Bootmgr is corrupt :(

[rickinyorkshire]

Hey all.

So my PC has been fine but yesterday evening started acting strange. First firefox would hang and then the whole PC would become unresponsive for a min or 2 then would just start working again. This happened about 5 times so I closed FF down. I then started Skyrim but when it finally loaded and exited an area out into Skyrim it took about 5 full mins to load compared to about 10 seconds so I knew something was wrong.

I decided to run a full PC scan with AVG while I made some food. When I went back it was on a black screen saying I think 'Readwrite error' or something similar and to press ctrl+alt+delete to restart. When I did I then got this message:

Had a quick look on the net and doesn't seem to be a clear reason as to what's at fault. Could it be my hard drive? Some are saying it's memory..

Anyone have any thoughts? I'd hate to have to reload win 7 and lose my Skyrim save

 

[OmniBlade]

Provided your hard drive isn't faulty, you should be able to do a startup repair from a windows 7 install disc.

 

[LJx]

If startup repair does not catch it then you can go to the command prompt to sort it

 

[rickinyorkshire]

If startup repair does not catch it then you can go to the command prompt to sort it

If PC doesn't boot how do i access cmd prompt?

 

[EndlessWaves]

If PC doesn't boot how do i access cmd prompt?

It should be another option under the repair section of the windows disk.

Bootmgr (boot manager) is a file on the hard drive that records the operating systems you have installed so that the BIOS (motherboard) knows what to hand over control to when it's finished booting the system, if the data is missing or wrong you get an error like this, where the computer starts up but can't load the operating system (windows).

As to the cause, I can't say for certain - it could be something gone clunk in windows or the hard drive. I think memory is unlikely if the thing failed that quickly and you weren't writing the bootmgr.

If you've got another computer in the house then you could connect the hard drive up to that as a secondary drive. You can then backup everything and it'll also help confirm whether it's windows or the hard drive - if it's the drive you'll get read errors and similar while if it's windows that should all go smoothly as you won't be running windows.

You can try fixing the boot manager using the windows disk repair, but it sounds like the problem is more widespread.

 

[rickinyorkshire]

Thanks, i'll report back when i've had chance to look into it, probably at the weekend.

 

[rickinyorkshire]

OK so windows has been loading fine but I'm continuing to have PC lock ups. It's very intermittent too, for example my PC was fine all day Saturday which included some gaming.

Then Sunday I was playing Skyrim and the game just stopped and exited. Then my PC started locking up again... i ran the win7 memory test and no issues were found.

I then ran Prime for my CPU which didn't pick up any issues either..

Not too sure what else it can be as they are the 3 components i believe that could be at fault.

I think I'll have to re-install windows tonight

 

[davemackenzie]

Try a re-install, if that doesn't work then try taking out the ram one stick at a time to diagnose any faults, Win 7 has a real problem with glitches on Ram, I've had the error several times on win 7 because of a dodgy stick etc!

 

[rickinyorkshire]

Try a re-install, if that doesn't work then try taking out the ram one stick at a time to diagnose any faults, Win 7 has a real problem with glitches on Ram, I've had the error several times on win 7 because of a dodgy stick etc!

Ended up having to replace the hard drive. I first tried a re-install of Win 7 but the hd kept locking up during this and failed to format it also.

Good job my bro had an old spare one as the prices for new are really high, as you prob know.

 

[bouncer]

Ended up having to replace the hard drive. I first tried a re-install of Win 7 but the hd kept locking up during this and failed to format it also.

Good job my bro had an old spare one as the prices for new are really high, as you prob know.

Your old one may still be in warranty? Also next time give Seatools a try, Its sea gates did hard drive checker loads from CD to ram and is great.

 

[rickinyorkshire]

Your old one may still be in warranty? Also next time give Seatools a try, Its sea gates did hard drive checker loads from CD to ram and is great.

Nah it's quote old and can't remember where I even bought it from.

Ah didn't know that tool, will check it out. Thanks.