non system disk, press any key

Dear,

After removing the OS selector from Acronis DD10 with a system restore tot a point before installing it, I get a black screen with the message "non system disk, press any key", everytime when I start my pc. After pressing a key Windows Vista (Home Premium) starts up, and my pc seems to work without any problem.

I am not an expert in computing, but hope that someone can tell me what the problem is, and help to solve it (step by step please).

Regards.

 

Did you try uninstalling OSS first? I don't think restore points will return the MBR to its original state.

Check the BIOS and make sure the correct drive is the booting drive (if you have more than one).

If you have a standard Microsoft OEM or retail DVD, boot to it, select the Repair option, start the Command Prompt and run the bootrec /fixmbr command at the prompt.

You can also try the automatic repair option from the Vista DVD and see if it works. It may detect the "corrupt" MBR and fix it.

 

What I would try first is to use System Restore to "Undo my last restoration", observe that it's working again as it did originally, and *then* perform a proper uninstall of OSS.

 

That's an option that could be tried. My experience with System Restore "fixing" anything has not been good.

 

Hello MudCrab,

I did not try tot uninstalling OSS first.

The automatic repair option from the Vista DVD did not succeed. It said there was no problem detected.

If I understand it properly, I have to start the Command Prompt, type in: bootrec /fixmbr (with a space between c and / and not type .exe after bootrec) and everything goes automatic from that point, just have to wait for a message like repair went ok, now reboot?

Simon.

 

Hello again MudCrab,

Your answer did solve my problem!!

With shaking knees (translated from Dutch, it meens something like: "oh boy, lets hope it goes well, hold your breath...", maybe its also known in English) I booted from the Vista DVD, and typed in the commandline "bootrec /fixmbr" (without quotemarks).
That did the trick, my pc boots again normally.

What a relief!

Thanks again MudCrab.

Regards,
Simon

 

It's amazing how much the Automatic Repair function doesn't detect as wrong, especially on a system that won't boot properly.

You're very welcome. Thanks for posting back with your results.