Can't Get Recovery Disk to Fix Master Boot Record

Discussion in 'Paragon Drive Backup Product Line' started by i_am_jim, Apr 16, 2013.

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  1. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    I have the 2010 version of Paragon.

    My MBR has gotten corrupted or damaged. I've tried the Paragon Recovery Disk's feature where it says it will repair the MBR. It says it has repaired it successfully but it still won't boot.

    On the first screen that comes up when I start the recovery disk there's an selection that says something like 'Boot from operating system on Disk 0?' When I click that it boots into my Windows 7 installation and once started it works perfectly.

    How do I repair the MBR so I can boot without using the recovery disk?
     
  2. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Have you got an old image of the disk when it worked where you saved the MBR/Track 0? If so, try doing a restore of the MBR/Track0 by itself.
     
  3. AlexC

    AlexC Registered Member

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    If you have a Windows 7 installation disk (the same version that you have installed in the computer), you can boot from it, access system recovery options, open command prompt and type:
    Code:
    bootrec /fixmbr
    Press enter
    Press enter and reboot.

    If you don´t have a Windows 7 installation disk, you can still try to access the system recovery options by pressing F8 during startup.

    Good luck :thumb:
     
  4. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    I have an image of the disk. It includes the MBR but not separately and I'm not sure how to restore it from the image. Is the thing called Boot, shown in the screen shot below the thing I restore?

    If not, could you give steps to restore a MBR from an image.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Apr 17, 2013
  5. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    I've tried that. Like with the Paragon MBR recovery, it says it was successful but it wasn't.
     
  6. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Good question. I had a look at my Win 8 system and it is the same as yours. I went to a Win 7 system that was upgraded from XP and does not have the System Reserved partition etc and the Paragon Restore lists MBR/First Track as an individual item to restore - this is what I was thinking when I did my reply to your post.

    I can't really say what to select in your case. What is troublesome is the Windows repair didn't work either.

    You might seriously consider asking Paragon how to do it. After all, they give the option to save it so just how does one restore it?
     
  7. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    What makes you think that?


    What is the message you get when trying to boot windows?

    Is it a required device is missing?
     
  8. wptski

    wptski Registered Member

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    W7x64 here and my full basic images don't show MBR/First Track as an individual item to restore but when making the image there are check boxes for the MBR/First Track.
     
  9. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    Technically it says
     
  10. wptski

    wptski Registered Member

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    Can you post a screen capture of Paragon showing the MBR/First Track as a individual item to restore?
     
  11. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    So do those engaged in this thread believe the Boot folder shown in post #4 is not the Boot Sector and thus restoring it will not fix this problem?
     
  12. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Remember the basics: the MBR is in the first sector of the disc (therefore in the first track or track0), which is not part of any partition.
     
  13. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Restore MBR-Track0.JPG


    Screenshot showing restore MBR as requested.
     
  14. wptski

    wptski Registered Member

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    I'm on a OEM Dell setup, maybe that's why I see the following and see the same boot folder as the OP does although the files inside are labeled different.

    Paragon-1.jpg
     
  15. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    MBR is not the problem according to the error message.

    You need to use bootsect or similar.

    You should be able to do it with a win7 /8 pe media of some kind.

    If you have the install dvd , when you get to the "Install Now" screen you can select "Repair my computer" at the bottom left of that screen .

    Or you could just hit shift and f10, to bring up command prompt

    At the command prompt, type :

    bootsect /nt60 ALL

    then press enter.



     
  16. wptski

    wptski Registered Member

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    Wikipedia states that the MBR is a special type of boot sector. So isn't that bootsect command modifying the MBR?
     
  17. routerguy99

    routerguy99 Registered Member

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    Your BCD got corrupted;

    Chris
     
  18. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    So what does bootsect do that BootRec doesn't and vice versa?
     
  19. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    At this point I have run all of the boot repair features of Paragon. A Paragon rep had me redo them all and then had me run all the arguments of Bootrec.exe. One supposedly rebuilds the entire boot record. When I was done the error message has changed but it stops at the same place. The error now is:

    "Invalid System Disk
    Replace the disk and press any key"

    As it turns out I can "press any key" and it boots normally into Win7.
     
  20. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    Sounds like that is from bios.

    Recheck the bios boot order - it may be looking to boot from a different device.

    Set your HD first in boot order.
     
  21. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    I've run Paragon's fix BCD feature several times
     
  22. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    I cannot find a boot order screen and F11 doesn't do anything, but when I first booted after the fix no other drives were connected
     
  23. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    I backed up my current Win7 installation (without the boot sector). Then I restored the old image file (long before this problem began), the boot problem remained the same, and then I restored my current image file
     
  24. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    People often assume an mbr problem.The mbr is one step in the chain.

    1. Bios hands control to the mbr executable code (the disk code).

    2. The disk code finds the active partition from the partition table and hands control to the executable code on the active volume ( the partition or bootsector code ).

    3. The partition or boot sector code on the active volume tries to find and hand control to bootmgr.

    4. Bootmgr looks at the bcd to find out what it is supposed to do next.

    The original problem was most likely damage to the executable code on the active volume. That is what bootsect.exe is specifically for.

    ( Bootsect can also rewrite the disk code contained in the mbr . They are quite similar in that they are both chainloaders)
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2013
  25. i_am_jim

    i_am_jim Registered Member

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    This is a clarification on post #22

    Somebody earlier said there was a secondary screen in the BIOS that let you specify exactly which specific drive to boot from. I don't seem to have such a screen if that's what you meant. If you mean the normal boot order screen my current order is CD/DVD drive then hard drive
     
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