[Solved]Missing Hardrive, Windows won't boot?

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I have a asus p5n-e sli windows 7 with two hard drives each with 500gb. I have windows installed on HD 1 and it isn't showing up in bios setup or select boot device so windows won't boot. I had a power outage in my area and afterwards seems like the computer can't find hd that windows is installed on?? :cry: Any help with this would be very much appreciated..

Edit* Managed to fix it via windows 7 32 bit recovery usb via marking partition as active the simply reparing and fixing the MBR via bootrec.. From there in the repair disk utility it managed to recover the windows partition, then I just repaired the mbr again. So it seems it took some time for the repair disk utility to actually find windows 7... Hopefully this is a permanent fix but super happy right now :D Atleast through it all I managed to discover the awesomeness of ubuntu as an OS and data recovery option.. Peace ~Tim
Last edited by Touch The Universe on Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Missing MBR? (Master Boot Record).

I've dealt with this often with others computers and what I usually end up doing (if that drive has import files on it), is replacing the drive with a fresh one, reinstalling the OS and then putting the old drive on a USB port to copy the files back over.

It has always been due to a power outage (especially if it happened to be in an update when it happened).

There might be other ways to do it, but I've found it's quickest and easiest for me to do it the way I do.

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connrections okay? do you open and checked inside your pc?
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I don't think its MBR because in the setup bios there should be two WD Hard drives showing up but only one is. I assume the missing one is where windows 7 is installed cause when I try to boot from the other drive just a bleeping cursor shows then reboots. Even if the MBR is missing shouldn't the HD still show up as a boot option and show is the bios HD menu? Sometimes when I boot up and go to boot selection menu the missing one shows up but without any other info, the other hd shows the type ie WD with alot of numbers etc..... while the other one is just blank? I'll try to take a picture cause I can't use print screen without getting into windows?
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My first thought would be just to swap the connections over and see what happens.

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The obvious: Is your missing drive still properly connected to the mobo and PSU? Disconnect and reconnect to make sure it's OK. If it still isn't there after that swap drives connections to mobo and PSU one at a time and try again, this should let you figure out quickly where the problem actually is.

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mysticvibes wrote:I don't think its MBR because in the setup bios there should be two WD Hard drives showing up but only one is. I assume the missing one is where windows 7 is installed cause when I try to boot from the other drive just a bleeping cursor shows then reboots. Even if the MBR is missing shouldn't the HD still show up as a boot option and show is the bios HD menu? Sometimes when I boot up and go to boot selection menu the missing one shows up but without any other info, the other hd shows the type ie WD with alot of numbers etc..... while the other one is just blank? I'll try to take a picture cause I can't use print screen without getting into windows?
Yes, it should show up in the bios regradless of anything else. Try swapping drives to see if it is the drive or the connection to it that's at fault in the bios. If it is the drive, you can replace it and still have a chance to USB to possibly access files on it. (But it doesn't sound like it). if it is the connection not showing after swapping them, it's possible there is a problem with the bios/board.

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Before you do any of this, reset the bios (either by jumper or completely disconnecting everything on it and discharging the energy by PSU breaker/power button).

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Banana in the tailpipe?

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Ok I just made sure they were both connected right and swapped connections and still won't boot. The only thing that changed was at first two drives were listed and the top one had no other info and after swap the bottom one was the one with no info from the boot menu after pressing f8. It didn't work so I decided to just switch them back the way they were connected before just in case.. This is really weird, how can a simple power outage cause a drive to be not read or boot from?
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mysticvibes wrote:Ok I just made sure they were both connected right and swapped connections and still won't boot. The only thing that changed was at first two drives were listed and the top one had no other info and after swap the bottom one was the one with no info from the boot menu after pressing f8. It didn't work so I decided to just switch them back the way they were connected before just in case.. This is really weird, how can a simple power outage cause a drive to be not read or boot from?
Did you swap the connections to PSU too?

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mysticvibes wrote:I don't think its MBR because in the setup bios there should be two WD Hard drives showing up but only one is. I assume the missing one is where windows 7 is installed cause when I try to boot from the other drive just a bleeping cursor shows then reboots. Even if the MBR is missing shouldn't the HD still show up as a boot option and show is the bios HD menu? Sometimes when I boot up and go to boot selection menu the missing one shows up but without any other info, the other hd shows the type ie WD with alot of numbers etc..... while the other one is just blank? I'll try to take a picture cause I can't use print screen without getting into windows?
You post on kvr where most don't know their mbr from their master boot file.

Yet you say, with confidence, that u don't think it is your MBR.

I think you are a lot more clued up than most kvr'rs (bless 'em). So why do you come here for help?

I really find you a bit circumspect. Why not post on the forum at the Register or something. I'm sorry, but KVR seems a very odd choice of place to ask for help with relation to hard drive problems.

Did you get it sorted out anyway? And care to share how you did, if so?

:-)

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BBFG# wrote:Before you do any of this, reset the bios (either by jumper or completely disconnecting everything on it and discharging the energy by PSU breaker/power button).
I disconnected the power cable but forgot the vga :dog: glad I wasn't shocked. I was mindful of static electricity too.
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eidenk wrote:
mysticvibes wrote:Ok I just made sure they were both connected right and swapped connections and still won't boot. The only thing that changed was at first two drives were listed and the top one had no other info and after swap the bottom one was the one with no info from the boot menu after pressing f8. It didn't work so I decided to just switch them back the way they were connected before just in case.. This is really weird, how can a simple power outage cause a drive to be not read or boot from?
Did you swap the connections to PSU too?
I'm not sure what you mean here, on the hard drives there were two cables connected to each drive, one that says sata and was wider and a smaller one right next to it, I just swapped both cables from both hd's.

Ok just checked and noticed that the smaller cables from each drive are connected to the mobo and right next to each other, should I disconnect this and swap as well? Is this the psu?
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codec_spurt wrote:
mysticvibes wrote:I don't think its MBR because in the setup bios there should be two WD Hard drives showing up but only one is. I assume the missing one is where windows 7 is installed cause when I try to boot from the other drive just a bleeping cursor shows then reboots. Even if the MBR is missing shouldn't the HD still show up as a boot option and show is the bios HD menu? Sometimes when I boot up and go to boot selection menu the missing one shows up but without any other info, the other hd shows the type ie WD with alot of numbers etc..... while the other one is just blank? I'll try to take a picture cause I can't use print screen without getting into windows?
You post on kvr where most don't know their mbr from their master boot file.

Yet you say, with confidence, that u don't think it is your MBR.

I think you are a lot more clued up than most kvr'rs (bless 'em). So why do you come here for help?

I really find you a bit circumspect. Why not post on the forum at the Register or something. I'm sorry, but KVR seems a very odd choice of place to ask for help with relation to hard drive problems.

Did you get it sorted out anyway? And care to share how you did, if so?

:-)
I have a seven forums account but can't remember the password and cleaned out my email so can't find it. I used up 5 tries so I have to wait a little to post there after I get a new password. Last time I had computer issues people here were very helpful so that I'd try here real quick.
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