I am fairly certain I would have no problems using different bootable USB, but yes I could try. There has to be some tool or tools that will allow me to eliminate different aspects of booting before I resort to an image restore. Since previously I have let windows try to fix the MBR I can be certain it isn't that. I have just learned about bootrec and bcdedit utilities, so I may try those.
That was the last update for v7.2, released on 5th August 2020. The initial release of v7.3.5281 followed on 14th October 2020. As far as I can see there were no subsequent fixes in the Reflect v7 Release Notes for any issue resembling yours, but you could try updating to the last release of Reflect v7.3. If you check for updates in your v7.2 you should still be offered the update to v7.3.6391 from 18th November 2021.
I note that your profile says you dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 7. In such configurations it is important to turn off Fast Startup in Windows 10 as this is a form of hibernation. Odd things may happen if you boot another OS while W10 is shut down using Fast Startup. For similar reasons in Windows 7 you should not enable Hybrid Sleep in its power plan. It's also not good practice to hibernate one OS, then boot into the other at next start up.....I booted my Macrium rescue flash drive to check the version I've been using and exited as normal, and guess what? The OS wouldn't boot AGAIN! Just spun, then ran the auto repair but couldn't fix.
Maybe like someone said there is something else going on. It sounds very much like something to do with the boot configuration was overwritten or lost....
The PC is strictly W10P now, clean installed about two months ago.That was the last update for v7.2, released on 5th August 2020. The initial release of v7.3.5281 followed on 14th October 2020. As far as I can see there were no subsequent fixes in the Reflect v7 Release Notes for any issue resembling yours, but you could try updating to the last release of Reflect v7.3. If you check for updates in your v7.2 you should still be offered the update to v7.3.6391 from 18th November 2021.
I note that your profile says you dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 7. In such configurations it is important to turn off Fast Startup in Windows 10 as this is a form of hibernation. Odd things may happen if you boot another OS while W10 is shut down using Fast Startup. For similar reasons in Windows 7 you should not enable Hybrid Sleep in its power plan. It's also not good practice to hibernate one OS, then boot into the other at next start up.
If the Macrium rescue media uses WinPE release 1709, and that is referring to Windows 1709, that dates to 2017. I wonder if this is some kind of incompatibility between 1709 and 22H2 builds. I'll install a newer version on a different PC and create rescue media from that.
I use WinRE for all my rescue media, no extra downloads required.
You may also like to try Reflect Free v8.0, you can still get it direct from Macrium. Reflect v8 is fully compatible with v7 backup images, and vice versa. Reflect Free v8.0 remains supported until 1st January 2024. The Reflect Free v8.0 Download Agent is here:
https://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v8/ReflectDLHF.exe
So I restored just the OS partition from the old image using the latest Macrium free rescue iso v8.0.7279 on DVD instead of USB.
The last steps of the restore are:
writing partition table,
replacing MBR and track 0 from backup,
writing MBR
Since the PC would still not boot, I assume the OS partition and those items aren't the issue. Then I restored the much smaller system reserved and recovery partitions and I booted into W10 a few times successfully.
I then booted into different USB sticks, avoiding the old suspect Macrium USB. I made sure it still booted into the OS after each try. Eventually the no boot problem returned, and the PC even locked up during the full image restore, but was successful on the next attempt at a full image restore. This is now sounding like a HW issue, maybe power supply or motherboard.
Last edited by tns1; 13 Nov 2023 at 23:55.
Hi, you say the PC is 'older' - no model so I can't assess age.
Have you actually verified the system disk? (and your other disks if any too)
If you're able to boot at all then try Crystal Diskinfo, Hard Disk Sentinel (the latter is more informative).
In order to demonstrate the rest of your hardware isn't responsible for this, you could try
- remove the existing disk
- disconnect/remove any other disks
- put in a spare disk
- clean install Win 10 (as a test)
If you don't have any boot problems, then the rest of your hardware is likely to be sound.
Better to try that than risk repair shop costs.
The machine is a Dell 630, maybe 16yrs old. Before you laugh, it has been a daily driver that entire time and W10x64 is fast enough for desktop stuff. I have newer machines and will retire this one if I can't figure this out. All the HW tests I have done, disk, memory, system diagnosis, have failed to find a problem, but I am repeating all that now. I have tested that new HD so much in the last month, I really doubt it could be the problem, but swapping the new drive out is a good idea. I will probably swap SATA ports/cables too. Caps do fail after that long a time, so PS and MB are suspect too. It makes it hard to diagnose that it will run fine for a lengthy period but suddenly not boot so you can't use many tools. Image restoring is also time consuming.
Just now after restoring the full image and booting fine, I ran "dism blah blah restorehealth". Took forever but completed without complaint. Then I started sfc /scannow and I got a BSOD half way thru and a return to a no boot condition.
Being that old it may only be stable with a 32 bit O/S.... assuming there's no hardware issue.
And being that old, very surprising you've got suitable 64 bit drivers...
It is 64bit HW. I ran W7Px64 for years no issues, and W10Px64 installed, found suitable drivers and ran for a month without a hitch, so if anything I would suspect the most recent updates, or intermittent HW failure.
I am taking a two-prong approach, isolating the suspect PC from the suspect HD:
I booted my old W7P HD in the suspect PC. I ran a few utils and it seemed fine.
I then took an already installed W10P HD from a laptop which successfully booted in my suspect PC. I am running tests on that.
I have taken my suspect HD, and put it in a different PC. It wouldn't boot so I once again restored the same image onto it. It has been trying to boot for 20min, spinning. This is now pointing to the new HD as the problem, that somehow the MBR or partition tables area or other boot related area of the drive is bad and cannot be fixed. This is odd since most of that is supposed to be duplicated in two places.
Update: I am pretty sure at this point that the issue had nothing to do with Macrium or the flash drive I booted it from. I have created an updated Macrium v8 rescue USB to use going forward. Still investigating the root cause but have moved to a newer PC with a new SSD for my daily driver. The image browse feature makes it really easy to copy personal files from inside an old image to the replacement PC. Sure wish the rescue environment had SHUTDOWN right on the main menu. It is those default reboots that had me pulling the USB without a real shutdown.
Last edited by tns1; 18 Nov 2023 at 20:43.
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