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Offline CalebHansberry

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Windows Vista Boot Problem
« on: July 04, 2014, 12:07:04 am »
So I installed Windows Vista Business x64 (had no choice, that's that) on a laptop. When I did, I had two partitions, one being about 2GB the other like 65GB. I told it to install on the larger one (and of course during install I couldn't delete the smaller, it wanted it). So after install I deleted the little one, and in a word it'll no longer boot (no bootable devices found). I already tried Startup Repair from the install disc and running bootsect.exe, to no effect.  I really don't want to have to reinstall Vista; it was a big hassle, drivers were all in too.  Any help?
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Offline TheCoder1998

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2014, 12:10:45 am »
Well, I don't own a laptop nor do I own windows vista, but when Ii assembled and installed my pc, i had to look at which drive should be slave and master, and you should check in the boot menu if they're both available

Again, I haven't really got much knowledge about this but still trying to help :)
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Offline Sorunome

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2014, 12:13:30 am »
Isn't the small partition in windows usually the boot partition? O.O
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Offline TheCoder1998

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2014, 12:14:10 am »
Yeah right, that could be the problem too
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Offline CalebHansberry

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2014, 12:48:43 am »
I should be able to use only one partition; I do not want two. And TheCoder, it's a laptop with two partitions, not a desktop with two hard drives :)
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Offline DrDnar

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2014, 01:18:00 am »
Why bother deleting the partition? If the installer wouldn't let you delete it, it was probably a bad idea to delete it. Windows likes to have two partitions on a disk, an EFI booter and a Windows partition for the rest of the disk. You should have examined the partition before deleting it to make sure there wasn't anything on it. Like a bootloader.

Was the partition with Windows set as the boot partition? The "no bootable devices found" error sounds like an error coming from the BIOS. Try setting the Windows partition as the active (bootable) partition.

In my experience, the Startup Repair wizard doesn't detect BCD configuration issues. You may need to recreate the boot partition, install the bootloader, and rebuild the BCD.
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Offline CalebHansberry

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2014, 01:32:40 am »
Aww. I was annoyed by the other partition being there, and didn't need two partitions in Windows XP or Windows 7. But if there's no other way then I'll do that (recreate a new partition and then reinstall the bootloader).
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Offline aeTIos

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2014, 01:37:00 am »
Yep, the smaller partition often is the bootloader. Also in general it's a bad idea to delete any partitions an OS installer makes.
If you hate having more than one partition, I would not recommend using linux btw :P You have like 3/4 partitions there.
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Offline DrDnar

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #8 on: July 04, 2014, 01:46:17 am »
Quote from: CalebHansberry on July 04, 2014, 01:32:40 am
didn't need two partitions in Windows XP or Windows 7.
Windows 7 also likes to be configured that way. It can be configured not to need it.

I would still make sure the Windows partition is set as active and try installing the boot loader there; there's no reason to install it to another partition anymore.
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Offline Joshuasm32

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2014, 03:19:46 am »
This is an interesting problem...  Did Windows Vista ever launch properly before this problem, or did it occur directly after the installation?

EDIT: I read more carefully, it did work before removing the partition...  Have you considered whether the hardware is physically damaged, or perhaps not inserted all the way (after a drop, perhaps)?  From Microsoft support:

Quote
[Operating system not found] may occur if one or more of the following conditions are true:
  • The basic input/output system (BIOS) does not detect the hard disk.
  • The hard disk is damaged.
  • Sector 0 of the physical hard disk drive has an incorrect or malformed master boot record (MBR).

    Note Some third-party programs or disk corruption can damage an MBR.
  • An incompatible partition is marked as Active.
  • A partition that contains the MBR is no longer active.[/l][/l]
If your hard-drive is easily detachable, you might try seeing what's going on using a different computer...  It is also possible that the hard-drive was corrupted in some way or form when the partition was removed and in the process of restarting the device.  If you can identify the cause, a solution should be easier to find.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2014, 07:01:39 pm by codebender »
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Offline CalebHansberry

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2014, 02:49:59 pm »
aeTIos: O.o I would, indeed, not like that.
DrDnar: How would I set it to "active"? Wasn't it already active? And, the BIOS recognizes the HDD fine, but I don't see a setting pertaining in any way to partitions in the BIOS.
Codebender: The hard drive was previously damaged in a fall, but I don't want to pay to buy a new one, and as I said it properly before. However, indeed, it has been corrupted in the past. As for seeing what's going on, even Windows Setup from the disk will show the filesystem fine - but I'm not succeeding in rebuilding this boot sector 0 thing!
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2014, 02:56:24 pm »
Having separate partitions on linux actually has a reason and is useful so don't bash that. Windows however suck for forcing that on you.
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Offline Joshuasm32

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2014, 06:54:42 pm »
If BIOS and Windows recovery do not work, you might try contacting the manufacturer who made the device/hard-drive.  They might have their own recovery tool, or maybe know of a problem with the device.  If all comes to all, it sounds like reformatting the entire drive is the only option left...  D:  I think that it might have become corrupted when removing the partition.  Did the BIOS or Windows recovery tool return any errors, or did they simply fail to work?
« Last Edit: July 04, 2014, 06:58:02 pm by codebender »
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2014, 06:56:34 pm »
It's the only option. This partition contained sensitive boot data that you have overridden. Now you need to reinstall and avoid messing with it next time. :P
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Offline DrDnar

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Re: Windows Vista Boot Problem
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2014, 10:29:35 pm »
Quote from: CalebHansberry on July 04, 2014, 02:49:59 pm
DrDnar: How would I set it to "active"? Wasn't it already active? And, the BIOS recognizes the HDD fine, but I don't see a setting pertaining in any way to partitions in the BIOS.
The partition table also indicates which partition is to be the boot partition. Try setting the Windows partition as being the boot partition using a partitioning tool.

If you didn't actually reformat the partition or change any data in it, you can also just undelete the partition using a more advanced partitioning tool.
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