Windows 7 Windows 7 Install gives NTLDR fail error msg

[Joe71]

I did a Windows 7 "full install" onto my Gigabyte MB RAID equipped quad core 64bit system. "Nominally" all went to completion without any problem whatsoever.

The only problem I have is when I boot up.
1) If I boot up WITHOUT the Win7 64bit install disk in the drive, I get an error message during boot that says "NTLDR not found" and the boot attempt fails and you have to hit ctrl-alt-delete to continue. In this configuration, boot cannot be completed.
2) On the other hand, if I simply leave the Win7 64bit install disk in the CD/DVD drive, the boot up continues through the failure point and stops at a text window which appears to be a "dual boot" type of window. This window offers to boot up using "Other Operating System" or using Windows 7.
a) If I select "Other Operating System", I get a message saying that this "other" OS was not found.
b) If I select "Windows 7", then the boot proceeds normally to a satisfactory conclusion and all W7 functions operate as expected.

Notes:
1) The system I had installed was Win XP but I did do a "fresh install" to get where I am. No "upgrade install" was offered and none was looked for.
2) The Gigabyte system is a new one with "built into the firmware" drivers for RAID and so W7 did not ask for and was not given any drivers to load during the install. The RAID system is working just fine.
3) I did a "repair install" and it went successfully to completion without changing the situation.

Question:
How do I get rid of this (bogus) dual boot option presented to me by W7?

 

[Saltgrass]

I think what is going on is you installed Windows 7 to a drive that was not drive 0 and hence the older boot situation was maintained. I am not familiar with the RAID situation, but NTLDR is not used in Windows 7, so I suggest you do a startup repair and fix the boot problems. If you look at the drive/s, does the Windows 7 partitions show as active and bootable?

Open an administrative command prompt and type bcdedit and see, and maybe post a picture of what it says.

 

[Joe71]

bcdedit says: The boot configuration file could not be opened. Access is denied.

The particular RAID partition WAS the D: drive in the XP configuration. I disconnected and saved the C: RAID drives "just in case" the W7 install did not go well... as now..

I did NOT repartition and/or format the D: drive, but when the install was complete, W7 had made it the new C: drive as expected. I did save the old drive data using the recovery option offered plus a copy using Acronis. So I <could> format the new d: drive, but I have not before had to do anything like this when installing a "full install" onto a drive.

Thanks for any additional advice!

 

[SIW2]

Please post a screen shot of Disk Management window .

( BTW - you need to run an elevated command to access bcd - not that you should need to use it now- just for future ref.)

 

[Joe71]

Attached is image of disk management window.

Also.. What is an "Elevated Command"? Thanks.

 

[Joe71]

Here is the disk mgmt screen again. I did not see it in the last posting.

 

[SIW2]

Hi Joe,

You have the HD 'S the wrong way in Bios boot order.

Go into Bios setup and set Disk 0 first HD in boot order( or swap the SATA leads )

Then run startup repair from the 7 dvd 3 times.

Hope it helps.

To run a command prompt with elevated privileges, rt click cmd.exe and Run as Admin.

 

[Joe71]

Thanks SIW2...
Your suggestion FIXED the problem of having to have the W7 install disk in the CD/DVD hopper in order to boot. Now when I select "Windows 7" in the dual boot window that comes up, it boots up normally to the desktop.

The "dual boot" window does offer Win7 as the default and selects it and boots up fine after the 30 second delay. However, I would like to completely eliminate the dual boot feature. Can you perhaps tell me how to do this? Thanks!

A General Question: Would it be better to do a W7 install with only the desired C: drive(s) -RAID or otherwise- attached? I have not (perhaps by serendipity!) had a problem like this on other 2000/XP/Vista installs in the past.. But perhaps I was just lucky!

 

[SIW2]

Type msconfig in start search - click it when it pops up.

Under the boot Tab , highlight any entry you don't want and Delete, Apply Ok , exit without restart.

If you only have one entry - you won't get the boot menu.


If you detach a hd , then install, when you reattach the hd bios may try to boot from that, depending where it is in boot order, and whether it is marked Active.

 

[Joe71]

Oops.. I forgot to take the W7 disk out of the hopper.
I still have the NTLDR not found error and a boot fail without the W7 disk installed in the CD reader.

I am now proceeding to a) disable ALL disk drives except the desired RAID1 pair and b) Reinstall Windows 7. Maybe that will fix it.

This is my third week attempting to get W7 to install in two RAID1 equpped computers. Both had 2 year old ASUS boards and Windows 7 could not function with any of the XP or Vista RAID drivers. ASUS in their marketing wisdom decided NOT to provide any W7 compatible RAID drivers. So I bought this new Gigabyte MA790GPT-UD3H motherboard and now I am having these brand new problems. So much for W7 being easier to work with as compared with Vista when it was introduced..

 

[Saltgrass]

I don't know where you are now, but elevated command prompt is you click on start menu, command prompt in accessories and right click and run as administrator.

 

[Saltgrass]

bcdedit says: The boot configuration file could not be opened. Access is denied.

You did not run a administrative command window. Right click on the command prompt in
Accessories and select Run as Admin...

 

[Harch]

I stumbled across your post after Google searching this same issue. I owe you one... it fixed my issue as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

-Harch

Hi Joe,

You have the HD 'S the wrong way in Bios boot order.

Go into Bios setup and set Disk 0 first HD in boot order( or swap the SATA leads )

Then run startup repair from the 7 dvd 3 times.

Hope it helps.

To run a command prompt with elevated privileges, rt click cmd.exe and Run as Admin.