that hard drive, please share as well. Thanks.

Edit:
By the way, booting into Safe Mode or Last Known Config would also freeze halfway. That's why I used the Windows 7 DVD.

I had the extact same problem all i did was i reformatted the hardrive and ran the installation disc again and it worked first time.

[redwudz]

Though I've used the program a few times, I really don't know that much about it. You can at least try chkdsk as it's also part of Windows and may be able to do some basic repair work. Other than that, look to the UBD site for a listing of available programs and you can go to their individual websites for more info on each: http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

Glad you have been able to back up your data, though.

[nic2k4]

Haven't had the chance to fix a Win7 PC yet and things have changed a lot in the GUI since XP, but I would think the recovery console should be similar. There are 2 commands to use, FIXBOOT and FIXMBR (in that order). Now that you've backed up your data you can safely do this. Get to the recovery console, boot the Win7 DVD and press R at the setup screen. Type fixboot c: hit enter, then fixmbr, enter. Eject the DVD and type exit, the PC will reboot. If that didn't work, try fixboot d: ...

I don't know if it's still available with 7, but with XP there was a 2nd repair option. You would start the installation as usual, then setup would detect your previous install and "suggest" you install Windows to a new directory. Don't do that, instead tell it to install in the same directory as the old one, then you get an option to repair Windows. This way you don't have to re-install everything again.

[nic2k4]

This was on a different thread:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6031733.html

Look at #10, that's the repair option for XP. I would think the same is available in 7.

[Sakuya]

This was already resolved a while ago but thanks for the replies! I can't seem to edit the thread title to add [Solved] though.

[redwudz]

I changed it. I think there is a time limit on editing titles.