Failure to Boot
Hi All
I took an image of my laptop's 128GB SSD when it was delivered. Two years later I have purchased a new SSD to put in the laptop and decided to start again with a fresh windows based on the way it came when I bought the laptop. I connected the new hard drive using an external USB3 to SATA connector, and restored the image of the original hard drive from my laptop main drive where the TriImage TIB file was stored, to the external drive. I am VERY confident that I did NOT overwrite my main drive. At the end of the restore I was asked to re-boot windows (Win 7 Pro).
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, then click "next"
3. Click "repair your computer"
Status: 0xc000000e
Info: the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible
After the restart - I get a bootup error. The BIOS can see the drive, but it can't boot off it. The external drive (to which the original image was restored) is not connected.
Somehow restoring the image I took of the delivered status machine to an external drive has made my main drive unbootable. The machine did not come with a windows recovery disk that I can recall. I have some backups of the data on the laptop, but not a complete image. Somehow I need to convince my BIOS that the internal hard drive is bootable.
Any help would be appreciated!
Ken
Hi Daniel - Thanks for the reply.
I was running True Image within Windows 7. Because I had no intention of touching either of the installed internal drives, I didn't think an external boot was necessary.
It's exceedingly difficult (for me) to remove the internal drive. It's quite a fiddly task and last time I attempted it I ended up taking it to a service agent to recover from my efforts.
I made a Hiren's boot USB stick and booted into mini windows xp. My main drive was showing there with 3 partitions
- System (300MB) C: (Active)
- System (99GB) D:
- HP Recover (15GB) E:
- HP Tools (5GB) F:
The 99gb System partition is my original C drive. I marked it as active and tried a reboot. I get a similar error (same status code) but also
- File : \windows\system32\winload.exe
- The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt
Not sure where to go next ...
Ken
After re-reading your original post, I think I missed something the 1st time.
You are still trying to boot from the old SSD, but that drive will no longer boot ... correct?
Have you disconnected the new SSD?
The primary question I have now is: Why are you still trying to boot to the old SSD?
I am going to attempt to recreate the issue (except my machine is 8.1 and it doesn't have the HP partitions), will post back my results.
I wish I was using Windows 7 Pro, but I tried this with my Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit rig (256GB SSD boot and 1TB HDD backup installed).
Ok, so I connected a spare 128GB SSD using an external USB3 to SATA connector. I then restored an old image of my system onto the 128GB SSD while booted into Windows, just to make sure we are comparing apples to apples (as much as possible)
The 1st difference between our experiences is that Acronis did not ask me to reboot the computer when the restore completed.
I left all drives connected and restarted the system, I deliberately called up the BIOS boot menu and manually selected my 256GB SSD to boot.
The system booted up fine (sorry)
I then restarted and again called up the BIOS boot menu and manually selected the 128GB SSD (still connected by USB3)
Windows failed to make it to the login screen and restarted, I repeated the process and it again failed to reach the login screen. I disconnected my 256GB SSD and connected my 128GB SSD to that SATA port (internally). When I started, Windows booted to a message about restarting to try and repair (which I am guessing was a result of the 2 previous fails). I clicked restart and the system booted properly (sorry)
So I am unable to replicate the issue, my apologies. I don't suppose you are anywhere near Toronto (Canada) ... I would be willing to help with swapping the drives physically (it cannot be a more painful process than my mother's Dell Inspiron 15).
Couple of questions for you in the interest of continuing to troubleshoot.
1) When you originally connected the new SSD via the USB to SATA connector, did you initialize the drive using Windows Disk Management?
2) Are you able to boot your 128GB SSD if the new SSD is not attached to the system?
3) in your 2nd post you said "Because I had no intention of touching either of the installed internal drives, I didn't think an external boot was necessary." Are you saying that you have 2 drives installed internally? Can you clarify this?
Hi - thanks again for the reply.
I managed to fix the problem with a windows install/recovery boot USB after I finally found an ISO to match my install. In the end it was a very quick fix compared to trying to find the right tool to use on the Hiren boot CD. To re-iterate how I did this:
- Hardware/Software is a HP 8460W laptop; Windows 7 Pro SP1; Primary SSD 128GB with Windows (in four partitions "System:300MB; Hidden" // "System; 99GB; Active; Windows installed" // and two more HP partitions for Tools;System Restore.
- Then a secondary hard drive (no cd/dvd reader) with a 750GB hard drive, single partition, data only.
- I had an image of the Primary Drive (all three partitions) as it was when the laptop arrived three years ago.
- I have a new SSD to install and eventually replace the Primary SSD. I'm starting to have problems with Windows, it's been a long time without a re-install. I was attempting to restore the image taken 3 years ago of the delivery SSD to the new SSD (connected external USB) - WITHOUT HAVING ANY IMPACT ON MY CURRENT LAPTOP INSTALL. I was doing this within windows using True Image 2014. The 3 year old archive seems intact, True Image didn't detect any errors in it.
- One of the settings as part of the restore asked me if I wanted to "Restore Disk Signature". After much searching, without finding real advice either way, I selected to do so.
- The restore completed successfully, asked be to reboot - and subsequently I lost boot access to the primary SSD.
- Recovery was boot off a Windows Install ISO (on a USB Stick), start a system recovery. it took 5 seconds and reboot and it was back. Probably something to do with the boot folder in the protected system partition I guess - but why?
What did I do?
Ken
Most likely, your problem was not removing the original old SSD before booting to the new.
Windows got confused with two identical disk signature and would not boot.
Normally, only the new boot disk is attached on first boot following a restore.
Thanks for your detailed explanation of the steps involved Ken, I don't see any indication that you disconnected the new SSD after completing the restore BEFORE trying to boot again from the old SSD.
Telling Acronis to recover the disk signature meant that if you tried to boot with both SSDs connected, the system would be unable to distinguish between them. I haven't had a lot of luck determining the extent of what that particular option affects, but I recall it being an issue with a hard drive upgrade I did on a computer with Quickbooks installed. Because I failed to recover the disk signature, Quickbooks generated an authentication error (due to the drive not being the original that it was installed on). Short version ... it has to do with security features of some software.
I added a new SSD to my computer and restored image from old one. Then mount the old one to dvd drive and boot from USB drive. There is no boot issue with the computer. Hope this helps.
I cannot tell from your post if you are having a problem or are not having a problem. But, the thread you replied to is over two years old, so I don't think your post will add any value and may not even be read by the original poster. If you're having an issue, please open a new thread.