[zibi]

Grateful for any help you can offer.

I had a feeling my hard drive was about to die, as each time I switched on I was pointed to setup (F1) for different reasons (fan problems, no keyboard detected, power surges etc.) I simply went into setup, exited without making any changes and W7 started as normal. I am running W7 Home Premium with 8 Mb Ram.

 

I bought a new 1TB Western Digital SATA HD and installed it. I then right clicked on 'Computer', chose 'manage' then 'disk management' and did a quick format on the new drive, which is disk 0, assigned a drive letter (D) and thought I was finished. While I was there I made drive C active. When I next turned on the pc I got a flashing cursor in the top left corner of the screen. If I switch on with the W7 installation disk, it runs me through choosing a keyboard etc, then, when I choose 'repair my computer', it loads files, then identifies a backup (which from its size looks to me like the new drive) but fails to repair my pc.

 

My computer knowledge is virtually non-existent. Grateful for any help.

 

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Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go Zibi.

 

Being a completely new hard drive, you will have to do a full install, not a repair. Which disk is it you are using, is it the disk you made, or a full Windows 7 disk?

 

Nev.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go Zibi.

 

Being a completely new hard drive, you will have to do a full install, not a repair. Which disk is it you are using, is it the disk you made, or a full Windows 7 disk?

 

Nev.

[zibi]

Thanks for this, Nev. I left the old HD in the machine, as I intended to use Acronis to create an image of it to install on the new disk. I was not intending to install W7 on the new disk, as I would lose all my programs/data from the old one. So, as I was suspicious that the old disk was failing, I suspect that the problem arises from the pc trying to boot from that disk.

 

I am using the original W7 Home Premium installation disk, only because I get no action at all unless I put that in the DVD reader. I think I could manage to install W7 on the new disk and throw away the old one - but I really want to try to get the old disk to work so that I can transfer my stuff. Thanks.

[Ztruker]

Post a snapshot of a fullscreen Disk Management:

To open Disk Management, press Windows key+r, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter or click GO. Make it full screen. Expand the fields as necessary so everything can be seen.

Vista and Windows 7: How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista - Vista Forums (says it's for Vista but also works with Win 7/8).

For GeeksToGo: Use the Browse and Attach This File buttons below the text input area while using the More Reply Options editor to upload and insert here.

[zibi]

Thanks for this.

 

There is no life in my pc unless I boot up with the W7 installation disk. I just did that to see if there was a way to do what you told me and I got 'press any key to boot from CD or DVD'. Before I could hit a key I got the message 'BOOTMGR  is missing' and then 'Press CTRL, ALT + DEL to restart'. When I did hit CTRL/ALT/DEL nothing happened and I was left with the flashing cursor top right of screen.

 

I should have explained that I am accessing Geeks to Go via an old XP machine. Sorry.

[Ztruker]

Why did you  make drive C: Active? That is probably the cause of the problem.

 

Let's see what diskpart shows please.

 

Boot the Windows 7 install DVD.

Take the Repair path that eventually gets you to a Command Prompt.

 

Enter diskpart

Enter list disk - record info and post here

Enter list vol - record info and post here

 

If it all fits on one screen, you could take a picture with a digital camera then post it here.

[zibi]

Thanks again. I made drive C: active because, while I was going through that procedure, I saw a message which told me I should not make active a drive that did not have an OS, as this was dangerous. So I chose drive C:, as I knew W7 was on there.

 

This is the list disk report:

 

Disk ###           Status         Size               Free       Dyn      Gpt

 

Disk 0                Online         931  GB          0  B

Disk 1                Online         931  GB          0  B

Disk 2                Online        3827 MB          0  B

 

This is the list vol report

 

Volume ###     Ltr      Label                        Fs         Type                      Size             Status             Info

 

Volume 0          F        GSP1RMCHPXF       UDF      DVD-ROM             3167 MB     Healthy

Volume 1          C        New Volume            NTFS    Partition                   931 GB     Healthy

Volume 2          E         System Rese          NTFS    Partition                  100MB     Healthy

Volume 3          D                                          NTFS    Partition                   931 GB    Healthy

Volume 4          G                                          FAT 32  Removable            3826 MB   Healthy

 

Is there a way, in future if necessary, to copy this info to flash drive to avoid making a mistake, typing from one pc to another (Both use the same TV monitor)?

 

Volume 4 is a flash drive.

 

Also, apologies for delay - different time zones/countries I think.

 

Thanks

 

Z

[Ztruker]

My guess is this is the p[partition that should be active:

 

Volume 2          E         System Rese          NTFS    Partition                  100MB     Healthy

 

Normally when Win 7 is installed there is a 100MB System Reserved partition that has the boot files and is set as Active. Moving Active to C: confused the heck out of the loader.

 

Go back into diskpart, select vol 2 then type active. Reboot and see if that fixes the problem.

[zibi]

Thanks again. I selected volume 2 and made it active but no change. I still get a flashing cursor in the top left screen or, if the installation disk is in the DVD, I go through the repair path.

 

I note from 'list vol' that the new volume has the letter C but I am certain that I assigned letter D when installing. Don't know if that tells you anything.

Edited by zibi, 20 August 2014 - 06:11 AM.

[Ztruker]

Use a digital camera to take a a picture, no errors that way.

 

C: and D: both show as 931GB.

 

Also, try swapping the SATA data cables between the two 1TB drives. Put back if that doesn't make any difference.

 

Lastly, try running Repair Install from the installation DVD up to 3 times, see what that does for you.

[zibi]

===============================================================

 

Thanks for this. I swapped the cables as you suggested but no change.

 

I then tried the repair tool but I was just told to report the fault to Microsoft.

 

I then decided to have another go at system restore. I had tried this a few times before without success but, this time, it seemed to work.

 

I think drive C is the new WD disk because all files, except one, have a 2014 date. One of them even has the date 22.8.14. - tomorrow!! I have checked the date/time on the pc and it is correct. Drive F has files, but none dated 2014. I think that must be the old Hitachi disk that came with the pc.

 

I'm just confused by the whole thing now. Only a BluRay reader/writer, which was working before, is not working now. But I've never used it so it's not important. My other DVD reader/writer is working.

 

I have tried the snipping tool as you advised me before and I hope you can see Disk Management and Diskpart.

 

Is this the end of my problem now? If it is, thank you very much for your patience and very clear instructions. Obviously, I would not have got this far without your help.

 

If it's not the end, I'll wait for your instructions.

Edited by zibi, 21 August 2014 - 07:21 AM.

[Ztruker]

You show both 100MB partitions as Actve, that's not right but I don't know which one should be Active and which one not.

[zibi]

Thanks again. I'm now very confused about what is going on. The new WD disk is shown on boot menu but not in boot priority. (The old Hitachi disk is in both.)

 

I also do not understand how both disks have files on them - volumes 2 and 4. I thought the new WD disk would be blank.

 

Since the new WD is not in boot priority, I assume it is the old Hitachi disk whch is booting. Also, I again have the same problems which convinced me to buy a new WD disk, as I thought the old Hitachi was dying. When I switch on, I am offered F1 setup (because of CPU fan errors, no keyboard, power surges etc.) I exit setup without making any changes and Windows starts. You can see this description in an earlier post about this problem.

 

Your help appreciated again please.

[123Runner]

Sometimes when you are offered F1 on startup it means the cmos battery is dead.

Is your system date and time changing or going back to a real old date and time?

 

Do you have both the old and new hard drive in the computer at the same time?

[zibi]

Thank you. CMOS battery would be a whole new world for me! The clock WAS wrong when I used System Restore a few days ago (above) but I have not noticed any other problems or seen any error messages. The machine is about 3 years old.

 

I have both the old and new disks connected at the same time.

 

However, since your post, I disabled the new WD disk, by detaching the cables and pc started normally, without going through F1. (This is unusual nowadays, but sometimes happens. About 80% of the time, pc goes through F1, having posted a possible error with CPU fan, power surges, no keyboard etc.) I then connected WD disk and disabled the old Hitachi. This time I went through the repair path but got nowhere. On reconnecting the old Hitachi disk (with the WD still connected), I had to go through the repair option and was offered Windows 7 or Windows 7 recovered (presumably from System Restore a few days ago.) Windows 7 option took me nowhere but Windows 7 recovered put me back to where I was a few days ago - able to use the pc but unable to use the WD disk. Still floundering ........ Thanks.