Help repairing MBR and BCD for Windows Vista

[Time-Bandit]

Hi All,

Just wanting some advice on how to fix my MBR and BCD for my Windows Vista machine w/o having to reinstall Windows.

I know that you are able to repair via install disk which worked fine once in the past however this time its not working. I have a feeling its what is causing my machine to say there is no detected Master in my BIOS.

I have tried to Windows disk which doesn't work I have also tried to remove and put a clean BCD down which didn't seem to work have tried to use repair tool to repair BCD and MBR and I am having no luck at all.

I am trying AOMEI Partition assistant but the option to fix the MBR isn't coming up is this due to me being in the OS? Would I have to boot the HDD through another machine as the slave so the OS on the other machine is the Master to have access to alter the MBR?

Is AOMEI reliable to do the job if anyone knows??

Is there any software that is free I can use that will 100% fix both my BCD and MBR??

I would really appreciate some help on this topic as I would like to ensure everything is in working order prior to me starting to overclock my machine (waiting on my parts to arrive).

Thanks all for the help in advance.

 

[Arbiter Odie]

Hey, bandit. I don't know about that particular tool, and I've gotta run out the door, but here's the info I have about repairing master boot records and the stupid bcd.

Bootrec.exe is used for BCD repair, and should be on the windows install disk in the repair environment. Use the command prompt, and you'll have to search the internet for more detailed instructions. I don't have them written down, and don't remember them.

Bootsect.exe is used to modify and repair the MBR. It's also on the disk, also from the command line. Search the internet, I don't remember how to use it, but I know that's what it's for.

sfc.exe is useful for other broken parts of windows, but not the MBR or BCD. I figured I'd mention it anyways.

Finally, give checkdisk (CHKDSK /r) a go. If somethings damaged on the disk, in the area of the bootsector, it might fix it.


Sorry again for the unspecific advice, but I figured the info is useful even if I can't walk you through it. Maybe later today I can look harder into it, until then, maybe you'll have some luck with it.

 

[QuickFast]

You can give this a shot http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

[redduc900]

Which of the two drives in your sig. is the OS installed on, and how are the drives connected to the board?

 

[Time-Bandit]

Hi All,

Have tried to use the tools found on my OS disk however they have not been working they claim to have fixed the MBR and BCD however it keeps saying no OS installation detected hence why im looking to try somehting 3rd party have had a look at cmd lines to run the software but its not fixing anything because it can't find the OS it confirms "Windows Vista (recovered)" the OS boots up correctly and I can get into the system however the CPU goes skyhigh very quickly from between 60-100% useage which isn't normal.

Scandisk went really sluggish to the point I could not handle the long wait so I booted into my OS then did scans through that some data was lost then tried to redo the BCD manually as per a tut online now scandisk completes however my Master still is not detected in BIOS and I believe there is still issues with my MBR.

The drive my OS is installed to is my Samsung drive. I know not long ago I flashed my BIOS for an update so I can use the new 955 BE I will be getting soon unsure if the issue started then (tried flashing again) still the same. I have also taken the coords out from the HDD's and put them back in at some stage around the same time when I was cleaning my case out.

Currently I have both hooked up via SATA cable into SATA Slot 1/2 the power source that powers both is one cable (I have tried swapping these around and just powering up main drive only which didn't seem to resolve the problem either).

 

[Time-Bandit]

Update: I tried out my HDD in another machine and was having the same issues changed around the SATA cables on the motherboard and put it into slot 1 and it managed to get the device to update in BIOS as a master however when I tried the same on my machine which this HDD is from it didn't work, also tried adding a jumper which had no effect either unsure where to go from here.

 

[Arbiter Odie]

I.... don't think I understand the problem, all of a sudden. How are you booting into the OS if the bootloader is broken?

 

[Time-Bandit]

That's the thing the operating system loads up fine just like it normally would however the main drive is no longer listed as Master its now listed as a slave I don't recall this being how it was prior to BIO's flashing not sure if that had something to do with it or not.

When I boot the Vista disk and take a look using bootrec.exe it says that there are no OS installations found, have tried the start up repair thing that keeps saying if you have attached a device recently please reboot the machine and try again, when I try the CMD feature on the disk running /fixmbr and /fixboot both of them say that the operation was successful however without it detecting any OS I don't think its actually doing anything.

If I look to do a full reformat on my hard drive and then reinstall Windows will this fix the issue? I was really trying to avoid this but it may be my only option.

If I do this what main folders would I need to look at backing up? (I would intend to just do a copy paste of all the stuff on my desktop)

Unless you can suggest something else to try that may fix this issue as I previously mentioned hooked the same HDD to another machine and it worked fine and verified it as the master rather than the slave after swapping the SATA number it was plugged into on the motherboard (tried this with the machine this HDD is from but it didn't make any difference).

Recently I have flashed a bios update for my motherboard and I have not updated anything else since then on system is it possible something is outdated causing this issue? I am really stumpped how I can be 100% sure I can resolve this issue.

 

[Time-Bandit]

Just did a full reinstall of windows however this has not fixed the issue not sure how I am ment to change the drive from slave to master, I have noticed my DVD drive changed from Master to slave and HDD still listed as a slave. Unsure what I have done to have it go slave to start with really really lost HELLPPP!!!

 

[RGone]

It has been a good while since I ran one of those Nvidia chipset motherboards, since the AMD chipset has been more powerful. But as I remember it Sata drives running in Nvidia AHCI emulated mode; since they have their own convention for AHCI, will not be denoted as slave or master. They only show as slave master when running in non-AHCI type mode. Have you flashed a bios or cleard the CmOs or anything else that might alter the drive mode status.?

IF you use 'only' the drive you wish to have the operating system on and swap its' location on the sata ports and it never is seen as Master while in the wrong drive mode, then you have problems seeming at the hardware level. At least it seems leaning that way.

If you are going to 'fix' the issue you are going to have deal with the O/S drive until you see Master only in the non-emulated AHCI mode or get the Bios setup again as simulated Nvidia AhCI mode since SSDs need to be in AHCI mode.
RGone...

 

[Time-Bandit]

Hey RGone thanks for the reply, yes I have just recently flashed my BIO's to the lastest update (2010) for the sake of CPU compatability as I am waiting on a new CPU to come in the mail. I think thats what has flipped my settings and I am not sure how to go about getting my drive back to how they were. I tried messing with the mini jumper however that didn't have any effect. I use both drives in my sig the Samsung is the one that holds my OS and the other is just to hold data. Any help you can provide on how to fix this I would really really appreciate.

 

[Robert17]

Have you tried unplugging the HDD, leaving only the SSD available to be detected upon boot? If not, give that a try. If you can boot to the OS the situation becomes easier to manage.

 

[Time-Bandit]

Hey Robert,

Yes have done that removed the extra HDD and left just the HDD with my OS on it, I can boot into Windows however it still shows that HDD is a slave in Bios.

Pretty sure the settings changed when I did my Bio's flash I am just not sure what to do and where to go to put it back to how it was.

 

[Robert17]

I have the M2N68-AM Plus board. You should be able to enter the main menu in BIOS and select a detected drive and alter it from slave to master manually (chapter 2, page 4 in the manual). Have you tried this with the updated BIOS? Also, do you have the disc that came with the MB? There is a BIOS recovery utility on it.

 

[Time-Bandit]

I don't have that option (unless it means I have to adjust various settings within the Bio's then I can do that have not looked at the manual if its just a straight change from slave to master I 100% can't do that), I initially looked for that as I thought it was only that simple to change from master/slave via Bio's but I can't do it. Yes I do have the install disc that came with the motherboard. What im worried about is restoring my Bio's to an older version then not being able to run my 955 BE CPU (coming in the post) using the CPU in my sig at the moment.

 

[Robert17]

You're not going to be able to run it as it sits now, so you need to look at all options. Pull out your disc and manual and read up, start messing around with the options it presents you.

 

[Time-Bandit]

Tried ahci mode created issues eg mouse disabled on start up etc now trying again SATA and OS reinstall however now I can't boot my install CD it keeps getting close to loading then it crashes right before its about to finish loading sating i/o error any ideas from here?

 

[Robert17]

I've re-read this thread and have some new questions.

Your OS is MS Vista running on a Samsung 160Gb HDD...is this correct? If so, did you get updates to Vista over the life of the computer? There may be a firmware update for the Samsung drive that rolled out in 2006 which may not be part of the driver package in Vista and the original BIOS worked with but the new BIOS won't emulate. I'm trying to think out of the box here.

Also, do you have a ps2 KB and mouse available to plug into the MB?

 

[Time-Bandit]

I had SP1/SP2 then any additional updates that were required when I did Windows update but this was years ago.

Now I have the issue of not being able to reinstall my OS my DVD drive boots the Vista DVD and almost 100% loads to the bit where you click to make a new installation then the drive makes a weird sound like it can't read the dvd.

I have been using this DVD for my Vista installs and only created it two days ago so I doubt its the disk.

However I tried ahci and had problems so trying to reinstall to normal SATA again however now I get the error saying that there was a input/output error when its trying to read the disc, just cleaned the lens hoping that it may have been dirty but still no luck.

 

[Robert17]

Here is a link to download firmware updates for your Samsung HDD. Try this. Also, do you have another DVD drive? Yours may be on the brink of disaster; that sometimes happens as well. Replace it if you have a spare.

http://www.driverscape.com/download/samsung-hd161hj-ata-device