Computers & Electronics

Missing operating system

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  • Sep 30th, 2015 7:20 am
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Deal Addict
Aug 25, 2006
3686 posts
1007 upvotes
If only boot up files are corrupt, doesn't Win 7 have a recovery disc that has a tool to fix this?
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
1666 upvotes
Lake Simcoe
jensen1 wrote: Before you do anything, get a copy of clonezilla and back up your drives, otherwise you might lose data
I'll look into it, but I'm not sure how I can back up anything at this point if I can't boot up the operating system. :(
I think my only hope for saving files depends on how Dell incorporated the 2 hard drives when they built the unit.
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
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Lake Simcoe
bowmah wrote: If only boot up files are corrupt, doesn't Win 7 have a recovery disc that has a tool to fix this?
I think this is what Dell plans to send me for $129.
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
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Lake Simcoe
danieltoronto wrote: It looks like your boot files are corrupted.
I suggest the following:
1. Install a new operating system (ubuntu or linuxmint) in another harddrive (not the one with Win 7) with around 40 Gb.
2. When you boot into the new system, it will pick up the old Win 7 and list it in a menu for u to select. That is it.
3. If you are not ready for Linux, just use it as a boot up tool.
Good luck
Great idea.

If I can't get it going with W7, I'll give your suggestion a try for sure.

Thanks.
Deal Expert
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Oct 26, 2003
39339 posts
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Winnipeg
alkizmo wrote: You sure? I thought Windows 7 installer simply detected which key you were using and install the appropriate version.
won't that be nice, at least it is finally possible with windows 10, but if you try OEM key with standard iso it will not validate
Deal Expert
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Oct 26, 2003
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Winnipeg
bowmah wrote: If only boot up files are corrupt, doesn't Win 7 have a recovery disc that has a tool to fix this?
you are right, op can try the standard iso and use the repair option, it may or may not work, in my past experience the repair method is completely useless as it never worked for me. op can also try f12 to enter the recovery partition if it is still there.
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Nov 18, 2007
3531 posts
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Corktown
love2save wrote: I'll look into it, but I'm not sure how I can back up anything at this point if I can't boot up the operating system. :(
I think my only hope for saving files depends on how Dell incorporated the 2 hard drives when they built the unit.
You need a separate boot device - USB, CD, with a copy of Acronis (or other disk image utility as others have suggested).

Download the trial version of Acronis to another Windows box, installed it, and use the Boot Media utility to create a bootable USB or CD.

Use this Acronis boot media to boot your Dell and perform a full system image (NOT sector by sector) of your boot drive.

If you have space on the second drive, then just select it as the destination for the Acronis backup.

This will at least give you a backup of everything on the Dell boot drive.

Be very certain which drive is which. Use Acronis to browse the drive to confirm that it is the Windows drive.

If the drive does not have room for the backup, then you will need to use a large USB or external drive and use that for the Acronis backup destination.

Once you have verified that the backup is good, then you can work on restoring the boot partition or doing a complete re-install.
Deal Addict
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Jul 27, 2009
2392 posts
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love2save wrote: Yes. The dos type screen when I try the partition.

1. Bios is choosing the correct data drive but it won't boot.

2. The computer wouldn't boot this morning in normal mode, but would boot in safe mode-- however in safe mode no programs would work and it was slow as mud and would lock up. Only way to exit was to turn off until. In trying this numerous times etc, the safe mode and everything else disappeared.
Fwiw...I have kis 2015 and malawarebytes live running and I scanned yesterday and it was clean.
Your problem is right there. You HDD is either corrupted somehow by either hard ware failure or file corruptions. Do you have another any other HDD beside the one with the OS? Running Linux distro on a USB is your best bet to see if it isn't any other hardware failures. Another thing to try is to remove that HDD and try to access that HDD with the OS to see if the HDD isn't corrupted. IF you can access the HDD without any problem or lockup from another computer that means your HDD OS system could be corrupted.
Deal Fanatic
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Aug 27, 2014
8474 posts
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Canuckland
Just install linux.

Windows is getting greedier every day
Deal Addict
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Jul 13, 2010
1999 posts
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Ottawa
What you are saying now is MUCH different than what you were saying previously and is NOT the same thing now. There is nothing wrong with the MBR as it is fine in safe mode. You have no idea what "safe mode" is by your response and it is working in safe mode as intended.

Your OS has problem that may or may not be recoverable. It could be a simple as a driver or hardware conflict
Malware is not the same thing as a virus protection and it may or may not be that.

You are in over your head and I suggest you bring it to a computer geek friend. Best of luck.
love2save wrote: Yes. The dos type screen when I try the partition.

1. Bios is choosing the correct data drive but it won't boot.

2. The computer wouldn't boot this morning in normal mode, but would boot in safe mode-- however in safe mode no programs would work and it was slow as mud and would lock up. Only way to exit was to turn off until. In trying this numerous times etc, the safe mode and everything else disappeared.
Fwiw...I have kis 2015 and malawarebytes live running and I scanned yesterday and it was clean.
.
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
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Lake Simcoe
Any suggestions on who/where I should take the unit for a professional analysis of the situation if the W7P disk doesn't resolve my issue/s? (Toronto and surrounding area)

I can do the basics, but I'm no computer geek, and I don't want to make things worse that causes my data to be lost forever. (If it isn't already)
Deal Expert
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Mar 18, 2005
23686 posts
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Niagara Falls
love2save wrote: Any suggestions on who/where I should take the unit for a professional analysis of the situation if the W7P disk doesn't resolve my issue/s? (Toronto and surrounding area)

I can do the basics, but I'm no computer geek, and I don't want to make things worse that causes my data to be lost forever. (If it isn't already)
If you don't want to loose your data, then make sure when you sue the W7P disc you only try a repair, not a re-install, just to be safe.

Really you should try to burn a linux live cd or make a linux live usb key first. That way you can find out for sure if your data is still there. Pop in the USB/CD and boot to that device. Once Linux boots up you should have access to your HD and you can see what is there. After that, plug in an external HD and copy your files over.

Or you could pull out your laptop HD(really isn't difficult at all) and plug it into an external HD reader and copy the files that way.
Deal Guru
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Jan 11, 2004
10408 posts
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Toronto
master boot record needs to be repaired..

or its a simple single windows file that is missing. you need another windows 7 machine to copy to file back onto the harddrive..

this is also a big bad sign that your harddrive could be failing also! BAD sector on your harddrives!

backup!!
"When operating the viewfinder diopter control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger in your eye accidentally."
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
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Lake Simcoe
UPDATE:
I have contacted an old friend that works in the computer industry. I know he spent a week learning Linux OS and had to pass some tests to be certified. So he's well versed in computer jargon compared to me.
He has told me to get a 2TB portable hard drive and bring him that withthe unit. He said he should still have some W7 keys to use, so I'm not to buy from Dell at this point.
He's going to try and recover all the data, before he does a recovery install of W7 and test the drives further.

Sounds like I'm in good hands now...
Deal Expert
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Oct 26, 2003
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Winnipeg
^alright, thread is over
Deal Fanatic
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Dec 27, 2006
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Cornwall PE
Before doing anything drastic, try booting to gag. A boot loader that can boot from cd or thumb drive. Then boot follow the prompts and boot into the partitions that gag finds. When you find the correct one that boots windows for you jot the selection down. Then boot into gag again and select the partition that was where you booted into windows before and this time select h to install gag to the mbr and configure a 2 sec delay.
Gag is a pretty good tool to have as it can boot just about any os, well as far as I have found any os from haiku to windows. That has it's os loader in it's root partition.
http://gag.sourceforge.net/

[IMG]http://gag.sourceforge.net/gagn2.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://gag.sourceforge.net/gagn1.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://gag.sourceforge.net/gagn3.gif[/IMG]
Dun with posting deals.
My STORAGE SHED!
Linux User 412309
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
1666 upvotes
Lake Simcoe
Thanks to all of you for offering your advice and suggestions. It is certainly appreciated.

If you guys hadn't scared the crap out of me with how little knowledge I actually have, I probably would never have called my old friend that I don't see frequently.
It is just plain luck that he is being so generous with his time and offering to fix it for me...... as I only asked him for advice on what to do.

Food for thought (for you younger folks).......always treat your friends with respect and kindness, because you never know what the future might hold.

Thanks again,
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
1666 upvotes
Lake Simcoe
Fixed!

My friend tried to use a w7 recovery disk to recover my files but that failed. The system wouldn't recognize it. He somehow used a Linux OS program to recover my files and put them on an external 2TB hard drive I purchased.
He then installed a new w7 OS but it didn't work properly, so I contacted Dell and got the original w7 OS disk. We wiped the drives clean, made sure it was in Raid0 as I had originally purchased, and we installed the new OS.

Working just like new now.
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2012
1874 posts
1666 upvotes
Lake Simcoe
aviador wrote: More importantly, did Dell charge CA$129 for the W7 disks? [as mentioned in the thread's first post]
I must have spoken with at least 5 different people during my 5 calls to Dell. I had to go through the same redundant routine with each of them. They all wanted to charge me the $129 fee for the disk and assistance. (except for one)
One of them let it spill that the disk was free, and if I wanted their one time assistance it would be $129.
Geee, I wonder why 4 out of the 5 people didn't tell me that?! Buggers!!!

Anyways, I got the disk in less than 24hrs once I authorized the order. They called a few days later to follow up and find out if everything was good, or whether I needed their "assistance".

So no,.....I didn't pay Dell anything fortunately. I was prepared to pay the $129, but they pissed me off with their redundant processes every time I called, that I let the last person I spoke with have an ear full of my dissatisfaction with their call center.
Funny enough....... that's the person that sent me the disk for free! LOL.

As for rewarding my friend, he didn't want anything,..............but I convinced him to let me take him out to a nice Chinese Buffet in Markham. (not the Mandarin)

So let it be known............The original operating system disk for your Dell computer is FREE.

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