Not the typical BOOTMGR error

J

Jennifer Sands

Member
Hi Guys,

Let me say first that I appreciate anyone checking this out. I am having a really hard time with my PC and I'm hoping for some assistance. I've been reading all sorts of information on bootmgr errors but none match my situation. I promise I haven't seen a fix for my specific boot issue anywhere :(

If I may, give you some background... any assistance is FANTASTIC thank you!

My system is a Dell Dimension E520

I reformatted the hard drive via the Command Prompt using the reinstallation DVD I was sent with my computer. As a result, I have no OS left on the computer.

My plan was to reinstall using that same DVD. Once reformat was complete, I named the drive and rebooted.

Upon restarting, the computer attempted to boot and I got a bootmgr missing ctrl al del to restart error.

I then switched BIOS around so that the DVD/CD drive is #1 and upon starting up it asks me to press any key to load from cd/dvd

The problem is... the files begin to load but fail and I'm shown a WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER error that prevents the dvd from starting.

Status: 0x00000e9
Info: An unexpected error has occurred

Every fix I saw requires the DVD to load. This isn't possible for me.

I also download NEOSMARTS windows recovery disc and that DID load, but it doesn't actually allow you to reinstall windows.

I was able to access the command prompt and tried this process:

Click Repair your computer
- Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next
- In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt
- Type bootrec /rebuildbcd and then press ENTER

• If Bootrec runs successfully, it will present you with the installation path of a Windows directory. To add the entry to the BCD store, type Yes . A confirmation message appears that indicates the entry was added successfully.

• If Bootrec cannot locate any missing Windows installations, you must remove the BCD store, and then you must re-create it. To do this, type the following commands in the order shown below: (Remember to press ENTER after each command)

This also had no effect. I'm still not able to load either the VISTA cd I got from DELL with my computer OR an XP CD I had left over from another compuer. I know both are working cds so that isn't the issue.

Any ideas? I'm desperate to get this working again. I know I lost my data, that was my intention but I need to access the machine! PLease someone be my knight and help!
 

My Computer

System One

Hi Jennifer,

You sound so forlorn.

When you say you formatted the o/s , I don't suppose there is a recovery partition still in existence?

Does sound like you formatted the whole hd.

Mbr appears to be OK.

It may be relevant that the Neosmart disc loads Ok - it copies fewer files to the hd than the installation dvd.

Have a look at what is going on the HD by booting to the cmd prompt with Neosmart cd - use Diskpart > lis vol
first, then

Diskpart>sel disk 0

Diskpart> sel par 1

Diskpart> detail par

Diskpart>exi

See if that throws any light on it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
Hi SIW2,

Forlorn is a good way to describe it! Thanks so much for your response.

I'm not really sure what you're asking.... I formatted C: so I thought that wiped everything out.

Drive D: is labeled RECOVERY currently. I can see that when I load the NEOSMART recovery disc.

But I don't know if that actually has any data on it. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jennifer
 

My Computer

System One

OK,

There's hope.

Boot the Neosmart cd, go to the cmd prompt, type ( press enter after each command as indicated).

Diskpart {enter}

lis vol {enter}

identify the recovery partition - might be partition 1 or 2

I am using 1 here - obviously use whatever number the recovery partition is:

sel disk 0 {enter}

sel par 1 {enter}

act {enter}

exi {enter}

remove the cd and restart the pc.

With a bit of luck , the recovery program will start up from the D recovery partition.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
To your tips - thank you again:

What drive do I do this from? The recovery drive? (d:)?

The NEOsmart default drive is X:, I also have C:

I'm not sure what # my recovery partion is, it should either be 1 or 2?

Thanks so much!
Jennifer
 

My Computer

System One

If that's not clear, you type the command line right next to the > prompt, like this:

X:\sources>Diskpart {enter}

DISKPART>lis vol {enter}

You will get a list.

Find out from that list the partition number of your recovery partition, then type:

Diskpart>sel disk 0 {enter}

Diskpart>sel par 1 {enter} ( or whatever the partition number is)

Diskpart>act {enter}

Diskpart>exi {enter}

Remove cd - restart pc.

If it helps, you can try lis par as well, like this:


X:\sources>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RC-PC

DISKPART> lis vol

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 F DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 C Vistax64 NTFS Partition 30 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 D New Volume NTFS Partition 25 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 3 E 7000 x86 NTFS Partition 23 GB Healthy
Volume 4 G Data Logica NTFS Partition 40 GB Healthy
Volume 5 H Backup Logi NTFS Partition 30 GB Healthy

DISKPART> sel disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> lis par

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 30 GB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 25 GB 30 GB
Partition 3 Primary 23 GB 55 GB
Partition 0 Extended 70 GB 78 GB
Partition 4 Logical 40 GB 78 GB
Partition 5 Logical 30 GB 118 GB

DISKPART>
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
I apologize for the hasty questions. I was able to follow your steps and I removed and rebooted the computer:

Should I try the vista install disc again? If I don't have a cd in the drive, it brings me to what looks like a diagnostics screen with 3 options:

Test Memory
Test System
Exit

Thanks,
Jennifer
 

My Computer

System One

I followed the steps again, and it appears to work. But, when I take out the disc and reboot. I get the same error:

Bootmgrg is missing

Any idea what else I could try? :-(

I really don't understand why this happened, all I did was reformat the C:
 

My Computer

System One

I take it didn't boot into the Recovery partition when you restarted.:(

The Recovery partion will be quite small 6-10 gb - are you sure you marked the small one as active?

If so,

You are going to need to delete and reformat C ( the big one) from the Neosmart cd and you need to mark C as active again.

X:\sources>diskpart

DISKPART> sel disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> lis par

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 30 GB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 25 GB 30 GB
Partition 3 Primary 23 GB 55 GB
Partition 0 Extended 70 GB 78 GB
Partition 4 Logical 40 GB 78 GB
Partition 5 Logical 30 GB 118 GB

Choose the partition to delete , e.g. 2 - this will be your main partion , not the small one.

DISKPART>sel par 2

DISKPART>del

DISKPART>cre par pri

DISKPART>for fs=ntfs quick

DISKPART>ass letter=C

DISKPART>act

Diskpart>exi

Then try the Dell dvd and see if you can install.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
How can I be sure I marked it as active? Is there a way on the command prompt I can check to make sure that RECOVERY has been assigned before switching it back?

Thanks for your attention and time.
 

My Computer

System One

Sure,

Go into Diskpart again:

sel disk 0 {enter}

sel par 1 {enter}

detail par {enter}

Check it is marked active and it is the small one.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
Ok, the recovery is infact selected.

So from here I just take the CD out and try to boot the computer normally, correct? As in, let it boot up to windows with no disc in the cd/dvd drive?
 

My Computer

System One

Yes.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
No, it's too small, the recovery partition will probably be 6-10GB.

Find it with

sel disk 0 {enter}

lis par {enter}

select the partition number for the 6-10gb partition , e.g. par 1

sel par 1 {enter}

act {enter}

detail par {enter} have a look and check it is active

exi {enter}

remove cd and reboot pc.

If the recovery partition is undamaged, it should start up and offer you the option to reinstall, or restore to factory condition, or whatever Dell calls it.

Here's hoping:)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
It's very odd because... Though I selected the correct one... when I clicked detail par, it showed the size of the drive as 238 gigs, which is clearly too big. When I selected the partition # it was only 10 gigs.

Is this a hopeless case? I never had any problems with this computer before, but this seems like such a complicated fix - granted I'm not very good with computers, but this trouble is so upsetting!
 

My Computer

System One

The command options are a bit tricky.

Maybe better downloading GParted ( it's only small ), burn to cd as an .iso image ( exactly like you did with the Neosmart one)

It is a direct download , so will be quick:

SourceForge.net: GParted: Downloading ...

Boot the cd - it will find the partitions, right click and Flag the 10gb one as active - you need to click Apply after for it to actually
do it.

Then try restarting - if recovery program starts up -great.

If not, suggest you select the main partition, flag it active. Then try reinstalling from the Dell dvd .
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
I am using Gparted now.

I am looking at the RECOVERY drive.

When I right click I don't see an option to mark it as active. Under manage flags it offers:
boot (which is checked)
hidden
lba
lvm
palo
prep
raid

Should I make any changes?

Thanks,
Jennifer
 

My Computer

System One

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