Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows Vista and 7 => Topic started by: juicebox on July 20, 2010, 10:22:45 PM
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So a couple of weeks back i restated my computer (from the button not via windows) and when it booted again it froze at verifying dmi pool data...
i have no idea whats wrong with it...
things i have tried:
-trying to boot in safe mode, but it freezes before i get into the screen to pick safe mode
-tried a new hard drive in my computer which worked, but i also tried my hard drive in other peoples computer which also worked so its doesn't work when i have my computer and my hard drive in at the same time
-tried using the windows 7 disk to replace boot files and the restore my computer via system restore
so now I'm running out of ideas :( please help
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-tried a new hard drive in my computer which worked
...meaning you installed Windows 7 on it and it was able to boot to the operating system? If so, then it could be the hard drive or...
, but i also tried my hard drive in other peoples computer which also worked
Not sure how that could be unless they have the exact same motherboard (or, at the very least, hard disk controller). Unless, of course, you were just looking for whether or not the computer could read the hard drive's data, rather than whether or not it can boot to the operating system installed on that hard drive?
so its doesn't work when i have my computer and my hard drive in at the same time
-tried using the windows 7 disk to replace boot files and the restore my computer via system restore
...and? Error messages? What happened?
so now I'm running out of ideas :( please help
I'm going to assume that the drive's data is accessible, but the operating system is damaged to the point where Startup Repair can't fix it.
Time for CHKDSK. Boot to the Windows 7 DVD like you did when you ran Startup Repair, but this time, go to the command prompt, type in the following, and press Enter:
chkdsk c: /r
After CHKDSK finishes, look at the number of bad sectors it found. If that number isNOT zero (0), then you've got a failing hard drive. Do what you did to get the drive working on your friend's computer, and copy the data off of it before you lose it permanently!
Otherwise, if the number is 0, then the drive is likely fine, but you still need to do something about your jacked-up operating system. Do what you did to get the drive working on your friend's computer and copy the data off the drive. Or better yet, just install Windows 7 on that new drive you mentioned.
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-yea i tried another hard drive in my computer (just plugged it in the IDE port) and booted off of the and it got into windows and everything.. worked fine
-I'm not sure what you mean in "unless you had the exact same mother boared" i just plugged it in and it worked fine no problems...
-no error messages so far at all... when i used the windows 7 disk to restore it said restore done successfully and same thing with the fixing boot option in the windows 7 disk said it was all fine and still no dice
-running the disk check now thanks a lot for helping :)
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OK i did the disk check and it said 0 in the bad sectors area.... anymore suggestions?
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-yea i tried another hard drive in my computer (just plugged it in the IDE port) and booted off of the and it got into windows and everything.. worked fine
You're still not telling me everything. Did you have BOTH the old AND the new drive connected when you did this or did you have ONLY the new drive connected? If you only had the new drive connected, then I don't see how your computer would even start up! It has to find an operating system somewhere!
-I'm not sure what you mean in "unless you had the exact same mother boared" i just plugged it in and it worked fine no problems...
Then it sounds to me like you had both the old and the new plugged in.
You're troubleshooting this all wrong. If the problem is your old drive, leaving your old drive plugged in is not going to fix the problem. However...I can think of one scenario in which all of these conditions apply:
1) Plug in old drive only, won't boot.
2) Plug in new drive only, won't boot.
3) Plug in old and new drive, boots up fine.
In this scenario, your operating system's BCD database is all jacked up--meaning that BCD and BOOTMGR are on one drive, but yet it's pointing to the GUID of the other, so your computer will only start up with BOTH drives connected.
There's an easy way, a "work-if-you're-lucky" way, and a hard way to fix this.
Easy way: Back up your data, wipe, and format. Make sure ONLY ONE drive is connected while you format and reinstall Windows 7. Otherwise, this may happen again (BCD on one drive, the OS partition on another).
Work-if-you're-lucky way: Connect ONLY the boot drive to your computer, and boot from the Windows 7 DVD. Run the Repair My Computer wizard like you did last time. Hopefully, a working BCD will be restored to the proper location...
Hard way: Try to move the System/Boot partition and the BCD database to the C drive. Good luck with that one...
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sorry i wasn't very clear.... OK so my computer works if anyother hard drive is plugged into it... but it doesn't work if my hard drive is plugged in to my computer (the one I'm having problems with) but if i plug my hard drive into someone Else's computer it works fine.. so the only way my computer wont boot is if i have my hard drive in it but i know the hard drive boots because i have plugged it into another computer and it boots with no problems.....
so how would i go about moving the System/Boot partition and the BCD database to the C drive?
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or is there any good recovery programs that could fix my boot?
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and btw i have already tried both using the wizard on the windows 7 disk to fix my boot and also used system restore via the windows disk but still nothing :(
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Hard drives since WinME are not able to just be "swapped" from one machine to the next and expected to work properly as Windows "ties" the install performed to the current hardware the machine has...so you either got lucky trying it this way or the machines may have been similiar.
In a nutshell this approach is doomed to fail.
Slave Drive Tutorial (http://www.dtidata.com/resourcecenter/2007/04/23/how-to-slave-hard-drive/)
The above will allow you to retrieve any important data...
Then do a full wipe and a clean install of whatever flavors of Windows you plan to use.
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Thank yous for the help i reformatted and all seems to be going well... and it odd about the swapping hard drive thing cause i tried 2 different hard drive in my computer which booted fine :S one was similar to my computer but the other one was running xp and it booted fine
but anyways its all working again :)