Win8 / Win7 Dual Boot - Infinite Reboot Problem.

rhumbaventi

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Hi, apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum to post this. It was either this or BSOD crash, but I do not have any BSOD at all.

Basically, I have a Thinkpad X201Tablet. I have set it up to dual boot in Windows 7 pro and Windows 8 pro. And it has been working perfectly so far (installed from purchased DVD) until recently.

I was using Windows 7 at that point of time, just shut down all my software and applications, then I put the PC into sleep mode. After trying to wake it up from sleep, it comes up to the login page. However it does not show the login details. It only shows the login background picture. Other than that everything was missing for me to log in.

I tried using my finger print scanner. Nothing happens.

Then I pressed the power button, planning to force shut it down the pc. However I forgot to hold it down, and the pc hibernated. And I then turned it on again. This time I went to grab my lunch. When I came back about 20 minutes later. It was still the same, it goes into the login page, but only just showing the background picture. No login details, no box to enter my password. And there was no hard disk activity on the LED.

I then did a forced shut-down this time.

When I turned it back on, it went to the Thinkpad brand + 'press the blue thinkvantage button to enter setup' page. After that, it goes to black and keep resetting the PC to go back to that first page again. Normally, it should go to the Windows 8 boot selection page (the blue page), where it chooses to boot in Windows 8 or Windows 7, but nothing is happening. Just keeps restarting. It's an infinite reboot situation here.

I went into the BIOS setup, and only thing I could do was do a disk test. And according to the test, the hard disk was okay. So I have taken out the hard disk and I could access it via my usb adapter on another PC. I could see my four partitions, Windows7_OS, Windows8_OS, (and not so importantly, 'SYSTEM_DRV' and 'Lenovo_Recovery' which are Lenovo stuffs I believe). And all data was accessible. So hard disk was okay.

Now, a little bit more on my current scenario. I am currently working offshore, in the ocean on a ship. I forgot to bring out my Windows 8 installation DVD with me (to my eternal regret). So I can't use it to boot into it to attempt to repair the PC. I am on pretty limited bandwidth internet on this vessel, so I can't download ISO. It would take me a day to download 1GB of data and probably cost my company a lot of money.

So I have tried asking for help on the Microsoft forum, and somebody suggested to me to try restarting the laptop just before it reboots itself, after the 'brand' page. Which I tried loads of time at many different timings, and it does not work. F8, rubbish+F8 does not work.

And now, after reading this forum, I began to wonder if it was anything to do with my Master Boot Record. So I got Easeus Partition Manager, to take a look at my partitions. And I found out that, apparently my Windows8_OS partition, is a logical drive, which to my understand, if that is the case, I won't be able to boot up from it.

From what I remember, after choosing which OS to boot from, if I choose Windows 7, the PC will restart itself, and go through the whole process of loading Windows 7. And I will be able to see that the Windows7_OS partition will become my C: drive. However, if I shut down, and go back to the boot selection screen, then choose Windows 8 to boot from, the PC just jumps straight into Windows 8 (without restarting and superbly fast), and then I will see that now the Windows8_OS partition, is my C: drive.

So can I theorize that, somehow, right now, due to Windows 7 not shutting down properly, some how it failed to reset the Windows8_OS partition as a primary drive (and change the Windows7_OS partition to logical) so that I can boot from it and go back to that OS selection screen again? The Windows7_OS partition is a primary drive at the moment.

Can anybody recommend to me what I should do (before I make a mistake and screw everything up)?

Should I:

A. Just use EPM (Easeus Partition Manager) to convert my Windows8_OS partition to primary?

B. Use EPM to convert my Windows8_OS partition to primary, and convert my Windows7_OS partition to logical?

C. Use EPM to rebuild the MBR on the entire hard disk (with all four partitions on it)?

My logic is telling to do option B, but I am not an expert, and I have limited understanding of whats happening during the Windows 8 booting / dual booting process. Thanks in advance to anybody and everybody who reads this and thought about this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 and Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad X201T
Sorry Theog. But I can't boot to that screen. The infinite reboot does not allow me to go into it. And I do not have any DVDs or usb drives to boot from, unless you can find me an ISO file that is really small to download.

Of course doing the automatic repair is the best choice, and I guess I can only do that when I get back home, however I am just asking if it is safe to do option A, B or C since these are the only things I can do right now.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 and Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad X201T
Where do you buy your Windows 8 from?
 

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
I bought it from the store. I have the Windows 8 DVD, and installed it from that. However I forgot to bring it out with me.

"Now, a little bit more on my current scenario. I am currently working offshore, in the ocean on a ship. I forgot to bring out my Windows 8 installation DVD with me (to my eternal regret). So I can't use it to boot into it to attempt to repair the PC. I am on pretty limited bandwidth internet on this vessel, so I can't download ISO. It would take me a day to download 1GB of data and probably cost my company a lot of money."
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 and Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad X201T
No I did not. And I am planning to do one once I manage to get this fixed. And I can't make one as well. Nobody on board the vessel has a Windows 8 PC. Plus another issue which may or may not come into play, I can't get my Windows 8 license key as I do not have anybody at home to search for my Windows 8 DVD and to send me the key (cause I read somewhere that I could create a bootable disc or something from microsoft if I have the license key).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 and Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad X201T
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