SOLVED How to repair HDD boot records

[Hibbs]

I recently home built a PC using an ASUS M5A78L-M PLUS USB3 motherboard (gpt not supported)...
a new 256GB SSD and two HDDs 1TB and 2TB from an old Win7 system...
both with considerable data that I want to keep.
Win10 v.1909 is installed on the SSD disk 0.

The problem is that disk 2 partition G: marked system, active, primary has no OS.

The OS, Win 10 is installed on SSD disk 0 with 2 partitions...
D: 579MB healthy, active, primary and
C: 237.91GB boot, page file, crash dump, primary.

I now realize that I should not have deleted the win 7 system from what is now G: (disk 20...
it should have been formatted to keep the boot decord correct before installing win 10.

Win 10 will boot if disk 2 is in the bios boot list but with much delay.
Any help on repairing the boot records on disks 0 an 2 will be much appreciated.
All boot records are of type mbr.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Hibbs,

I would shut the computer down and disconnect (pull the SATA power cable of the drives out) any other disks except the one that you want Windows 10 on and do a fresh install. Once the install is complete, you can reconnect the other drives. That will take care of your boot manager problem.
I don't know of another way myself which may be easier?.

Make a backup of all your files and important data before you proceed!.

See also:

https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/re-install-w10-and-keep-your-files-app-data-intact.15825/

Or try a reset (but you would need to still disconnect the other drives).

Reset Windows 10 (from within Windows)

If you've got severe problems with Windows 10 and need to perform more drastic measures to get things working again, you can reset the installation. Your PC will be restored to "as new" condition, with all 3rd party apps removed. You can choose...

www.windows10forums.com

I am quite certain there is another way but my suggestion is a simple solution!.

 

[Trouble]

I've restructured your OP to make it a bit more readable without changing the actual text.
When you string all your sentences together on a complex query it makes for difficult reading.

I think you need to be clear what you intend to see as a final solution.
Dual / Multi-boot
OR
just a Windows 10 install on the SSD with the data on the other two drives left intact.

We have a member on this forum who has some serious skills with these types of scenarios and I've sent him a DM to see if he's available and might possibly be willing to help.

 

[Saltgrass]

I recently home built a PC using an ASUS M5A78L-M PLUS USB3 motherboard (gpt not supported)...

Not sure what you mean by GPT not supported since a new motherboard should use UEFI which requires GPT.

If you are trying to upgrade the Win 7 OS to Win 10, that might be a problem. If you are doing a clean install of Win 10 and just want the Win 7 drives for their content, I suggest leaving them disconnected during the initial install. We can fix it if necessary..

A snipping tool picture expanded to show the partition descriptions attached, would be helpful.. Also, a listing from a bcdedit command created from an admin command prompt, would show how the system is booting.

 

[Trouble]

Not sure what you mean by GPT not supported since a new motherboard should use UEFI which requires GPT.

Just took a quick look at the manual

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM3+/M5A78L-M_PLUS_USB3/E11584_M5A78L-M_PLUS_USB3_UM_WEB_only.pdf

Looks pretty LEGACY (BIOS) to me, didn't notice any reference to UEFI

 

[Saltgrass]

Thanks Trouble, it does appear so, I just have no experience with AMD products. But it really doesn't matter, we can still fix it.. just need some info.

 

[Hibbs]

Thanks for the replies folks. I specifically asked Asus if UEFI is supported on this mother board's bios, the answer was no. I now have installed a fresh copy of Win10 on the ssd after removing the HDDs as suggested by Wolfie. I added them back one by one checking for BIOS detection. One was not detectable so I assume its toast although it was working on the Win7 system, it is around 10 years old. When connected it kills the post and boot speeds, it takes very close to 2 minutes to boot up, 1 minute for each step. I tried different sata cables to no effect. All the HDDs are healthy so I'll continue with adding software.
Thanks again for the help.

 

[Wolfie]

When connected it kills the post and boot speeds, it takes very close to 2 minutes to boot up, 1 minute for each step

Hi Hibbs,

I suspect that it is reading the boot manager files on the problematic HDD? (Just a guess???). Did you open Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management to check the drives for errors?.

I would also check the drive boot order in BIOS and make sure that the SSD is listed as the first boot device!.

 

[Wolfie]

Another thought, on your motherboard you most likely have 4 SATA connections, SATA 0 (zero) should be your main boot drive (the SSD), SATA 2 & 3 should be the other two HDD's you have, SATA 4 would be a DVD drive assuming you have one, try checking how your SATA cables are connected but make sure the main drive (the SSD) is connected to SATA 0. Reroute the other SATA cables if the need arise.