BOOTMGR is missing (Detailed Situation) Vista

[Ehoz]

I'm running Vista on a 5 year old Toshiba Satellite A205.
Suddenly it won't boot (goes to "Windows Error Recovery"), and safe mode doesn't start either. From the Boot Device Menu the option "bootable hard drive" reports that "BOOTMGR is missing".

I've tried to repair using the Vista installation CD. I select the language/time/keyboard options, then "repair your computer" this gives me "System Recovery Options" but it fails to find an installed operating system (the list titled Operating System/Partition Size/Location is empty).

The SYSTEM RECOVERY MENU then gives the following options :-
Startup Repair
System Restore
Windows complete PC restore
Windows memory diagnostic tool
Command prompt

STARTUP REPAIR eventually reports "Windows cannot repair this computer automatically". under "problem details" it reports "Problem signature 06 : MissingBootManager"

SYSTEM RESTORE fails with the message "to perform an offline System Restore you must specify which Windows installation you would like to restore"

WINDOWS MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC TOOL reports "Windows cannot check for memory problems. A problem is preventing Windows from checking for memory problems during startup"

I have seen other similar problems reported on this website, and the suggested solution was to try
X:\ Sources>bootrec/fixboot
However this gives the error message "incorrect function" from the COMMAND PROMPT.

Now, let's say that I wiped my hard drive with the WINDOWS COMPLETE PC RESTORE option, does this mean I have no idea what i'm doing with computers . Could this be the reason that the bootmgr is missing anyway?

I've also checked the boot sequence in the BIOS, and it is correct.
So I'm out of ideas, and I can't find any other options on this forum or others, can anybody suggest what I try next

[Pete10141748]

Have you tried using another OS such as miniXP or a Linux distro live from a CD, and see if you can even see the hard drive to rule out a hardware problem?

[Ehoz]

WOW, I'm in complete absolute shock right now. I've been working on this problem for about a week now, as I posted this thread hoping for any other option I was running the (out of box recovery option) on the toshiba recovery disk for the 3rd or 4th time,(each time after trying a significant change in dos. It stopped after 100% and gave me the error 10-fa12-0017 (as always).... I was just about to give up and buy a new hard drive untill I restarted it with the disc for one final time and the operating system booted up and everything was working fine.


I'm not really sure of how I came to this conclusion. But if anyone else had this problem (especially with a toshiba laptop recovery disk, there is still hope!)

[Ehoz]

And thank you for the quick reply Pete, I did try that and confirmed that the hard drive wasn't shot. I will backtrack and figure out how I got this to work. Many people out there on the forums would be happy to have that information as all the other options didn't work for them.