MissingBootManager

[ron]

I have a Dell laptop running Vista and when its attempts to boot to windows it runs startup repair and then displays the following message:

Startup repair cannot repair this computer automatically

If I select send it just comes back say windows cannot repair this computer automatically

If I view the report it says:

MissingBootManager

I have tried swapping the RAM but this makes no change.

I would have just wiped the laptop and installed Vista again but there are documents I don't want to lose.

Any ideas?

[Jamo]

It cant repair the boot manager? Can you get into the repair console and run chkdsk /f (or /r) cant remember which it is in vista. Have u recently uninstalled Linux or another OS?

[ron]

No, it states it's unable to repair. I have just run chkdsk and it states that windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

No, haven’t uninstalled any OS, haven’t made any system changes recently.

[Jamo]

Try booting using hte disk and repairing the boot manager using

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

[ron]

Ok will try that, thanks

[ron]

I tried repairing the bootmanager and it didn't appear to work

[Jamo]

Have you tested the hard drive for physical faults? Bar that I would suggest using an Ubuntu boot disk to read the contents of your hard drive and then copy it onto a memory stick for backup and restoring the laptop back to factory settings.

Was there anything that led up to the failure? It seems odd to me that Windows didn't fix the bootmanager, it usually does in vista, sounds like something deeper could be wrong.

[ron]

Yes I have run full diagnostics and no failures were returned. I'm puzzled. No the laptop has been working fine, just came to boot it up the other day and it ran startup repair.

I'll see if I can copy the contents of the hard drive and then restore the laptop and see what happens, thanks for your help.

[Jamo]

I would say its about time to install the W7 beta for testing

[ron]

I have the Ubuntu boot disk ready to read the contents of the hard drive, how do I do this though?

[ron]

I have the W7 beta ready to install, hoping to set this up on a spare PC tomorrow and check out the features!

[ron]

Problem solved!

I used chkdsk c /f in command prompt and this sorted the problem, can now access the documents as vista boots fine, it's time to back up all the documents!

[ron]

It cant repair the boot manager? Can you get into the repair console and run chkdsk /f (or /r) cant remember which it is in vista. Have u recently uninstalled Linux or another OS?

You stated to try chkdsk /f this only didn't work because the c was missing. Thanks for your help!

[pawn3d]

You stated to try chkdsk /f this only didn't work because the c was missing. Thanks for your help!

it's awesome that we have people on the internet to help those in need, but people need to be more careful with their wording...
This command is not going to work without the colon. It's going to tell you the disk is write protected or some stuff. You need to type:
chkdsk c: /r

[pawn3d]

^ also, the above command works from the command prompt on a Windows 7 startup disc as well.