Bootmgr missing : bios won't boot from dvd or usb

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twindy

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Dec 19, 2009
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Halfway through installing a clean install of Vista, the install failed ( i suspect due to a corrupt Vista DVD or a problem with the DVD itself)

The PC now won't boot from the hard drive, giving the error 'missing bootmgr. press ctrl+alt+del to reboot'

I thought I would be able to boot from the Vista DVD, but the DVD drive doesnt seem to be working - even when you press the eject button the drive doesnt eject either.

I then tried to copy the Vista DVD to a USB drive and boot from that, but that doesnt work either.

Is it possible that the BIOS doesnt have the drivers for either of these devices?

Help appreciated!
 
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I've managed to get the DVD out because for some reason in literally the first second or two after tunrning the PC on it will eject..... but after that there's no response from the drive or the button.

But it still comes up with the same error every time.
 
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Hi newcomer, and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

Try this, i read in another thread and works fine for the other users.


Open "System Recovery Options" on the repair disk, or OS disk.
Open up the Command Prompt.Try typing the following commands in order:

1- bootrec /fixmbr and hit enter
2- bootrec /fixboot and hit enter
3- bootrec /rebuildbdc and hit enter

Reboot the PC and try to boot up again.
 
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Than Saint19.... but I can't even get to an OS or command prompt.

I have read in another forum that I should take the battery out of the motherboard to try resetting the bios, which I have tried without success.

This is what happens:-

Turn PC on (without dvd in drive or pressing F12/F2) and it says :-

"bootmgr is missing, press ctrl+alt+delete to restart."

If I then put the DVD in drive (which is bootable), restart the PC and try pressing F12, i can then choose to boot from DVD. After a few seconds, it gives an error saying :-

"Selected boot device is not available"

When it does this, there is no activity from the DVD - it doesn't even sound like it's spinning. And I cannot eject the drive. The only time I can use the button on the front of the PC to eject the disk is in the first 1-2 seconds of booting.... and all that happens is it literally releases the DVD tray and then stops - I have to pull it manually out and push it in. It is almost as if when it's closed it isn't actually locking in to place.

I have even tried copying the contents of the DVD to a USB drive, and selecting to boot from the USB device. Again, I get the error:-

"Selected boot device is not available"

I am really stuck now - don't know what to do.

My gut instinct is the the bios has drivers for the DVD (which was preinstalled in the PC when it was built by Dell) and these have somehow been corrupted by the failed Vista installation.

The only thing I have read that I havent yet tried is to change the jumper settings on the DVD, but as I have never changed these, and I have been able to boot from the DVD in the past, I don't see how this could be wrong.

Any more ideas?!
 
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The BIOS detects devices attached to the motherboard. It does not load drivers for them, as that is not how the BIOS operates.

What I would do first, is go into the BIOS and hit F9 to reset the BIOS settings to factory defaults. If you have the system overclocked... don't worry about it for now, you can set that up later.

When you tried booting off that USB stick you rigged up, how did you set up the usb drive? Did you simply highlight everything on the DVD and tell it to copy the files to the USB drive? If so, that will not produce a bootable medium. You would need to create an ISO file of the DVD, then 'burn' the ISO file to the usb drive.
 
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ok, you're right pat, it's the dvd that's at fault.

I've now created an iso of the Windows installation DVD and have a 4gb usb drive ready.

Any suggestions as to how to burn the iso to the USB drive to make it bootable?

Thanks
Tom
 
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Halfway through installing a clean install of Vista, the install failed ( i suspect due to a corrupt Vista DVD or a problem with the DVD itself)

The PC now won't boot from the hard drive, giving the error 'missing bootmgr. press ctrl+alt+del to reboot'

I thought I would be able to boot from the Vista DVD, but the DVD drive doesnt seem to be working - even when you press the eject button the drive doesnt eject either.

I then tried to copy the Vista DVD to a USB drive and boot from that, but that doesnt work either.
Click to expand...

The same exact thing is going wrong with my comp. I was trying to install windows 7 on a brand new hard drive though. Brand new everything actually. I just bought a whole new system. I also tried using WintoFlash to make a USB boot disk. Nothing is working.

I tried using a working hard drive with WinXP already installed on it and it keeps freezing when I get to the user log in screen.

I also tried using a different dvd-rom. This one an IDE instead of a SATA. It actaully made it back to the same place the first one got to. Past the partition stage and started installing windows.

Copying windows files - check
Expanding windows files - freezes at (0%)

The other dvd-rom made it to 4% before it froze and gave me the 'missing bootmgr. press ctrl+alt+del to reboot'

I think its something to do with the ram, because it was not even getting to the windows load screen until I hit the MemOK button which auto sets up the ram.
 
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How can you open the repair disc when the BootMGR is missing all it says hit Ctrl Alt Delete to start that doesn't work either. Ron
 
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