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laptop only boots with usbstick

Tags:
  • Laptops
  • Windows Vista
  • Boot
Last response: in Windows Vista
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August 17, 2014 11:15:06 PM

In short: I can't boot my laptop.
It will ONLY boot when I stick a Rescue USBstick in it, it then shows the normal bootmenu.

Longer description of the problem: After moving/resizing the partitions, I got booting problems.Setup is four partitions:

    Vista (original partition when I bought it)
    WinXP
    W7
    Recovery partition for Vista, doesn't work now. Never tested it when things ran smoothly, actually.


Goal: I wanted to switch from vista to w7, but i mucked about with the partitions and I guess I damaged the bootloader and/or the mbr??? (what's the difference between these 2?)

Situation Before: It was a triple boot system.
Each OS was installed on it's own partition.
Situation After: I can only boot with the rescue boot usb attached to the laptop. Then, I get the same bootmenu with 3 OSes as I always did.
Funny thing: The rescue-USB does NOT offer it's own extensive boot options (it's the well-known H?????15.2.iso) AT ALL. (not promoting anything here, hence the "?????"). It just shows me the old bootmenu.

It almost seems as if it repaired my boot menu, but on the usb, not on the HDD. I did too, muck about with the Vista Rescue ISO too.

Question: How do I get my normal boot menu back, without having to use an USB??
Hardware: HP Pavilion DV2, 298 GB HDD. specs: http://www.pcworld.com/product/58935/pavilion-dv2-1030u...
And sure, sure, sure, it's an entirely workable situation but I still like to get things back to normal. Thank you.

More about : laptop boots usbstick

August 17, 2014 11:56:08 PM

seems it's time for a full format and fresh install :D 
If you bought it from pcworld, ask for a recovery disk to restore to factory, so you don't have troubles with drivers, then repartition/setup how you want it again
Not sure if they would do it, but could ask pcworlds' Knowhow Team if they have a solution without formatting too, always been helpful for free on my visits
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August 18, 2014 12:58:45 AM

Please try to constrain yourselves, and TRY TO NOT give non-answers like: buy a new laptop, buy external hdd, or do a full format, or any of those "ashtrays-are-full-buy-a-new-car" answers. Those just shows your ignorance.
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