Solved Unable to boot from anoher media except internal HDD

Anakunda

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Hello,

I'm unable to find out how to boot either from extrnal drive or from bootable CDR.
On my previous system this was quite straightforward, in BIOS I could specify boot media lookup order buthere I'm quite clueless, although here's still media type order table but no more hard drives lookup order so Win8 bootloader persistently ignores my grub4dos bootable partition on external drive, which was with Windows 7 system perfectly booting. It looks like on new system external hard drives are ranked under "USB" devices unlike on old system where it ranked under hard drives. So despite I put USB drives here a highest booting priority and despite that BIOS correctly identifies my connected xternal drive, it for some reason either won't boot or is ignored. I would appreciate any resolution or setup guide for this. Btw. EasyBCD won't help at all (maybe because I selected this external drive as default booting disc for a while and now is inaccessible from Windows UI)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
In BIOS there should be "USB Boot" that you have to enable. Your Optical Drive shoudl be the first bootable item, but in these new UEFI Bioses, that causes Windows 8.1 to not boot.

You SHOULD have an F12 key to press to bring up a boot options menu. If it is not F12, then it may be F8 or Escape. You just have to keep trying F keys until you see a boot selection screen. It appears that Windows 8.1 systems want to not allow you to boot to an optical device should there be one in the drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
Yes that seems to be right, I managed that if I turn off UEFI mode, I can boot to my external drive or old bootable CD's, or anything I was used to, but problem is that in the non-UEFI mode I can't boot to Windows 8.1.
Moreover while playing with EasyBCD I made existing installation non bootable.
There's some 3 system nonidentifiable partitions followed by Win7 partition (NTFS) and Win8 partition (NTFS).

Basic GPT hard disk
|- System (NTFS / 1GB)
|- NO NAME (OEM service volume / 100 MB)
|- Local Disk (NTFS / 128 MB)
|- Windows 7 (NTFS / 128 GB)
| - Windows 8 (NTFS / 64 GB)
|

Probably I need to know what hides in the 3 leading system partitions since I can't find \boot\bcd on Windows 8 partition therefore I can't repair. Is there a Windows 8 repair disk?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
I'll wager if you make that 100 MB partition the boot partition, it'll boot in Non UEFI mode.

You System is not on your System Drive, If I could see a full drive map from Disk Manager I can tell you which one, give me a High Res Image. It is possibly that 100 MB partition, if it says "System" in it, thats where it is. When there are multiple drives and partitions, sometimes the System Partition can be put on a partition other than the OS partition. I know this because my Media system is like that, the System is on an IDE drive, but the OS is on a Hybrid Drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
I'll wager if you make that 100 MB partition the boot partition, it'll boot in Non UEFI mode.

You System is not on your System Drive, If I could see a full drive map from Disk Manager I can tell you which one, give me a High Res Image. It is possibly that 100 MB partition, if it says "System" in it, thats where it is. When there are multiple drives and partitions, sometimes the System Partition can be put on a partition other than the OS partition. I know this because my Media system is like that, the System is on an IDE drive, but the OS is on a Hybrid Drive.

IMG_20131122_195853.jpg


What I need now is firstly fix booting issue of Windows 8 partition, then configure things so that Win7 and 8 will coexist in multiboot environment (preferably handled by native win7 or win8 boot menu), with option to boot a UEFI noncompliant environment such as WinPE CDR or bootable USB drive.

Btw. at the end of the drive is something that looks like Recovery partition, how do I enter it?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
You mean, look inside of it, you should not be able to.

You are using a custom Disk Management Program, does it replace Drive Management?

You have a LOT of partitions on that drive - I need to see under where it cuts off, I need to see what it says in the larger area, you know where it shows the whole Partition Area? I have to see that.

But from what I see here, I may be right, and that 100 MB partition is your boot volume. Try setting that as the boot device in Non UEFI mode, see if it boots to your Boot Manager.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
This is Live CD, so it doesnot replace anything I'd say.
I think the problems started when I changed in EasyBCD boot drive from <something> to X: which is primary partition on external drive. If I had installation DVD, perhaps I could use a repair option. Is the tailing partition bootable anyway? The system boots to some text boot menu with only option Windows 7 (not bootable).

Try setting that as the boot device in Non UEFI mode, see if it boots to your Boot Manager.

How do I do that?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
By switching BIOS to UEFI mode and holding F12 at boot I finally found the choice for launching recovery partition. Now I'm at command line but still lack some info about the procedure to revert booting ability. It seems that either my boot manager is screwed /or a wrong partition is set for booting (or both). Boot menu however still only offers Windows 7 which is wrong. I need to reset BCD or add Windows manually. How to do this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
Reset UEFI/BIOS firmware to UEFI mode.
Reset first Boot Device to Windows Boot Manager.

Windows 8 Downgrade-006 SB.PNG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Unfortunately I don't see there Windows boot manager anywhere, booting mode is already in UEFI only mode.
I followed instructions like mentioned here, but now I see error

>>Checking media presence
>>No media present

Reboot and select proper boot device

Looks to me that still the booting partition is set to wrong volume or something like that.

Edit:
Solved by using installation DVD and clean reinstall, I'm going to solve the furter problems with dual boot in new thread.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
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