Help, won't boot

[davewilk]

I really appreciate your help. I should add that I am using an older version of BIBM - 1.14.

The Windows 7 and Windows 10 partitions are labeled bootable, while the other partitions are not. However, in all cases the bootable setting is greyed out (and labeled obsolete).

But I think there is something wrong with my partition table. For starters, there is no free space listed, but I know there is free space on the drive (at least at the end). But worse, when I look at the Properties of the Data partition (which is the last partition) a message comes up saying "Invalid Head and SPT values exist in the BPB. Fix it?" I said No. Should I say Yes?

I tried removing the Data partition from the Windows 7 Boot Edit configuration, but Windows 7 still would not boot.

[mashedmitten]

Ok, that's good. It means the boot data is on the correct partitions. Never let a program "fix" something if you don't know what it's fixing. The partition table scramble leads me to the Windows Boot Manager thing. Open Boot Edit and double-click each entry one by one. Are there multiple entries for any? What are they, if so?

We can probably fix this, but personally I'd start from scratch and wipe the disk. THIS IS ONLY IF YOU HAVE ALL DATA BACKED UP AND THE OS INSTALL DISKS. Sorry for the cap lock, but it's important. Don't want anyone wiping their disk if they read this in a panic and not thoroughly.

Make sure to answer all questions fully so we make sure we're on the same page.

[davewilk]

I'm not sure what you mean by multiple entries.

There is stuff on the Data partition that I would rather not lose, and I would prefer not to lose the Windows 7 installation. The Windows 10 installation I do not care about. I have installation disks.

BTW, I have another similar computer that I have done exactly the same thing (Windows 7, Vista->8->8.1->10) with no problems. And this one was working fine in Windows 10, and I could access the Data partition, until I tried again to bot to Windows 7.

[mashedmitten]

Ok no big deal about the data partition. I will say keeping important data on the OS drive is the worst thing to do as far as loss risk goes. A 2nd internal or an external drive is best. I keep no data on the OS partition or drive. I have to step out for a while. Let me gather some KB articles and just refresh my memory as to how I dealt with this issue a while back.

[Brian K]

davewilk wrote:
>. I should add that I am using an older
> version of BIBM - 1.14.
>

Dave,

Upgrade to the latest, 1.36a. See if that fixes it.

[davewilk]

Brian K wrote:
> Dave,
>
> Upgrade to the latest, 1.36a. See if that fixes it.

Sorry I got busy yesterday. Why to you think upgrading would help? It was working perfectly on 1.14 until it wasn't.

I'm a bit reluctant to add an extra event into the mix...

[Logman]

davewilk wrote:
> Brian K wrote:
> > Dave,
> >
> > Upgrade to the latest, 1.36a. See if that fixes it.
>
> Sorry I got busy yesterday. Why to you think upgrading would help? It was working
> perfectly on 1.14 until it wasn't.
>
> I'm a bit reluctant to add an extra event into the mix...

Only takes a minute to update, and look at all the fixes since your version : http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/upgrad ... -metal.htm

It would take a lot of guesswork out of the equation if we knew you were up to date.

[davewilk]

mashedmitten wrote:
> Ok no big deal about the data partition. I will say keeping important data
> on the OS drive is the worst thing to do as far as loss risk goes. A 2nd
> internal or an external drive is best. I keep no data on the OS partition
> or drive. I have to step out for a while. Let me gather some KB articles
> and just refresh my memory as to how I dealt with this issue a while back.

Sorry I got busy yesterday. So do you have any ideas?

Why would my partition table get messed up? I don't think Windows 10 took one (or both) of the RE partitions out of the Data partition, because the sum of the Windows 10 partition and RE partition sizes is almost exactly equal to (but slightly less than) the 120000 MiB that I started with.

[mashedmitten]

Yeah, I got busy too. :blush: That and I wanted to see if the Update fixed it. I know it worked before, but the reinstall may have forced you to set up the boot info over again, fixing your issue. That's what's needed.

I don't think the partition table's messed up, just that different interpretations are in play, BIBM's and Windows'.

Did you ever delete the old Boot Edit entries and rebuild them from scratch?

I'm willing to break one of my systems like I think you broke yours to refresh what I did to fix it when I erred a while ago, but would like to make sure you've tried all I've said before the effort.

[mashedmitten]

Logman wrote:
> Only takes a minute

:wave: