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Question

Invalid or Damaged Bootable Partition

Jan 29, 2015 9:30AM PST

I have an Asus A55BM-Plus MB with Bios Ver 0409.

The CPU is AMD A8-5600K 3600mhz

8 gig of memory.

When I attempt to boot the computer, I get an "invalid or Damaged Bootable Partition' error message.

I then do ctrl-alt-del to reboot so I can get into my bios settings.

I then highlight the hard drive as my bootable drive and then exit/save changes.

I get a message that says no changes have been made. It then exits bios and boots normally.

Is this a bad MB battery or something more involved?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Any odd/bad software like SpyHunter?
Jan 29, 2015 10:07AM PST
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spyware
Jan 30, 2015 1:25AM PST

I don't have too much of anything on this HD. So no, I would have to say I don't have any odd/bad software.

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So it's always done this?
Jan 30, 2015 1:35AM PST

The story may be incomplete but let's say it's always done this. The suspects or configuration, slow failing HDD, motherboard or just incompatible parts. RMA some items. The HDD or it's connection is my high suspect here.
Bob

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HDD new
Jan 30, 2015 5:58AM PST

The drive that's in there is about 3 months old. The original build had SSD. I ended up having to reinstall Windows and I couldn't get the Windows install to see the SSD so I went with a partition on the 2TB new hard drive. I wonder if I were to do a disk image and try to use the SSD as the boot drive if that would help.
Bob what do you mean by RMA?
Thanks

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RMA is the return to seller...
Jan 30, 2015 6:04AM PST

I've yet to read where the HDD is connected. Maybe it's time for a repair counter if basics can't be checked.

Try another SATA cable too.
Bob

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fixed
Jan 30, 2015 6:18AM PST

I responded to the thread but I am not seeing my response. So this might be a duplicate.

I checked the SATA port where the HDD was plugged into, and it was SATA4. I moved it over to SATA1. Booted it and same error message. I went into BIOS and it showed the HDD, DVDRW and a Kingston USB drive. the USB drive was listed 3rd. I removed the USB drive, went into the boot sequence screen and picked the HDD as the 1st drive and it booted into Windows. I restarted it 3 times ad each time it booted into Windows.

Thanks for all the help.

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Answer
Could be a HDD that spins up too slow.
Jan 29, 2015 9:54AM PST

There's also incorrect builds with the boot HDD on other than the lowest SATA port. There are some that say it doesn't matter but from the field, it could.
Bob

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Answer
"bootable partition"
Jan 29, 2015 8:23PM PST

would be EFI related, on a GPT type drive (as opposed to MBR type disk). You may have run some older program that corrupted the "Protective MBR" and put in a different MBR in that spot. That motherboard has an UEFI-BIOS on it, maybe some sleuthing around in it will reveal a fix? If you are running windows 8 or above on it, and no other system in a dual boot setup, then you should have Secure Boot turned on too.

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Not SUre
Jan 30, 2015 1:29AM PST

As far as the solution that you mention, I have no idea as to how I would look into that. BTW, I am running Windows 7.

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If you ran
Jan 30, 2015 3:09AM PST

some older disk utility program on it, could cause a problem. If you loaded W7 32 bit on it without setting the BIOS to Legacy/CSM then could cause the problem perhaps since it might load to MBR instead of GPT like a 64 bit system. If running windows 8 as 64 bit, it should also be GPT setup on the disk (Guid Partition Table) instead of (Master Boot Record). A motherboard with the UEFI-BIOS however is supposed to guard against corruption of the "protective MBR" however.

Your problem obviously is either BIOS settings or Hard Drive related since it involves boot process and partitions (and only hard drives have those).