OS failure Windows 7

Zach Manos

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Oct 10, 2014
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Its a long one.

- Question
Can I save my computers current OS?

- The "blah-blah"
About 16 months ago, 3 years into having the computer, I started getting an error message that says essentially Im missing win32 files every-so-often when booting/no boot. I play button poke for a couple minutes, good.

3 months ago, it no longer ran to POST. Now, for what seems like the 12th time, Im sitting here trying to figure it out myself

- Checks and symtoms to date
My original OS disc is gone for aggrivating reasons

I bought a random, AUTHENTIC, disc online. It says all windows 7, its apparently not compatible. Made a repair disc from another computer. Runs. Says it cannot repair.

Further research shows that I am missing the MBR.

I ran /bootrec commands in cmd prompt. It says Im not authorized.
?.

Tried a restore from MONTHS back. Trying to keep all the data, but whatever works. I got a couple things from this.

1. Ive learned that creating a backup sometimes creates these issues(fantastic)
2. In UEFI-> Bootselect - My mushkin shows up as 0mb. In system repair -
Windows 7(when you select one of the two "Repair" or "Restore" options) doesnt show up as an option at all, and it reads 32kB. Disk check came back fine. Unless I need a different check because its not a platter

- Summary
Im missing the MBR, and my ssd says its a paper weight. I dont want win10, and if I can restore to a new ssd, thats fine. All details about my computer are in my signature


If you read this through, you are a pillar to the community. Now please, community. Please! GIVE ME STRENGTH!
 
Solution
The symptoms are definitely consistent with a failing drive but could be something else also. When you say "disk check came back fine," which disk check are you referring to? If it's the Windows chkdsk command that's actually just a check of Windows file integrity rather than a proper hardware disk health utility.

Let's go through some stuff to troubleshoot this.

I notice that's a dual drive system. Do the same problems occur with the HDD unplugged?
Do the oddities with the SSD (reported size) and other boot issues occur with the SSD plugged into a different SATA port?
What happens with the SSD unplugged? Obviously it won't boot into an OS with the OS disk unplugged but does the BIOS behave as expected?

When you say the disk...
The symptoms are definitely consistent with a failing drive but could be something else also. When you say "disk check came back fine," which disk check are you referring to? If it's the Windows chkdsk command that's actually just a check of Windows file integrity rather than a proper hardware disk health utility.

Let's go through some stuff to troubleshoot this.

I notice that's a dual drive system. Do the same problems occur with the HDD unplugged?
Do the oddities with the SSD (reported size) and other boot issues occur with the SSD plugged into a different SATA port?
What happens with the SSD unplugged? Obviously it won't boot into an OS with the OS disk unplugged but does the BIOS behave as expected?

When you say the disk "randomly" purchased online isn't compatible, what exactly happens? If you need a copy of Win 7, you can get it from Microsoft provided you have your valid Windows 7 license key.

Behold! https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7 Enter the magic phrase (that being your license key) and the software download shall magically appear!

 
Solution

Zach Manos

Reputable
Oct 10, 2014
55
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4,640
SchizTech
Has there ever been a reply button on TH? Maybe just not mobile

To start,
Yes, I will need to do a proper utilities check, thank you for correcting that.

As far as the SSD behavior - its the same with or with out the HDD, and bios does behave the same without the drive. I have not tried another port yet. I will try that in fear that its a mobo problem.

With the random OS disc - it says that [Windows cannot perform this action at this time due to this version(disc) being incompatible with your current OS] brackets for paraphrasing because I dont actually have it in front of me.

Then theres that that last bit with the link. Thats the kind of stuff that makes me want to Choose as Best Answer with or without the problem being solved. Ive been looking for some kind of link like that forever! Thankfully I took a picture of my key when this started. Ill try this as well, and hopefully get back to you on this, vise-versa.

Thank you!
 

Zach Manos

Reputable
Oct 10, 2014
55
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4,640
SchizTech
So I didnt realize what I took a picture of was not actually the Product Key. So I have no product key. Is there a way to retrieve this info? Do you know if these ISO files, in theory, are the same that I made my own disk from or more complete somehow?
 
The image you'd get from MS is a complete install image with service pack 1 pre-installed. I'm not sure what exactly is on the disk you have. In the OP you mentioned a repair disk; if that's what you're referring to that's not a full installer but simply a set of repair tools on a bootable disk.

There are utilities that can retrieve the key from Windows though they need the target PC to be booted into Windows first. IF your problems stem from a failing SSD though, it may be possible to clone the contents of your current SSD to a new one.