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[zirk]

Ok, so what ive done, well about 3 years ago, I upgraded one of my Sons Netbook, from XP to Win7 (Ultimate), and upgraded Ram, HD Size Blah Blah all at the same time (Build was from a Microsoft 10 Licence Pack).

So having Built C: with Win7, Office, Printers plus a load of other stuff He made need, after the Fresh build I made a Cloned copy of C: and stuck it at the end of the HD (F:)(as well as keeping a copy myself of course) I purposely partitioned this Drive the same size as the C: thinking it would be easier to copy back in the future and promptly to the boy to leave it well alone.

So cut a long story short, the Netbook is now running like a dog, possibly due to all the crap thats been put on it  over the last few years,  Having tried a few Disk cleaning and tidy up tricks I decided it wasn't worth it, and cloned the F: Partition back over the C: Drive in order to save doing a fresh build, (all Hes Data is on E:).

So far so good alls there as it should be (Whilst hanging of it off my machine) but it wont boot in He's Netbook (No OS Found), So I now guessing either I did something wrong when I built the Machine or I doing something wrong or stupid now?

I guessing its not seeing the Boot info on the C:Drive?, easy fix?, and to make things not easy I don't have the original Win7 Disks anymore.

Anyone?

[cem_devecioglu]

this -may- help I hope..


http://www.askvg.com/microsoft-provides-bootable-repair-disk-for-windows-7-users-to-fix-restart-problems/


if not you need installation disks

[zirk]

this -may- help I hope..


http://www.askvg.com/microsoft-provides-bootable-repair-disk-for-windows-7-users-to-fix-restart-problems/


if not you need installation disks

Thanks CEM having read now, and yes no Install Disks, well not for a while anyway.

[Andy H]

The boot partition has a flag that tells the BIOS that it is bootable.

As you copied a non-bootable partition into C: you may have unset the boot flag for that partition. The fix might be as simple as setting the partition to be bootable using fdisk.

[zirk]

The boot partition has a flag that tells the BIOS that it is bootable.

As you copied a non-bootable partition into C: you may have unset the boot flag for that partition. The fix might be as simple as setting the partition to be bootable using fdisk.

Yea I think I know what your saying, but the Partition now on C come from F which was cloned from C at the build time. Fairly sure Ive done this before without issues.

Unless the Boot info doesn't get copied, when you clone or ghost a Partition only, but does as when you clone a whole Drive?

[cem_devecioglu]

The boot partition has a flag that tells the BIOS that it is bootable.

As you copied a non-bootable partition into C: you may have unset the boot flag for that partition. The fix might be as simple as setting the partition to be bootable using fdisk.

Yea I think I know what your saying, but the Partition now on C come from F which was cloned from C at the build time. Fairly sure Ive done this before without issues.

Unless the Boot info doesn't get copied, when you clone or ghost a Partition only, but does as when you clone a whole Drive?

its not only boot info , there is also a partition table info kept which wont be copied..

[zirk]

Thanks Cem and Andy, must have done something wrong at the build time, sure Ive done this loads of times in the past but its been a while. Ok, I'll check kthe Bios later when I get back, failing that any easy way to make the C partition bootable without install disks, as my Boy is back at Uni tomorrow afternoon.and before anybody asks, no there is no copyright or licence infrigement involved.

[Andy H]

I don't think you need to change any bios settings. I was just saying the that the bios uses information from the partition table to decide what to do when you start the PC.
First thing I would do is run 'fdisk' and check that the partition table CEM referred to has the first partition marked as bootable.

[TheBoy]

Much easier to fix by booting into recovery console, which as the machine won't boot, means needing the media. The obvious question is where is the media.

Partition clones should not knock off the boot flag if a traditional MBR (as MBR doesn't get touched), but do have the potential to change the GUID if using (U)EFI boots.


For others people reading, if using cloning to different machines, use sysprep before cloning.

[The Sheriff]

Much easier to fix by booting into recovery console, which as the machine won't boot, means needing the media. The obvious question is where is the media.

Partition clones should not knock off the boot flag if a traditional MBR (as MBR doesn't get touched), but do have the potential to change the GUID if using (U)EFI boots.


For others people reading, if using cloning to different machines, use sysprep before cloning.

I will, Jaime, thanks. 

[zirk]

Much easier to fix by booting into recovery console, which as the machine won't boot, means needing the media. The obvious question is where is the media.

Partition clones should not knock off the boot flag if a traditional MBR (as MBR doesn't get touched), but do have the potential to change the GUID if using (U)EFI boots.


For others people reading, if using cloning to different machines, use sysprep before cloning.

Original Disks are south of the river in my friends MS Box (He's the one that is MS Certed, not me so he keeps the Media) thought I had some older ones kicking around but buggered if I can find them.

I have a look into the MBR staying within the Partition when cloned, as you say should be
there, maybe windows doesn't like the idea of it being there when its been cloned to another partition that isnt being used.as the main boot disk  

Sons back at Uni now minus Netbook, so just doing some extra Back Ups in case I screw anything else up, just takes so bloody long to do.   

Worst case I'll have to get my hands on the original Disks, may be not going that way for a week or two, we'll see, but would be ice to get the Boys Netbook back to him asap, before he becomes too attached to that Droid Tablet  I saw Him playing with earlier. 

[CaptainZok]

Can't you download an iso from Digital River then burn your own media?

[TheBoy]

Can't you download an iso from Digital River then burn your own media?

I was gonna suggest that, but it possibly not within our guidelines to post the link, and also from memory, not all versions can fix the boot up, and buggered if I can remember which ones (not really allowed to touch windoze any more at work, as they are too short of unix monkeys)

[CaptainZok]

How about a link to microshaft answers site?
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/cannot-find-digital-river-download-site/66a8439b-0d16-4b70-92f7-1c8486a46ebf

If not just bin it Jaime.

[zirk]

Thanks both, I do have the links to that handy anyway, tbh, never really keen on getting official software of the web, probably a bit old fashioned, but you can never guarantee what your getting or the right version, but it has crossed my mind.

Had another play last night, after I backed up the Netbooks entire disk up, put the Netbook Back to how it was (last week), then cloned the C drive Partition to another, verified it, then copied it back to C again, reboot, nothing, just gave flashing cursor (rather than No OS Found), which told me missing Boot, then used XXClone Tools on it - Tools / Make Target Bootable / Ticked: Write MBR, Boot Sector and \Boot\BCD did a reboot and it all worked fine.

So did the all of the above with the Original Partition at the build time, again no Boot (No OS Found), so thinking now maybe when I did the original build and cloned the C, maybe I didn't do it properly or used the wrong method and clone the Partition without the OS (is that possible?) 

Edit, just thinking out load, when I did the original Clone a few years back, not sure if SP1 was around, would that mess up Boot Up?