SSD Not recognized as a bootable device

[Semper]

So... this is an interesting one.

 

System is in my signature

 

The situation: 

I removed all the HDD's/SSD from my system (two external HDD's, three internal HDD's and one OS SSD) in order to format a drive for a family member. He was having trouble accessing his system (hardware failure - narrowed down to the Processor or the motherboard) however he wanted to wipe the hard drive just in case that might be the issue. I formatted his drive, reinstalled Windows and sent him back on his way. re-inserted my HDD's/SSD in order to boot my system back up.

 

The first time it booted, It sat at the "Loading Operating System" screen for a solid two-three minutes, so I gave it a restart.

This time, it popped up with a "Cannot find GRLDR"

So, I proceeded to unplug all other storage devices (HDD's/Flash drives) and try to boot that way. This time, it returned no error (telling me previously it was attempting to boot from a drive without windows installed on it) but skipped right over loading the operating system and attempted to load from CD/DVD.

My boot options have not changed, and booting from an HDD is still the first option. even with all options disabled but HDD, however, it still attempts to boot from CD/DVD

When I attempt to boot via boot options, the SSD is recognized

however when selected, it will attempt to load the OS for a few seconds, then switch to CD/DVD.

I attempted to repair startup using my Windows CD, however, I don't think I have to explain how useful that one was...

I've attempted multiple hot-swap bays (which includes multiple SATA cables/power cables) and checked that they were all seated properly.

So... I bring this one to you guys... any ideas?

[flibberdipper]

Go through your BIOS and make sure your SSD is the first (or only) bootable device in the list.

[Semper]

Go through your BIOS and make sure your SSD is the first (or only) bootable device in the list.

My only two boot options are the SSD and Bootable add-in cards.

Currently, no other storage devices are connected

[KingDaddyDaniel]

What options do you have for  EFI cd/dvd boot option  shown in the second picture?

[Semper]

What options do you have for  EFI cd/dvd boot option  shown in the second picture?

LS120

Hard Disk

CDROM

ZIP

USB-FDD

USB-ZIP

USB-HDD

LEGACY LAN

 

EDIT:

EFI CD/DVD Boot is set to auto, I can chose from Non-EFI, EFI or Auto

[STRMfrmXMN]

I know it's a bit last resort, but is wiping all the things and just starting over maybe the way to go? Anything important you can try to put onto Google drive and Dropbox and whatnot from another PC.

[Semper]

I know it's a bit last resort, but is wiping all the things and just starting over maybe the way to go? Anything important you can try to put onto Google drive and Dropbox and whatnot from another PC.

This would be my last resort, and is an option. I had my system set up so such a failure wouldn't be devastating, just some drivers, runtimes, and wallpapers.

 

I'd like to avoid that if possible however, needless to say...

[STRMfrmXMN]

This would be my last resort, and is an option. I had my system set up so such a failure wouldn't be devastating, just some drivers, runtimes, and wallpapers.

 

I"d like to avoid that if possible, needless to say...

Do you have another PC you can use? Having one and one of these could help you out.

[KingDaddyDaniel]

LS120

Hard Disk

CDROM

ZIP

USB-FDD

USB-ZIP

USB-HDD

LEGACY LAN

 

EDIT:

EFI CD/DVD Boot is set to auto, I can chose from Non-EFI, EFI or Auto

Try setting that to Non-EFI

[Semper]

Do you have another PC you can use? Having one and one of these could help you out.

No other PC's, just A Macbook Pro and an iMac.

 

Like I said, though, there's nothing essential on the OS drive other than the OS itself. I can't have that kind of downtime, waiting to ship, and all the stores are closed up for the night. if i'm unable to find a solution before tonight, i'll just wipe it and start over.

 

@KingDaddyDaniel, I did, no luck. Go the same result. Same with EFI as well.

[STRMfrmXMN]

No other PC's, just A Macbook Pro and an iMac.

 

Like I said, though, there's nothing essential on the OS drive other than the OS itself. I can't have that kind of downtime, waiting to ship, and all the stores are closed up for the night. if i'm unable to find a solution before tonight, i'll just wipe it and start over.

 

@KingDaddyDaniel, I did, no luck. Go the same result. Same with EFI as well.

When I said PC, I meant computer in general. The Macs will be able to house any important data until you re-install Windows and you can just move everything back when you want. The Macs just may not be able to OPEN any of the files you have but can hold them on the back burner for you.

[KingDaddyDaniel]

Try a BIOS reset with only one drive plugged in before you do? probably wont work, but might as well give it a shot

[Semper]

Try a BIOS reset with only one drive plugged in before you do? probably wont work, but might as well give it a shot

As in pull the CMOS battery?

 

I still only have the SSD plugged in, and I tried a load safe defaults from within the BIOS, no luck.

 

This is the only error that Startup Repair reports, if it helps

[GodSpoon]

If you have a way to plug it into one of the macs (Sata to USB adapter), under the disk utility, you can hit auto repair

Sometimes boot sectors aren't configured correctly

Another shot would be to just reset BIOS to default, this fixes things way too often haha

 

Other than that, legacy boot or EFI boot settings

 

If that fails wipe and reinstall

 

Usually boot sectors are what causes an issue like this (Not mounting for bootup, being overwritten over time), happens a lot with bootable flash drives-A reformat fixes it, or running disk repair in EaseUS disk manager or OS X Disk Utility

[Semper]

If you have a way to plug it into one of the macs (Sata to USB adapter), under the disk utility, you can hit auto repair

Sometimes boot sectors aren't configured correctly

Another shot would be to just reset BIOS to default, this fixes things way too often haha

 

Other than that, legacy boot or EFI boot settings

 

If that fails wipe and reinstall

 

Usually boot sectors are what causes an issue like this (Not mounting for bootup, being overwritten over time), happens a lot with bootable flash drives-A reformat fixes it, or running disk repair in EaseUS disk manager or OS X Disk Utility

Reading the error readout from Startup Repair prompted me to double check and make sure the partition was active (just for- whatever reason... because... technology... ) marked it as active, rebooted, and am not getting the BOOTMGR error, so that more-or less narrows it down to a boot sector, no? currently running startup repair. Unfortunately, I have no way of mounting it to either of my mac's, my external HD dock died on me several months back, haven't replaced it yet

 

Edit: That appears to have fixed it. God knows why... but it was marked inactive somehow (I mean... it was out of my system, on my desk when the Mechanical C drive was inserted... there's no logical reason for that to have happened)

Marked it as active, ran startup repair, fixed the bootmgr, and all is fine.

[KingDaddyDaniel]

Reading the error readout from Startup Repair prompted me to double check and make sure the partition was active (just for- whatever reason... because... technology... ) marked it as active, rebooted, and am not getting the BOOTMGR error, so that more-or less narrows it down to a boot sector, no? currently running startup repair. Unfortunately, I have no way of mounting it to either of my mac's, my external HD dock died on me several months back, haven't replaced it yet

 

Edit: That appears to have fixed it. God knows why... but it was marked inactive somehow (I mean... it was out of my system, on my desk when the Mechanical C drive was inserted... there's no logical reason for that to have happened)

Marked it as active, ran startup repair, fixed the bootmgr, and all is fine.

Run some benchmarks on it (HDtune is good) and see if there are any bad sectors or massive hits in read/write speeds. When I had a mechanical drive out for a couple SSD installations my partition was inactive and I blindly formatted it to try and fix it. must have sat it down too hard because i haven't gotten the same speeds from it since

[Semper]

Run some benchmarks on it (HDtune is good) and see if there are any bad sectors or massive hits in read/write speeds. When I had a mechanical drive out for a couple SSD installations my partition was inactive and I blindly formatted it to try and fix it. must have sat it down too hard because i haven't gotten the same speeds from it since

Currently running CrystalDiskMark on it right now.

it wasn't a stellar SSD to begin with... but it doens't seem to have had an impact, around the read/writes I was getting before.

I"ll have to give HDTune a go tomorrow.

[GodSpoon]

Reading the error readout from Startup Repair prompted me to double check and make sure the partition was active (just for- whatever reason... because... technology... ) marked it as active, rebooted, and am not getting the BOOTMGR error, so that more-or less narrows it down to a boot sector, no? currently running startup repair. Unfortunately, I have no way of mounting it to either of my mac's, my external HD dock died on me several months back, haven't replaced it yet

 

Edit: That appears to have fixed it. God knows why... but it was marked inactive somehow (I mean... it was out of my system, on my desk when the Mechanical C drive was inserted... there's no logical reason for that to have happened)

Marked it as active, ran startup repair, fixed the bootmgr, and all is fine.

Haha seems like you got it settled then, I never change active/inactive partition labels so I didn't happen to think of that, nice job