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Won't boot if Startup Recovery Manager deactivated

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TI2009:
I recently backed up my entire system and then restored to a new hard drive, which I am now using.
However after deactivating Startup Recovery Mangager (SRM), my PC will no longer boot up, just the Sony Vaio splash screen then a flashing cursor.

Booting with the recovery CD is fine and if I then activate SRM, subsequent reboots are OK, with the Acronis F11 prompt at startup. I would prefer not to get the F11 prompt at all and just revert to my original instant bootup.

I suspect something has corrupted my Master Boot Record (MBR). The only thing that springs to mind is that at some point over the last few days I deleted the Acronis Secure Zone partition by using Windows Disk Management from within Computer Management (Administrative Tools).

Should I recreate it then deactivate it?

Any help would be appreciated.

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Peter:

Activating the ASRM replaces the boot code in the MBR with a custom loader from Acronis (the one that prompts you to press F11). Deactivating the ASRM is supposed to replace the boot code with the original Microsoft boot code, but something must have gotten lost in the translation, so to speak.

You can easily replace the boot code in the MBR using Windows recovery tools. However, you didn't mention which version of Windows you're running. Let's assume Windows 7, for which you will need a Windows 7 installation DVD to access the repair tools. If Sony didn't furnish one with your PC then make your own by starting Win7 and typing "Repair" in the Start/search box and choosing "Create a System Repair Disk".

After making the Win 7 repair CD, boot your PC from it and go to a manual command prompt window. Enter the following command: bootrec /FixMbr as detailed in this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Many thanks Mark. What an excellent and prompt response. I really like this forum!
I'll give it a try and get back to you.
Cheers.

Update:

I created the repair disk (Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit) and the first thing I noticed was the message "Windows found problems with your computer's startup options", so I selected "Repair and Restart", thinking this alone would fix things. It did change the MBR, but the fault still persisted. I then followed your instructions fully, using the command bootrec /FixMbr and as if by magic, everything is now OK!

Just as test, I tried activating and deactivating ASRM a couple of times and no further problems were found. Using "Hex Workshop" I took "before" and "after" screenshots of the boot sector and you can see the difference!

Thanks again for your valuable and speedy assistance.

Afterthought:

Would the fact that the drive that I backed up was a Toshiba 400GB unit and the restore drive was a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB hybrid drive cause any of my problems? I was thinking that maybe the 4GB of inbuilt flash might confuse things a little, maybe not ...

By the way, I can thoroughly recommend the Seagate drive: it spins at 7200rpm (better than 5400) and its 4GB of flash really speeds things up.

Cheers.

Anhang Größe
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Peter:

I don't see any difference between the before and after boot code in your two attachments. They look identical to me.

It's hard to think of a reason that you had problems, unless TI stored a copy of the original boot code in the Secure Zone partition. If that was the case then the original Microsoft boot code would have been deleted when you deleted the Secure Zone partition and would have been unavailable for restoration when de-activating the ASRM. But that's just a guess on my part - I don't know where TI stores the original boot code.

Or, it could have been a one-time random event. Either way, at least it's working the way you wanted it to and I'm glad that you got things straightened out.

Hi Mark,
Yes you're right about the boot record screen shots. I'm sure the originals were different, maybe I lost one when I renamed the jpeg files. Never mind, it's all ok now.
I think you're also correct about the possible cause: deleting a partition that probably held the MBR record copy.
Must stop tinkering with my system!