Solved corrupt boot partition

dazpearce

New Member
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5
hi,

I have a dell alienware 14 running windows 8 which wont boot

im getting no boot device found. have checked bios and its in legacy mode, ata, hard drive top of list of boot options.

shift-f8 should bring up recovery but isn't

have put in a windows 8 disk and tried automatic repair (couldn't repair, try other options) ,refresh (the drive where windows is installed is locked), system restore (to use system restore you must specify which installation to restore, restart computer etc ) and reset (a required drive partition is missing)

I have also tried sfc /scannow but this wont run with "windows resource protection could not start the repair service"
also I tried chkdsk /r but got write protected error msg

in diskpart I have
volume 0 d: dvd drive
volume 1 c: OS
volume 2 ESP fat32 (this is the efi part right?)
volume 3 winretools
volume 4
volume 5 pbr image
volume 6 DIAGS

View attachment win8 fix.txt
the attached file shows what I was going through to try and fix issue but when I get as far as:

"Exit DiskPart tool by entering exit and at the command prompt run the following:
cd /d b:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot"

I get stuck, I tried changing efi to esp but that doesn't help, both times I get "the system cannot find the path specified"

any help would be fantastic,

cheers
Darren

EDIT: sorry guys just removed a couple of paragraphs from text file as it was misleading as I haven't done any cloning
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    many
In the text file you said you cloned your boot to a SSD. Here you are naming it B:\ when above you already have a C;\ drive listed. I don't know if windows has to boot from C;\ or not. I am going to look around online and see if you can change boot destination without it being a duelboot. I thought windows always had to but from C:\ unless there is someway to change it.

I hope someone can give you better insight on this, before to long.

WAX
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro/LinuxMint/Mac OS X
    CPU
    Intel i5
    Motherboard
    MSI Z87
    Memory
    8GB Kingston
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG
    Hard Drives
    SSD-30GB
    SSD-240GB (Root Drive C:\)
    HDD-1Tb
    Keyboard
    Logitec
    Mouse
    Logitec
If you boot from D or B or whatever, an OS has to be in that drive-lettered partition. OP must either boot from C, or, if dual-booting, an OS must be present in each of the partition listed in the dual-boot menu.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit [MS blue-disk set]
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2 Acers & 1 Antec[?]
    CPU
    i7 in 2 Acers, i5 in desktop
    Motherboard
    Desktop w/Gigabyte
    Memory
    Two w/16GB, 1 w/8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Laptops GameWorthy; Desktop maybe GameWorthy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    flatscreens; 2 are BluRay worthy
    Screen Resolution
    1368x768; 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    1TB internals; 2 ext usb WD 1TB HDs
    PSU
    what's PSU?
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    Keyboard
    desktio w/PS2
    Mouse
    desktop w/PS2
    Internet Speed
    DSL middle level [160?]
    Browser
    from Netscape 0.9 to FF 36
    Antivirus
    well-balanced, well-configured mult-layered defense is best
    Other Info
    From MS-DOS 3.3, MS-DOS 6.22, from Windows 3.1 to WFW 3.11 to Windows 95-98SE, now to Windows 7 Pro.
    Security for now: Windows 7 Firewall, Emsisoft AM, MSE [scan-only], SpywareBlaster, Ruiware/BillP combine
hi thanks for replies, followed the link and tried the bcdboot c:\windows command but get failure when attempting to copy boot files message
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    many
tried the bcdboot c:\windows command but get failure when attempting to copy boot files message

If the bcdboot d:\windows command does not work, then...

How to download and clean install Windows 8.1 if you have an OEM computer with UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8/8.1 product key. -> link
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
tried the bcdboot c:\windows command but get failure when attempting to copy boot files message

If the bcdboot d:\windows command does not work, then...

How to download and clean install Windows 8.1 if you have an OEM computer with UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8/8.1 product key. -> link

thanks

I downloaded 8.1, chose to install on drive 0 partition 5 which had O.S as the name, formatted first, now getting the windows cannot be installed on drive 0 partition 5 gpt partition error msg.
I can use the 'clean' command in cmd prompt but that will wipe everything, is this my only option?
 

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System One

  • OS
    many
before formatting I also changed "boot list option" to uefi and then tried ata,ahci and raid without luck, strangely if I look in "uefi boot" under boot options there is only the dvd listed in there.it is though listed along with network under "legacy boot" option
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    many
If you formatted your C drive - the info is lost.. You can use your setup media to wipe your HDD and perform a clean install

You can also gain access to your HDD to see if anything is recoverable by downloading the recovery tools iso in my sig below..

It is a windowed version of winpe and will allow access to the HDD and a GUI for running commands
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
If you formatted your C drive - the info is lost.. You can use your setup media to wipe your HDD and perform a clean install

You can also gain access to your HDD to see if anything is recoverable by downloading the recovery tools iso in my sig below..

It is a windowed version of winpe and will allow access to the HDD and a GUI for running commands

I removed and backed up the hard drive before I started playing ;)

well I installed after wiping the hard drive and it has worked, windows is activated and im now updating and reinstalling drivers, thank you all very much for your advise and support
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    many
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