Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

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davewilk
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:59 pm

Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by davewilk »

I am trying to diagnose why my Windows 10 system won't boot, so I thought I would investigate with BIBM. I have just one disk, a 250GB SSD, that does not have BIBM installed. It has a small System Reserved partition (which I think is the active partition) and the remainder is the C drive. This is an older Athlon II system, no GPT or UEFI stuff.

So I made a bootable BIBM USB stick, and I can boot to it if the SSD is disconnected. But when I connect the SSD, the system always "boots" to the SSD but does not load Windows (rather it tries, and fails, to repair the installation). I have USB HDD as first boot device, and I have also tried selecting USB HDD in the "F12 boot menu".

But strangely, if I use a Windows 10 installation USB stick instead of the BIBM one, the system boots to the Windows 10 installer.

How come? What is different between the "bootability" of the BIBM stick and the Windows 10 installer one?
davewilk
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:59 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by davewilk »

Nobody seen this?

BIBM USB stick will boot when alone in machine, but not when (bootable) hard drive is connected. But bootable Win10 installation disk does boot when hard drive is connected.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by TeraByte Support »

check boot order or better, use the bios boot selection key to select which
device to boot.

"davewilk" wrote in message news:15365@public.bootitbm...

Nobody seen this?

BIBM USB stick will boot when alone in machine, but not when (bootable) hard
drive is connected. But bootable Win10 installation disk does boot when
hard drive is connected.

davewilk
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:59 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by davewilk »

TeraByte Support wrote:
> check boot order or better, use the bios boot selection key to select which
>
> device to boot.

I have tried both those things (boot order and F12 boot selector), as well as various choices of USB-type (both when creating and using the stick).

As I say,the same machine does boot to a USB Windows 10 installation stick.
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by DrTeeth »

On Mon, 23 Jul 2018 16:43:08 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
davewilk disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>What is different between the "bootability" of the BIBM stick and the Windows 10 installer one?

With the latter, Win 10 is finding something that it needs to booth
that it cannot find on the hard drive. Has the Win 10 install every
booted?

I *hate* system partitions. I cannot see the point of them, a bit like
one's appendix. Do NOT do what I suggest below if you use Bitlocker.

This is what I would do to repair/diagnose the issue.

1) Create a full disk backup.

2) I would follow the instructions on the TBU site
(https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=409)for getting
rid of the System Reserved partition. You can then make the actual
windows partition active. It is unlikely that that would have fixed
anything at that stage, but it will be a damn sight easier to get your
head around one partition.

3) Try a boot and let Win 10 attempt a repair. If still borked but the
installation media in a drive (you may not have to do this) and type
"sfc /scannow" without the quotes.

4) If point 3 has not fixed things, I'd be looking at a reinstall. To
avoid a system reserved partition, create a partition on your hard
drive before you install Win 10 and install to that one.

5) See point 1.

Good luck
--
Cheers,

DrT

"If you want to find out what is wrong
with democracy, spend five minutes with
the average voter". - Winston Churchill
Bob Coleman
Posts: 785
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:58 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by Bob Coleman »

Wasn't the original problem that a BIBM USB stick won't boot? Is any of this relevant to that?

DrTeeth wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Jul 2018 16:43:08 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
> davewilk disturbed my reverie and wrote:
>
> >What is different between the "bootability" of the BIBM stick and the
> Windows 10 installer one?
>
> With the latter, Win 10 is finding something that it needs to booth
> that it cannot find on the hard drive. Has the Win 10 install every
> booted?
>
> I *hate* system partitions. I cannot see the point of them, a bit like
> one's appendix. Do NOT do what I suggest below if you use Bitlocker.
>
> This is what I would do to repair/diagnose the issue.
>
> 1) Create a full disk backup.
>
> 2) I would follow the instructions on the TBU site
> (https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=409)for getting
> rid of the System Reserved partition. You can then make the actual
> windows partition active. It is unlikely that that would have fixed
> anything at that stage, but it will be a damn sight easier to get your
> head around one partition.
>
> 3) Try a boot and let Win 10 attempt a repair. If still borked but the
> installation media in a drive (you may not have to do this) and type
> "sfc /scannow" without the quotes.
>
> 4) If point 3 has not fixed things, I'd be looking at a reinstall. To
> avoid a system reserved partition, create a partition on your hard
> drive before you install Win 10 and install to that one.
>
> 5) See point 1.
>
> Good luck
> --
> Cheers,
>
> DrT
>
> "If you want to find out what is wrong
> with democracy, spend five minutes with
> the average voter". - Winston Churchill
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by DrTeeth »

On Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:58:20 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
Bob Coleman disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>Wasn't the original problem that a BIBM USB stick won't boot? Is any of this relevant to that?

That was not his original problem. He said his original Win 10 won't
boot, but it *will* with Win 10 on a USB stick.

His BIBM will not boot with the SSD connected. I think that this *may*
be a red herring. He was trying to use BIBM to diagnose what Win 10
would not boot. It would not be my tool of choice.
--
Cheers,

DrT

"If you want to find out what is wrong
with democracy, spend five minutes with
the average voter". - Winston Churchill
Bob Coleman
Posts: 785
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:58 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by Bob Coleman »

DrTeeth wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Jul 2018 15:58:20 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
> Bob Coleman disturbed my reverie and wrote:
>
> >Wasn't the original problem that a BIBM USB stick won't boot? Is any of
> this relevant to that?
>
> That was not his original problem. He said his original Win 10 won't
> boot, but it *will* with Win 10 on a USB stick.
>
> His BIBM will not boot with the SSD connected. I think that this *may*
> be a red herring. He was trying to use BIBM to diagnose what Win 10
> would not boot. It would not be my tool of choice.
> --
> Cheers,
>
> DrT
>
You are right. I missed that there are two different problems.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by Brian K »

Dave,

What is the error message when Windows won't boot? I understand the Win10 UFD doesn't boot Windows, just the Install environment.

Can you restore an image?
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Can't boot to bootable BIBM USB stick

Post by TeraByte Support »

change from non-partitioned to partitioned and ensure booting in legacy
mode. Windows will use a partition and will boot in UEFI mode.



"davewilk" wrote in message news:15368@public.bootitbm...

TeraByte Support wrote:
> check boot order or better, use the bios boot selection key to select
> which
>
> device to boot.

I have tried both those things (boot order and F12 boot selector), as well
as various choices of USB-type (both when creating and using the stick).

As I say,the same machine does boot to a USB Windows 10 installation stick.

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