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General discussion

Vista won't boot. Windows Boot Manager Error. Experts...

by brjoon1021 Sep 23, 2008 3:24AM PDT

Hello,

I have an HP Pavilion laptop with Vista 64 and a recovery partition for the OS and drivers. I set out to dual boot Linux and Vista on this laptop and everything went badly. I used a Linux LiveCD to:

1. resize Vista - did not know that this was a problem. Did it many times to XP.

2. I deleted the recovery partion after I burned the recovery Disks.

3. I made a small 750MB partition before Vista where I want to place GRUB for the dual-boot. Maybe this step messed up the Vista bootloader ?

4. So, now I have a small ext2 Linux partition of 750 MB, followed by a large NTFS partition where the dead but supposedly intact Vista lies sick, followed by a 35 GB Linux partition where I want to put Ubuntu.

I am not sure which step first made Vista unbootable - the resize or the placement of a partition in front of it. After resizing Vista and partitioning, I did use a Linux LiveCD to check the Vista partition and I found it to be fine as far as data integrity is concerned. I could explore all of my files and folders. *** So, up until now, the data was safe, I had not tried to boot Vista, but I suppose that it was already unbootable due to one or all of the steps taken *** It gets worse.... I then began the recovery process by using the recovery DVDs that I burned. After booting the recovery Disk 1, the display said "loading files". This went on for long enough that I became concerned and shutdown the laptop for fear that it was Installing the recovery OS and drivers without asking me whether I had data that I wanted to retrieve. This is important: I never got to the selection screen of the Vista recovery disk, the process was halted at loading files. HP tech support assures me that the data has not been erased. But...

The problems now are:

1. Vista won't boot. I get a Windows Boot Manager error screen that implies that \windows\system32\winload.exe can't be found. * I imagine that either the resizing or shutting down of the recovery disk caused this.

2. I have tried every Linux LiveCD that I have and I can't mount that partition to check the data now. I WAS able to do so before the recovery sequence began. The error message tells me that the partition was shutdown improperly and seems to imply that it is scheduled to do something and therefore can't be mounted. I am given the option to force mount but that sounds hazardous to me. I want to repeat that HP tech support said the data is still there because I did not get past "loading files". - I just have not found a way to get to it.

3. HP tech support thought that they could help me entirely if I could get a DOS prompt. He kept having me try tapping f8 during bootup to get a command prompt. We could not get that. We just had the same Windows Boot Manager error come up over and over again. I don't know what he was going to do but he thought that it would be game over and victory if we could get the prompt.

*** I am just looking for a fix. Ideally, I would like to get this installation bootable again. If not possible, I would like to at least rescue the data. HP is sending me a special recovery disk in the mail. It should be able to help recover data - should - but I don't trust it. The tech on the phone sounded dicey about it. I think that it only recovers sytem files and folders not my files and folders - the ones I care about.



Thanks,



B

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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There is a problem Redmond.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 23, 2008 4:33AM PDT

Not only are you dealing with Vista but HP's modifications to the boot process. All I can share is this does work fine if you have "the real Vista DVD" and not some mangled OEM Vista. Is this worth doing? Or do you have some XP you'd like to run?
Bob

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there is a problem redmond
by brjoon1021 Sep 23, 2008 6:04AM PDT

Thanks,

no, I am not really interested in installing XP in Vista's place. Why do these damned OEMs steal the OS ? I paid for a license not a partition.

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Do we need to discuss that license?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 23, 2008 6:21AM PDT

It's not the full license like we get with the retail package. It's modified to the point where even the boot manager has been altered by HP to provide those restore features and more. This is where you need to hit the Linux forums and seek out if anyone has fixed the bootloaders to handle HP's new one.

Did you give OSL2000 a shot?

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Random points...
by John.Wilkinson Sep 23, 2008 9:52AM PDT

-> If you have a friend with a retail Vista DVD you could use the built-in repair options to attempt to resolve the boot issue. (Do not attempt an installation, though.)

-> Those recovery discs will often overwrite your files regardless of settings, especially when it comes to HP. Always backup first!

-> Have you tried connecting the hard drive to a system running Windows and accessing your data that way instead of mounting through Linux?

-> I'd recommend cloning that drive before attempting to make any changes using the disc HP is sending you, another LiveCD, etc. If it's not too late already don't risk making it so.

John

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salvaging fubar'd Vista
by brjoon1021 Sep 23, 2008 12:33PM PDT

Thanks guys, and John that all seems like sage advice!

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Retail Installation
by Renegade Knight Sep 24, 2008 4:57AM PDT

I have both an OEM and Retail version of Vista. It's the CD Key from the COA that determins what Vista you have. The Vista disk itself has all versions. I spent about 3 hours uninstaling crap on XP to even get the OEM Vista to install. I gave up. This morning I tried the Retail version (it was bootable) and did the fresh install using the CD Key from the OEM. It installed fine (I still have to validate).

In theory a Vista install will also do a boot manager that would allow a dual boot. Failing that, installing Linux should give you a boot manager that also dual boots vista (but do your homewhere here).

I'm working under the assumption is was the creation of the partition that created the orginal problem. Now that you have the partition you can use it for both without accidetnly having a partition created problem.

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