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General discussion

Can't reinstall OS after HDD erase.

Feb 14, 2015 7:06PM PST

Yesterday I used Ccleaner to erase my old laptops hard drive, as I plan to sell it on and didn't want to leave any personal data on it. I was planning on reinstalling Windows 7 on the laptop, but every time I turn the laptop on I'm met with a screen saying "BOOTMGR is missing Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart" . I can access the BIOS, and have changed the boot order so it boots from the DVD drive first, but it still shows the BOOTMGR is missing screen. Anyone know what I can do to fix this problem?

Discussion is locked

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Re: boot
Feb 14, 2015 7:20PM PST

If there's a bootable disk (preferably your Windows 7 recovery disk, if you want to go back to factory conditions) and the drive is working, it will boot from it and let you install Windows or the factory image).
If it's the wrong disk, it's not bootable (try on another PC) or the drive is defective, it doesn't work. Then you need another disk or another drive.

Are you sure ccleaner deletes all contents of the hard drive? Or just of the c:-partition? In that case, there might still be a recovery partition to boot from. How to do that depends on make and model of the laptop.

Kees

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Can't reinstall OS after HDD erase.
Feb 14, 2015 7:25PM PST

I erased the whole drive. There was a small partition of the drive, and i erased that as well. Was that the wrong thing to do? The CD I'm trying to boot from is the Windows 7 disk which came with the laptop.

The laptop is custom built from PC Specialist. It's a Skyfire 17.3". The chassis is MS-1763 if that helps.

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Re: disk
Feb 14, 2015 8:40PM PST

"The Windows 7 disk that came with the laptop."

That sounds good. Did you check on another PC if it is bootable indeed? If it is and it doesn't boot on this PC, replace the DVD drive, or see if the BIOS supports booting from an external DVD-drive. Or go back to the shop and let them reinstall it.

I hope that the laptop came with all necessary drivers on another disk also?

Kees

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This
Feb 14, 2015 9:12PM PST

I don't have an external DVD drive to boot the disk from, but it's definitely a bootable disk as I just tried it in my new laptop. Is there any way to put the Windows installer on a flash drive? I was thinking I could try booting from the flash drive and seeing if I could install Windows 7 that way.

The laptop came with a driver disk which also contains utilities and a manual. I have looked at the manual to see if there's a solution in it, but there isn't.

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Done it!
Feb 14, 2015 10:36PM PST

I found a way to put the Windows Installer on a flash drive using Windows USB/DVD Download Tool, and I've installed Windows 7 on the laptop. It's now working perfectly.

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Good job.
Feb 15, 2015 2:52AM PST
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That's me!
Feb 15, 2015 3:22AM PST

The OP is me lol.

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PS. It appears your other post was solved by cleaning
Feb 15, 2015 3:32AM PST

It appears you solved your cranky DVDRW drive with a little cleaning. Itsdigger (another fine CNET member) supplied a link to drive cleaning so it appears to be solved.