- Jul 25, 2015
- 5
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- 4,510
This is my first post and I hope it is the right place to ask. Sorry if I am wrong. This might be about motherboard but overall it is wider question, for which I didn't find specific forum here. I have very weird problem and totally lost. My PC, that I put together, was perfectly running Windows 7 64 bit for more than two years, with about a year on current hard drive - Seagate SSD. Motherboad – Intel with mini-ITX form factor.
One day after a few hours of normal work I suddenly got Blue Screen of Death. After that I did multiple attempts to reboot but computer behaved erratically. It either cycled during boot every three - five seconds, or gave me various messages either from bios or from Windows – can’t find system disk, can’t find boot record, sometimes cycled without getting to any message, sometime with beeping sound. And I even could start PC a couple times - but both times ended with Blue Screens within a few minutes after Windows start.
Now when I start it says (I believe from BIOS):
Windows failed to start. Blah, blah blah.
File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
Using another, second, computer, with identical mobo I did a few experiments. System disk from the first, troubled, PC still doesn’t work as system drive on the second computer, but works perfectly as secondary hard drive. This is Seagate’s SSD, so I installed Seagate utilities and ran their various tests, including one taking a few hours, and none found any problems with the hard drive. I also ran standard "check disk" procedure - also no problems reported.
Then I used system disc from the second PC on the first one and it worked – windows started and worked. And if before that I thought about problem with mobo or power supply or RAM, now I was puzzled.
Also I tried to use installation disk for repair. I can get to the screen, where I can either Install or repair. Then if I choose “repair” it says “This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair…” and this is despite the fact that this is REAL installation disk used to install this instance of Windows.
I found someone’s advise that the disk to repair must be the only one or, at least, the first HDD in the boot order. I did just that – disconnected all other HDDs, but it made no difference.
If I choose Install, I can see three partitions – all physically on the same SSD:
1 - small MSR (reserved),
2 -even smaller System
and 3 - Seagate SSD (BTW, when I attached this disk as a secondary one on another computer I verified that it has NTFS system in properties).
The thing is that for all of them installation program gives a comment:
“Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 1, 2 or 3".
Reasons are slightly different. In all cases there were at least two reasons:
1. Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.
2. Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu.
And also there were additional reasons for Partitions 1 and 2:
For partition 1 (MSR, reserved):
Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition is a Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition.
For partition 2 (System):
Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS. `
And
The partition is an EFI system partition (ESP).
I verified that BIOS has UEFI option checked. Also I am reminding that just a day ago this exact Windows 7 was running on this exact HDD that it now says “can’t be installed” and also I am reminding - I can use this disk on another computer as a regular, non-system, disk and specialized software doesn’t find any issues with the disk.
There is no “Advanced options” or “Command prompt” options, that are usually suggested to try fixing the boot record.
Additional observation: during experiments, when I successfully used system disk from another computer, PC abruptly turned of a couple of times and couldn’t start for some time (the mobo turned on and off frequently – I guess that BIOS didn’t even have a chance to load at those times).
I am lost at this point. Is it hardware or software? If hardware then how to pinpoint, which particular part – mobo, power supply, memory or SSD? Let say if I replace mobo and/or power supply, how should I repair my Windows, as I believe installation itself is unaffected? Reinstalling OS is the last resort as I have many development and supporting tools installed and fine tuned. Many of them were patched, enhanced with various add-ons and add-ins.
Anyone has ideas? Thanks a lot.
One day after a few hours of normal work I suddenly got Blue Screen of Death. After that I did multiple attempts to reboot but computer behaved erratically. It either cycled during boot every three - five seconds, or gave me various messages either from bios or from Windows – can’t find system disk, can’t find boot record, sometimes cycled without getting to any message, sometime with beeping sound. And I even could start PC a couple times - but both times ended with Blue Screens within a few minutes after Windows start.
Now when I start it says (I believe from BIOS):
Windows failed to start. Blah, blah blah.
File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
Using another, second, computer, with identical mobo I did a few experiments. System disk from the first, troubled, PC still doesn’t work as system drive on the second computer, but works perfectly as secondary hard drive. This is Seagate’s SSD, so I installed Seagate utilities and ran their various tests, including one taking a few hours, and none found any problems with the hard drive. I also ran standard "check disk" procedure - also no problems reported.
Then I used system disc from the second PC on the first one and it worked – windows started and worked. And if before that I thought about problem with mobo or power supply or RAM, now I was puzzled.
Also I tried to use installation disk for repair. I can get to the screen, where I can either Install or repair. Then if I choose “repair” it says “This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair…” and this is despite the fact that this is REAL installation disk used to install this instance of Windows.
I found someone’s advise that the disk to repair must be the only one or, at least, the first HDD in the boot order. I did just that – disconnected all other HDDs, but it made no difference.
If I choose Install, I can see three partitions – all physically on the same SSD:
1 - small MSR (reserved),
2 -even smaller System
and 3 - Seagate SSD (BTW, when I attached this disk as a secondary one on another computer I verified that it has NTFS system in properties).
The thing is that for all of them installation program gives a comment:
“Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 1, 2 or 3".
Reasons are slightly different. In all cases there were at least two reasons:
1. Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.
2. Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu.
And also there were additional reasons for Partitions 1 and 2:
For partition 1 (MSR, reserved):
Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition is a Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition.
For partition 2 (System):
Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS. `
And
The partition is an EFI system partition (ESP).
I verified that BIOS has UEFI option checked. Also I am reminding that just a day ago this exact Windows 7 was running on this exact HDD that it now says “can’t be installed” and also I am reminding - I can use this disk on another computer as a regular, non-system, disk and specialized software doesn’t find any issues with the disk.
There is no “Advanced options” or “Command prompt” options, that are usually suggested to try fixing the boot record.
Additional observation: during experiments, when I successfully used system disk from another computer, PC abruptly turned of a couple of times and couldn’t start for some time (the mobo turned on and off frequently – I guess that BIOS didn’t even have a chance to load at those times).
I am lost at this point. Is it hardware or software? If hardware then how to pinpoint, which particular part – mobo, power supply, memory or SSD? Let say if I replace mobo and/or power supply, how should I repair my Windows, as I believe installation itself is unaffected? Reinstalling OS is the last resort as I have many development and supporting tools installed and fine tuned. Many of them were patched, enhanced with various add-ons and add-ins.
Anyone has ideas? Thanks a lot.
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