5

Help, I'm so confused. I did more or less what's been described here:

I formatted Vista and installed Windows 7 over it. Problem is that I'm now unable to boot

  • I'm installing Windows 7 on top of Vista on an ACER AS1410 Notebook
  • When it comes to the part where I choose where to install, I pick the partition labeled C:\ but instead of keeping windows.old files (what would I want them for?)
  • I choose to go and carelessly format the partition (my bad). It shows me this error:

    Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the Setup log files for more information.

  • Now the only option is "Load Driver". I have tried installing every single one from ACER website, none of them are useful. I even flashed the original BIOS.

I've tried going back and choose "Repair" like in the picture: alt text

but I only get an error:

Failed to save startup options.

I think this is weird, what else can I do?

6
  • I'm tempted to recover from hidden Acer partition, but not right now. Atm I'm delving into bootrec and bcdedit (can someone explain the difference between those two?). I'm very curious and I want to learn something from this incident, if anything.
    – ocurro
    Mar 26, 2010 at 18:17
  • Install Ubuntu instead?
    – marcusw
    Mar 26, 2010 at 20:33
  • 3
    @marcusw you realize your comment is mostly useless, don't you? Not everyone is willing to make such a leap, so either you help them overcome their problem or try to help someone else.
    – alex
    Mar 26, 2010 at 21:17
  • +1 for really trying to prove some info on your problem
    – Ivo Flipse
    Mar 27, 2010 at 6:47
  • Thanks! I did an update here= superuser.com/questions/124699/…
    – ocurro
    Mar 27, 2010 at 7:36

3 Answers 3

2

Delete the partition, then skip format, just choose the unformatted partition as the target, let Windows 7 setup do the rest.

.

0

I found a forum post with a similiar problem and they have several suggestions using the bootrec.exe tool on the Windows 7 Disc.

2
  • of course, it goes ok up until 3. bootrec /RebuildBCD, since I formatted the disk, Vista is nowhere to be found. Should I run some command prompt-compatible recovery solution? if so, which do you recommend? (preferably foss?) thanks
    – ocurro
    Mar 26, 2010 at 19:01
  • there's nothing on C: but a Temp folder with the following files (6, 14K): bcdinfo.txt bootfailure.txt disklayout.txt srtTrail.log StrTrail.txt uploadrecord.txt
    – ocurro
    Mar 26, 2010 at 19:09
0

Boot from Hiren's Boot Disc, format the partition as you'd like it, and then start the installation again. This time Leave the file-system intact.

This problem occurred to me too.

6
  • ok so Hiren's boot cd has a million apps or so, which one should recover my vista old files?
    – ocurro
    Mar 26, 2010 at 18:42
  • Recovering the data is a hit n try process! The CD is divided into sections there's an entire section for Recovery Tools. Use each one turn by turn if you don't get what you're looking for in the first hit! I'd suggest Recuva - Available on the disc.
    – adeelx
    Mar 26, 2010 at 19:10
  • I'll try that bc it's free. First I'll try to recover bootmgr, wish me luck.
    – ocurro
    Mar 26, 2010 at 19:17
  • BTW I didn't know I was messing with the file-system when I formatted from setup, I thought the setup would handle it fine and even, optimize it for Win7. sigh who knew.
    – ocurro
    Mar 26, 2010 at 19:31
  • @ocurro, what's the status, how are things now?
    – rlb.usa
    Mar 26, 2010 at 21:45

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .