BOOTMGR missing

gunner1

New Member
OK so I get this BOOTMGR missing message at startup and with some Googling I found it to be a common issue. So I tried the solution suggested by a ton of differnt sites - startup with the Vista DVD and choose the Repair option. The problem is that at the next step, Windows Vista doesn't show up as an OS in the System Recovery Options window! It's just blank so obviously when I pick "Startup Repair" nothing happens. It also says "If you don't see your OS, click on Load Drivers to load drivers for your hard drive." But if I do this I have no idea where to look and what to look for! Any pointers on where I should go next would be much appreciated.
 

My Computer

Just click next and then go into comand prompt and type in bootrec.exe/fixmbr and bootrec.exe/fixboot and it should fix your problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
Sorry, but it doesn't work. I get a response in the command window that both commands were successfully executed, but after that it's the same thing - I still get the Bootmgr missing, press ctl+alt+del message, and when I start with the dvd it still can't locate my OS in the System Recovery Options window :(
 

My Computer

How many partitions do you have? Your Vista partition might not be set to active...just a thought.

In this case:

Boot again with the Vista cd and go into the command prompt.There, type:

diskpart <enter>

diskpart> List disk

You will get something like:

Code:
Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
--------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
Disk 0    Online          250 GB      0 B


diskpart> select disk 0 (or your disk number)


diskpart> list partition

If you have more than 1 partitions, you will get something like :

Code:
Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
-------------  ----------------  -------  -------
Partition 1    Primary            100 GB   0 MB
Partition 2    Primary            150 GB   100 GB

diskpart> select partition 1

"Partition 1 is now the selected partition."

diskpart> active

diskpart> exit

REBOOT.


Repeat with the other partition if it doesn't work.Might help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Limneos
    CPU
    Intel Core2Duo E4500 2.2GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5LD2-X/1333
    Memory
    2GB 800Mhz Kingston DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 8500GT
Are you running RAID 0? Does your hard drive show up on POST?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    pair of Intel E5430 quad core 2.66 GHz Xeons
    Motherboard
    Supermicro X7DWA-N server board
    Memory
    16GB DDR667
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA 8800 GTS 640 MB video card
    Hard Drives
    SAS RAID
That doesn't worlk either. I DO have two partitions, from what I recall C: was the main stuff and D: was something for recovery that HP had put in when they shipped the machine to me. When I list the partitions in the command window they show up - a 228Gig one and a smaller 22Gig one. The smaller one seems to have been selected but Vista doesn't show up when I try to Repair. When I select the larger one Vista doesn't show up either, but this time something called HP Recover Manager shows up in the OS column in the window! That appears weird since I would have expected Vista to be in the larger partition and the Recovery thingie to be in the smaller one. Either way, I can't get things to work from slecting either partition.

I'm just foxed - it seems like the Hard Drive is OK since it can obviously find both and list their contents when I browse through after loading. But I can't seem to get the Vista OS to show up where it appears that it should be defalult so that I can fix it. I'm not sure what I can do short of reinstalling from scratch and losing everything I have on the machine right now - unless I can figure out some way to get the Recovery thingie to work and at least put me back to the factory condition.

Thanks anyway...
 

My Computer

Since it's an HP machine, you must have a "press F11 for recovery" at boot time...if not, check your bios to enable this feauture. Had a similar case yesterday with a client, eventually I made a clean install cause he had tampered with the recovery partition... :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Limneos
    CPU
    Intel Core2Duo E4500 2.2GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5LD2-X/1333
    Memory
    2GB 800Mhz Kingston DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 8500GT
I do - except that nothing happens when I press F11! It just goes on trying to boot. I'm not sure if it needs to be enabled separately when it is already an option (at the bottom of the window) and whether I need to set the partition containing the Recovery as "active" or something else...
 

My Computer

What changed on your computer? What did you install?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    pair of Intel E5430 quad core 2.66 GHz Xeons
    Motherboard
    Supermicro X7DWA-N server board
    Memory
    16GB DDR667
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA 8800 GTS 640 MB video card
    Hard Drives
    SAS RAID
It will load the windows boot screen then its suppose to go into the recovery area. Did you make the recovery DVD's when you first got the computer. You may have to go to HP's website and order the recovery discs and you will only have to pay for shipping and handling.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
In response to SCSIraidGURU - I haven't loaded anything on to it. There was a power outage and it went off. When I restarted I ran into the problem.

Mansrm - I assume you're referring to HP's recovery DVD? I don't recall making anything... I should probably go check their site. Thanks.
 

My Computer

You will need to find your computer so you will be able to get the right DVD's for you model.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
Check hard drive priority in BIOS. It must boot on the drive that
contains the boot files


The computer must be configured to boot from a CD or from a DVD. For
information about how to configure the computer to start from a CD or from a
DVD, see the information that came with the computer.
Insert disc into PC
Restart the computer.
Set your language preference
Click Repair your computer.
In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click the operating system
that you want to repair, and then click Next.
In the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair to start the
repair process.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Own Build
    CPU
    Amd Athlon 64x2 5000+
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte M61PSE-S2
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Ati Radeon Hd3400
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung Syncmaster 2032bw
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050
    PSU
    500w
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Gamer Mouse Optical GM-4200
    Internet Speed
    8mb
@KV43 - seeing as it is a laptop, and seeing as it only has 2 partitions, regardless of which partition is active, the boot files will be where the original OS was installed - therefore, this advice is not really relevant here.

In addition, also being a laptop, there is *no* recovery DVD shipped with the machine - and the user stated that he had never made one....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Workstation
    Manufacturer/Model
    doofenshmirtz evil incorporated
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
    Motherboard
    Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 64GB (4x16GB) 3600MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB ROG Strix LC OC
    Sound Card
    Creative
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x27" Dell U2724D & 1 x 34" Dell U3415W
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 NVMe Solid State
    Drive
    PSU
    1500W ThermalTake Toughpower
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT
    Cooling
    Enermax Liqtech 240
    Keyboard
    Surface Ergonomic.
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance MX
    Internet Speed
    350 Mb/s
    Other Info
    WinTV NovaTD
    HP CP1515n Color Laser
    Sony BD-5300S-0B Blu-ray Writer
    Microsoft LifeCam Cinema
    APC 750i Smart UPS
  • Operating System
    windows 10
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Pro 3
    CPU
    1.9GHz Intel Core i5-4300U (dual-core, 3MB cache, up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost)
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4400
    Monitor(s) Displays
    12" Multi Touch
    Screen Resolution
    2160 x 144
    Hard Drives
    128GB
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Keyboard
    yes
    Internet Speed
    350 Mb/s
creation is pretty much impossible here - downloading one, though, may be an option....

Let;s me just say that I have never had a successfully use of the neosmart disc, ever. Perhaps it was because my Vista is a MAK version, but it never worked on a previous retail version of Vista 32bit Ultimate either.....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
Actually the BOOTMGR is missing, literally mean the file bootmgr is missing from the root of the system drive. I have W2K8 server x64, but the methods are the same. the boot dvd and the system drive has the bootmgr file under \windows\boot\pcat\

I copied the file to the root of my boot drive and the system started very slowly but did boot up. Also it is a good thing to rebuild the BCD just in case.
 

My Computer

However, if you read the entire thread, you'll notice that the user mentions having 2 partitions available - C and D - the user sees both there, but one is obviously (by virtue of its size) the HP recovery partition. Just copying the the bootmgr may not be enough in this case, as it sounds like the HD had write caching enabled and yet the power outage cause a write back failure on the drive.

Also, if the system had *2* partitions in addition to the recovery partition, but only shows 2 partitions now, copying the bootmgr is simply not going to work - as the 2 partitions at this point are hosed into one unpartitioned space.

Remember, the Vista Boot DVD does not even recognize that there is a Vista installation on the HD anywhere....

gunner - when you attempted to boot to the Windows Vista DVD, and then it didn't show your OS, and you clicked next anyway, you were at a command prompt, right?

what drive letter was showing on that command prompt? If it was something like X or G or anything besides C try running this:

Code:
dir c:

And tell me if you get anything at all.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
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