Disk boot failure after removing old Vista partition

While installing Windows 10 on an old computer I met a puzzling problem I can’t seem to be able to solve. I’m currently unable to boot from any device kind of device or media, and have to ask for professional help.

The setup has an IDE DVD-drive (set to master), and two SATA hard drives: one for OS and one for data storage. Because the computer is quite old, I burned an actual installation DVD from image (Win 10 Pro x86 ver.1803). I tweaked the boot order in BIOS, and noticed there seemed to be some remnants of an old Vista installation on the disk I wanted to designate for personal data. Although it contained no OS files and only one partition, the computer was trying to boot from it. My guess is that the “data” disk was the original OS disk of the Fujitsu Siemens system sold with Vista. I set the DVD drive before the HDD’s in the boot order, but noticed that curiously Windows installation would not start unless the “data” disk was on top of the “Hard drives” list in the boot priorities. It also needed to be on top in order for the current Win 7 installation to start up, even though it was on another disk. I didn’t pay it too much attention at that point, since with this setting the computer booted from the installation disk just fine. I went on to delete all partitions from the OS drive (that contained a Win 7 installation), and successfully installed Win 10 in AHCI mode using the DVD.

Now running Win 10 I wanted to reformat the “data” disk for a clean slate. I could not do it in Windows, because it showed the disk as “system” (again with no OS files on it). I then restarted the installer from the DVD and used diskpart / clean to get rid of the unwanted old stuff. After doing this, the computer would not boot anymore, just show the dreaded DISK BOOT FAILURE –message.

BIOS shows both drives and the DVD-drive correctly regardless to which port they’re connected. I tried removing all other connected devices and individually tested booting with each drive being the only connected device. I also tried connecting each drive to another SATA port, using another SATA cable, and obviously also with just the IDE DVD connected. I also made a USB2 installation stick with Rufus and tried to boot from it. I also tried SATA controller in IDE mode, and defaulting all BIOS settings. To no avail – after the POST screen where the drives show up correctly, the DISK BOOT FAILURE pops up every time. The MoBo is an old one with no BIOS updates available since years: Asus M2R-FVM/VP/S. There’s no external GPU, just the built-in VGA chip. There are no connected PCI cards or anything else.

Now I don’t really know how to move forward, since the system is not willing to boot from anything at all. I would probably give up if I had not gotten Win 10 running smoothly and surprisingly fast with all drives functioning correctly for the short period of time before I cleaned the “data” disk. I would greatly appreciate any advice to help me solve the issue!

Best regards,
Suupala

"Disk boot failure" is BIOS message which means "No master boot record executable code found at selected boot harddisk". You can repair it if you do the following:

- in BIOS, disable SATA RAID, set DVD/USB device for installation media as first boot device and harddisk with OS installation as second boot device
- insert installation media, boot, choose Startup Repair
- remove media and reboot.

Or from command prompt, use the following commands:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /RebuildBcd.

Also you can disconnect the second harddisk temporarily.

muchomurka said:

You can repair it if you do the following:

Thank you for the reply, muchomurka! As I indicated in my post, I have already tried all the steps you suggested to no avail:

- I cannot choose startup repair since the computer does not boot from the installation media
- I cannot use command prompt since the computer does not boot further than the POST screen
- I have disconnected and tried out all hard drives individually.

Since I had Win 10 up and running a few hours ago, I can say with 100% certainty that none of the hardware is faulty.

The real mystery is, how come the system won't boot from any media without an empty disk containing an old Vista boot sector being on top of the boot priority list? And which steps to take now that I've cleaned this disk and it does not exist anymore?

Would appreciate any ideas and pointers!

[double posting removed]

Likely bios or sata controller config problem. For example, old nForce chipsets are prone to it. Try to reset your hw:

- disconnect comp from power source
- disconnect all harddrives & opticals (including sata power cable)
- remove mobo battery for a few minutes, then insert it back
- connect comp to power source and turn it on
- go into bios, load defaults, save
- power off, connect all disks
- power on, set bios boot order
- try to boot from install media now.

@Ztruker Yes I always let the installer create the partitions.

@muchomurka I resetted the BIOS to defaults which didn't help, but I'll try removing CMOS battery, thanks!

To fully reset sata controller & disks, disconnect both cables from all disks too.

muchomurka said:

To fully reset sata controller & disks, disconnect both cables from all disks too.

Thank you for your instructions! After doing all that (plus CMOS reset with jumper just to be thorough) I was finally able to boot the installer-DVD.

Now I'm stuck at bootrec/fixboot "Access denied" with the installation I managed to make before the boot problem, but I expect to be able to resolve that now that I can use command prompt again. Or I'll just reinstall.

Thank you again!

You're welcome.

Regarding Access denied message, see this post:
Bootrec /fixboot access denied. Various solutions not working - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums

Remark esp. the note below:
PS. Using an older version of the recovery disk, the problem is solved ...