Solved (Accidentally) Deleted EFI Partition, can't boot.

[ajthemacboy]

I understand, but I just don't want to loose my stuff. Maybe I can attach the drive to another windows computer? I think I have the cables. Thanks for your help, I'll try the computer store owner friend. If anyone else has any input, it will be welcomed, and I won't close the thread. Thanks guys!

 

[Edwin]

@ ajthemacboy:

Three quick questions to bring me up to speed:
- can you access the boot priority menu when you restart,
- what items does your reinstall media consist of,
- how many disk does your machine have?

 

[johnpombrio]

Hi aj,
You have lost your boot partition, not just corrupted it. Now that is a bummer. In order to save the drive's information, you will need to first create a boot partition and then load the proper information onto it. NOT an easy proposition and you will have to run a partition creator/recovery program on the laptop and essentially create a new partition and use that partition to recreate your boot partition. There is also the EFI to worry about along with Win8 secure boot. here is kinda an example of the mess that you will have to do:
UEFI Install

With that in mind, I would suggest just reinstalling Windows ONCE YOU HAVE RECOVERED your data.


First thing to do is to see if you can recover any critical information that is on the hard drive. If you have a friend that has a PC, you can remove the laptop hard drive and put it into the other computer using SATA ports. Since you do not have to BOOT from the broken hard drive, you can access the hard drive and copy files and folders onto the PC.

If you do not have access to a PC, you will need to buy a USB hard drive.

Amazon.com: WD My Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 with Auto and Cloud Backup - Black (WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN): Computers & Accessories

This would be good to have in any case since you seem to have no backup of your laptop. You MIGHT be able to install Windows 8 onto the USB drive which would be optimum. Otherwise, you will need a bootable CD ROM like
Hiren's BootCD Fan & Discussion Platform

When you boot from the CD, hopefully you should be able to see and copy your laptop's drive and the USB drive. Copy anything you need to save and then install windows back onto the laptop.

Now there are plenty of good programs that both recover and create partitions but they are not easy to use. After a day or so I was able to recover all my latest data from my boot drive using some program or other. If you are willing to try it (and you would STILL be risking all your data!), here is just one of these programs I found on search:

How to Create Partition with AOMEI Partition Assistant?

I would highly recommend backing up your data then do a fresh install tho. Good luck!

 

[ajthemacboy]

John, your guide is exactly what I need. There's a problem though; I've been having issues booting from CD/DVDS/Flash Drives. When using boot override in BIOS, I get a black screen with white text saying "Reboot and select proper boot device or Insert boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key". Here are my settings in BIOS:

The only way I can get the DVD to show up as something bootable is by disabling fast boot, enabling launch CSM, and enabling launch PXE OpROM policy. I have no idea what any of these do but I know that they work when I have them configured as so. Fast boot is off, obviously, since launch CSM is on. VT-d, Intel AES-NI, Intel Virtualization Technology, internal Pointing Device, wake on lid, and power off energy saving are all on. SATA mode is AHCI, default. Secure Boot is off, contrary to what your guide says is for, but it has to be to list CDs/DVDs/Flash Drives in BIOS. If we could just get this one thing to work I could probably fix it. This was also the only thing keeping me from using Partition Wizard.

 

[ajthemacboy]

Edwin,
Boot priority: I can, but DVDs/CDs/Flash Drives aren't bootable, as said in above post.
Disks: An internal, 1Tb hard drive, set to AHCI mode. DVD/CD tray for whatever.
Reinstall Disk: Just a windows 8 reinstall disk that came with my computer. Don't know what you mean by 'consists of.'

EDIT: Also have a 1TB external hard drive with a clone of my old macbook. Used to be bootable but haven't used it in years, I will try to boot from it.

 

[ajthemacboy]

Alright, one last question, unless anyone knows how to fix this: is there anywhere I can download windows 8 again, legally? I mean, my laptop didn't come with a reinstall disk, and if I'm going to reinstall, I want to do it legally. Maybe from the Asus website, best buy (where I bought it), or windows.com? I purchased it in August, if that makes any difference. It's an Asus ROG (republic of gamers) G750JW.

 

[SIW2]

Has anything been able to detect your 1tb HD?

If it isn't being picked up by the firmware, you won't be able to do anything with it.

Not sure why that is happening. Could be something simple, try unplugging and replugging the connectors.

You need to be able to see it with

diskpart

lis dis

Fix that first.

Then try and get hold of install media. You will have product key in the firmware already, so you just need the media. Asus might be able to send something, they might also charge a ridiculous $50 or similar. A lot of people just d/l it from the net.

 

[ajthemacboy]

I can see it with lis dis. It shows up in everything but the ubuntu live installer. How would I contact ASUS to see if they will give it to me? Just some chat now thing on the website? The only problem I have with pirating it is will it work. I don't want viruses, or to keep some program running in the background. Trust me, after paying $1250 for a laptop that is now broken, I have no qualms about downloading software for it.

 

[Edwin]

You can download the iso here but you have to use a retail product key:

Upgrade Windows with only a product key - Microsoft Windows Help

 

[sri2000]

did u unplugging and replugging in your hard disk or boot with just one hard disk?

 

[sri2000]

if possible try downloading a bootloader like grub or quimu and burning it on a cd and then try booting u can find some instructions on a website. this works in most cases like this

 

[ajthemacboy]

Sri, that's not the problem. The firmware doesn't recognize where the partitions start/stop on the hard drive, without the EFI information.

Edwin, is there anyway I can download the iso file directly? That page requires you to download an installer, which doesn't work on mac, even with CrossOver.

 

[Edwin]

Edwin, is there a way I can download the iso file directly? That page requires you to download a setup program, which I can't run on mac, even with Crossover.

You can, but again, you'll need a retail key;
Images forthcoming......

View attachment 39711View attachment 39712View attachment 39713View attachment 39714

Use the saved iso to create a bootable usb.

You can delete the setup file as well as the Electronic Software Download, (ESD), file, (hidden in C), if you wish.

 

[sri2000]

Good Luck Then make sure to revert if u solved the problem!

 

[SIW2]

Not sure Asus supply discs anymore. I heard they just do a program called backtracker - all that does is copy the recovery partition onto a usb stick for you.

You may end up downloading the 8.1 rtm iso from the net. Plenty of clean ones around exact match with msdn iso hash. No pirating there. It is just the media. You already have the key in your firmware.

That is installed using the generic key, then activated using the 8.0 key you already have.

Generic installation keys are supplied by MS :

CoreSingleLanguage=Y9NXP-XT8MV-PT9TG-97CT3-9D6TC

Professional=XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB

Core=334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VTP

After you have installed it, get your 8.0 key from the firmware using rweverything RWEverything | Read & Write Everything

Click ACPI>MSDM your key is at the bottom.

[ you can find the iso names and hashes here: http://www.eightforums.com/windows-...1-rtm-core-pro-enterprise-x86-x64-leaked.html ]

 

[ajthemacboy]

So everyone agrees this can't be fixed? I should reinstall? I'm ready if I have to be

 

[sri2000]

yeah go on and stay in touch with the forums!

 

[Saltgrass]

It may be repairable, but you can't seem to get something needed to boot. Because of the earlier Diskpart listing that showed the drive had one partition, I would think it might be uninitialized. But we never got the full Diskpart readout to check (picture from camera).

If you could get partition wizard to boot, we might make some progress. An uninitialized drive can be repaired, if that is the problem.

On the other hand, some of the problems you seem to be encountering might mean something more serious is wrong with your computer, although I have not encounter such a situation.

 

[ajthemacboy]

The deed is done. I installed windows 8 using windows 8.1 rtm, and used my key to activate it. Thanks so much guys, I would have been nowhere without you. I really appreciate it! Thread closed.