INACESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, Automatic Repair Not Working

[Valiran9]

For the past week, my PC has been going from bluescreening due to INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE and automatic repairs that don't work. I haven't been using it much lately, but I think the problem started when I shut it down for an automatic update. While I fully intend to get a new PC sometime in the next few months I would prefer if I could get everything I can off this one before that happens.

Here's how it goes; I turn on my computer, and after the Windows screen starts i quickly get this:

(I apologize in advance for the quality of these images, but since I was unable to take screenshots I had to use my iPhone's camera.)

My computer restarts, and goes into automatic repair mode. It asks me to choose my keyboard layout:

Which I do, picking "US." It then says I can either troubleshoot or turn off my PC:

Turning it off just ends up with me back here, whilst clicking troubleshoot gives me this:

Unfortunately, with the sole exception of the command prompt, none of these options work. To wit, I click system restore:

System image recovery:

Go back to the previous version:

and startup repair:

Now, I upgraded this computer to Win10 from Win7 back when that was an option, so I don't have any Win10 installation media. In addition, this PC is the only one in the house, so unless you can tell me how to use a Macbook to mount a Win10 ISO onto a USB drive, that's something I won't be able to remedy without buying a new copy of Windows 10 from the nearest available store. As I am currently saving up to buy my new PC, I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.

Any help you folks can give me would be dearly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[ThomasLeong]

I've had the same before, and unfortunately, the fastest and only solution I had was to re-install Win10 from scratch with a Win10 CD (which fortunately I had).

In your case, be prepared for the worse.
You probably have to revert back to Win7 if that's the only CD you have.
Before that, to save whatever data you have on that disk, remove the disk and connect it to another pc to access and transfer the data you want to keep because during the install of Windows you probably have to wipe all the partitions clean and start fresh.

 

[Valiran9]

I've had the same before, and unfortunately, the fastest and only solution I had was to re-install Win10 from scratch with a Win10 CD (which fortunately I had).

In your case, be prepared for the worse.
You probably have to revert back to Win7 if that's the only CD you have.
Before that, to save whatever data you have on that disk, remove the disk and connect it to another pc to access and transfer the data you want to keep because during the install of Windows you probably have to wipe all the partitions clean and start fresh.

When I got this PC, I chose to have a RAID II drive added so I wouldn't have to worry about one of the hard drives failing. After I upgraded to Windows 10 RAID stopped working, so I wiped the second drive (D) because I'd gotten an external HD for backing up my data and it was interfering with updates on the primary (C) drive. Would it be possible for me to install Win7 to the second (D) drive and then use it to try and access the first?

 

[ThomasLeong]

"Would it be possible for me to install Win7 to the second (D) drive and then use it to try and access the first? "

Yes.
Best procedure for this is to physically disconnect either the data or power cable to the disk, before you proceed with the new install to the other. For added safety, disconnect the external HD also. This way, Windows install will only see one disk present for installation, and you will not make any mistake identifying which disk to install to.

After the Win install, install also the drivers for the various peripherals for the motherboard from the motherboard manufacturer's CD, or use another PC (your Mac) to download the latest to a USB thumb drive. This ensures/minimises the risk of blue-screens when Windows try to access onboard hardware.

Then connect up the other HDs and before proceeding further, make a System Recovery and Backup Disk Image to the external drive.

Actually, since you say you have an external drive for backing up data, did you have a Win10 Backup Drive Image or System Restore image on that? If you do, I think when the Recovery options that you have been going through ask for it, it is looking for these images on the screwed-up C:. So find a method to copy the Backup Drive Image to the bad c:, and try Recovery again.

Edit: Additional thought. If you have CD Drive install, copythe Backup Image to a CD, pop it into the CD Drive, and the Win10 Recovery option may discover the backup image automatically.

 

[Valiran9]

"Would it be possible for me to install Win7 to the second (D) drive and then use it to try and access the first? "

Yes.
Best procedure for this is to physically disconnect either the data or power cable to the disk, before you proceed with the new install to the other. For added safety, disconnect the external HD also. This way, Windows install will only see one disk present for installation, and you will not make any mistake identifying which disk to install to.

After the Win install, install also the drivers for the various peripherals for the motherboard from the motherboard manufacturer's CD, or use another PC (your Mac) to download the latest to a USB thumb drive. This ensures/minimises the risk of blue-screens when Windows try to access onboard hardware.

Then connect up the other HDs and before proceeding further, make a System Recovery and Backup Disk Image to the external drive.

Actually, since you say you have an external drive for backing up data, did you have a Win10 Backup Drive Image or System Restore image on that? If you do, I think when the Recovery options that you have been going through ask for it, it is looking for these images on the screwed-up C:. So find a method to copy the Backup Drive Image to the bad c:, and try Recovery again.

Edit: Additional thought. If you have CD Drive install, copythe Backup Image to a CD, pop it into the CD Drive, and the Win10 Recovery option may discover the backup image automatically.

There is no backup image on my external HD, unfortunately. As for disconnecting the primary (C) drive, I'm somewhat leery about disassembling my PC out of fears that I'll screw it up somehow. I've got no experience with assembling computers. :/

 

[ThomasLeong]

Without disconnecting your current c:, I'm afraid an install of a 2nd Operating System will turn out more tricky. You could try. Making sure your second drive is unformatted and unpartitioned will make it easier to identify which is which. Chances are, if you have wiped it earlier, that may be ok to identify. Possible problem is that the installation will not be able to make it as a C:, and if so, changing it to C: from whatever drive letter is assigned during install may be difficult. That's why physical disconnection is the simpliest.

If you have a friend who knows how, try him/her.
Else maybe picture #8 from the website below may help -
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Personal-Desktop-Computer

The multi- red,yellow, black wires are the power supply to the harddisk. The flat red cable is the SATA connection for the data, etc. Merely disconnecting one, eg. the SATA cable will do. Putting it back is simple as there is a small right-angled notch on both the male and female parts so it can only fit one way, no other.

 

[johnbl]

first boot into bios and check your system time and date if it is set to defaults then the bios configuration might have been lost due to a backup battery failure. (battery last about 5 years)
if the battery failed, then check your bios SATA mode and make sure it is correct. (most often it should be AHCI mode, but it could be IDE mode) if the mode switches then windows can not access the drive without certain drivers loaded. if the SATA mode looks ok and the time and date are still correct read the next section:
------------
boot into the command prompt and run the following commands and attempt a reboot.

bootrec.exe /FIXMBR
bootrec.exe /FixBoot
bootrec.exe /ScanOs
bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd
then reboot and see if the system works: if not then see below

---------------
boot up into the command prompt, then run
diskpart.exe
select disk 0
detail disk

use exit command to get out of the diskpartion tool.

what you are looking for is you need to confirm that your windows disk partition is assigned a drive letter of c

sometimes the drive letters get reassigned and the reserved partition gets assigned to c: and your windows partition gets assigned to drive d or e
(happens when you insert a thumb drive that has a active boot partition.)

any way, if it is incorrect you have to reassign the drive letters manually.

 

[Valiran9]

Without disconnecting your current c:, I'm afraid an install of a 2nd Operating System will turn out more tricky. You could try. Making sure your second drive is unformatted and unpartitioned will make it easier to identify which is which. Chances are, if you have wiped it earlier, that may be ok to identify. Possible problem is that the installation will not be able to make it as a C:, and if so, changing it to C: from whatever drive letter is assigned during install may be difficult. That's why physical disconnection is the simpliest.

If you have a friend who knows how, try him/her.
Else maybe picture #8 from the website below may help -
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Personal-Desktop-Computer

The multi- red,yellow, black wires are the power supply to the harddisk. The flat red cable is the SATA connection for the data, etc. Merely disconnecting one, eg. the SATA cable will do. Putting it back is simple as there is a small right-angled notch on both the male and female parts so it can only fit one way, no other.

Okay, thanks. I can try this.

first boot into bios and check your system time and date if it is set to defaults then the bios configuration might have been lost due to a backup battery failure. (battery last about 5 years)
if the battery failed, then check your bios SATA mode and make sure it is correct. (most often it should be AHCI mode, but it could be IDE mode) if the mode switches then windows can not access the drive without certain drivers loaded. if the SATA mode looks ok and the time and date are still correct read the next section:
------------
boot into the command prompt and run the following commands and attempt a reboot.

bootrec.exe /FIXMBR
bootrec.exe /FixBoot
bootrec.exe /ScanOs
bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd
then reboot and see if the system works: if not then see below

---------------
boot up into the command prompt, then run
diskpart.exe
select disk 0
detail disk

use exit command to get out of the diskpartion tool.

what you are looking for is you need to confirm that your windows disk partition is assigned a drive letter of c

sometimes the drive letters get reassigned and the reserved partition gets assigned to c: and your windows partition gets assigned to drive d or e
(happens when you insert a thumb drive that has a active boot partition.)

any way, if it is incorrect you have to reassign the drive letters manually.

Okay, booting into BIOS means holding F2 as the computer starts, right? I did that, the system time and date are both correct, so I let the computer restart into automatic repair again. I went to the command prompt and entered the commands you specified, but unfortunately they didn't work. Here are the results I got:

"bootrec.exe /FIXMBR" - A device attached to this system is not functioning.

"bootrec.exe /FixBoot" - A device attached to this system is not functioning.

"bootrec.exe /ScanOs" - Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

"bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd" - Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

So, since that didn't work I followed your advice and used the diskpartition tool, which told me that disk 0 has no volumes. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that's a bad thing.

 

[johnbl]

start diskpart.exe
select disk 0
detail disk 0
list partition
list disk


you need to also check the sata mode in bios and see what it is currently set to.

with the above commands you are looking to find the location of your windows drive.
if you can not find it, you might try changing the sata mode and then try again.
you should also check the data cable to your drive.

any chance you have more than one drive in your system?

------------
here is what my system shows with these commands:

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
* Disk 0 Online 238 GB 0 B *

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Partition 237 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 ESP FAT32 Partition 500 MB Healthy System
Volume 2 WINRETOOLS NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden

DISKPART> detail disk 0

The arguments specified for this command are not valid.
For more information on the command type: HELP DETAIL DISK

DISKPART> detail disk

SanDisk Z400s 2.5 7MM 256GB
Disk ID: {C2888FEB-4B17-499C-9FEC-5E574FDBDEA6}
Type : SATA
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1700)#ATA(C00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : Yes
Pagefile Disk : Yes
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : Yes
Clustered Disk : No

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Partition 237 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 ESP FAT32 Partition 500 MB Healthy System
Volume 2 WINRETOOLS NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden

DISKPART>

in my case I have windows on volume 0 and assigned c drive letter.

if you have a second drive then you would issue the command
select disk 1
and try the other commands.
if the sata mode of the drive was changed to ide then it might look like the entire drive has not been set up yet. in this case you should change the sata mode in bios and see if the drive data becomes visible again.

 

[Valiran9]

start diskpart.exe
select disk 0
detail disk 0
list partition
list disk


you need to also check the sata mode in bios and see what it is currently set to.

with the above commands you are looking to find the location of your windows drive.
if you can not find it, you might try changing the sata mode and then try again.
you should also check the data cable to your drive.

any chance you have more than one drive in your system?

------------
here is what my system shows with these commands:

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
* Disk 0 Online 238 GB 0 B *

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Partition 237 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 ESP FAT32 Partition 500 MB Healthy System
Volume 2 WINRETOOLS NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden

DISKPART> detail disk 0

The arguments specified for this command are not valid.
For more information on the command type: HELP DETAIL DISK

DISKPART> detail disk

SanDisk Z400s 2.5 7MM 256GB
Disk ID: {C2888FEB-4B17-499C-9FEC-5E574FDBDEA6}
Type : SATA
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1700)#ATA(C00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : Yes
Pagefile Disk : Yes
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : Yes
Clustered Disk : No

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Partition 237 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 ESP FAT32 Partition 500 MB Healthy System
Volume 2 WINRETOOLS NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden

DISKPART>

in my case I have windows on volume 0 and assigned c drive letter.

if you have a second drive then you would issue the command
select disk 1
and try the other commands.
if the sata mode of the drive was changed to ide then it might look like the entire drive has not been set up yet. in this case you should change the sata mode in bios and see if the drive data becomes visible again.

Did this, Hard Disk 0 is Type: RAID and Hard Disk 1 is Type: ATA. Both HDDs look like they haven't been set up yet so I'm guessing the SATA mode was changed somehow. How do I change it back?

Edit: Okay, I restarted the computer again and booted into the CMOS Setup Utility, which I'm assuming is what you mean by BIOS. Under "Advanced Chipset Features" I found "SATA Mode", which had been set to AHCI. It could be set to either that or RAID, so I set it to RAID. It worked, and I got this screen:

Apparently the volume had "failed" like it did every year or so back when I was using Win7. It was always just a glitch, and marking the drive as working fixed everything.

Since I wasn't able to do that, I had to tell it to rebuild the disk, and after several menus I was able to start into safe mode, then restart in regular mode. Now all I need to worry about is this happening again, which the original RAID setup was supposed to handle. Alas, it is apparently not compatible with Win10, so I need to search for a replacement.