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10 Posts
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1689
February 20th, 2022 06:00
Power cut & windows failure
Hi folks,
got a bit of a flap - pls help!
power failure the ‘Windows boot manager’ informs:
’Windows failed to start..........
1. Insert windows installation disk and restart your computer............
........... or contact computer manufacturer for assistance.
Can’t find the wretched windows installation disk for the life of me,
please, please advise someone!!!!!
Cheers,
Mick
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Mick from Cov
10 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 08:00
Hi JOcean,
not sure of model but running Windows7.
Was working fine till power cut. I then tried to boot and the error message appeared.
Mick
JOcean
9 Legend
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12.6K Posts
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February 20th, 2022 08:00
A little more information is required for diagnosis such as the exact model number and which version of Windows you are running. If Windows 10 or 11 then you would have no installation disk but can download the media creation tool for Windows 10 here and Windows 11 here. And that tool will create a bootable installation flash drive.
nyc10036
4 Operator
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5.6K Posts
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February 20th, 2022 10:00
Unfortunately, Microsoft does not offer an offical Windows 7 downloadable ISO.
Most likely the sudden loss of power damaged your hard drive.
See if a downloadable Dell ISO image is available for your PC : https://www.dell.com/community/Image-Assist/ImageAssist-How-to-download-your-Dell-OEM-Windows-ISO/td-p/5031463
If there isn't one available for you PC, you would need to borrow a Dell Windows 7 DVD or buy one on eBay.
Or consider upgrading to Windows 10 for free.
Mick from Cov
10 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 11:00
Am I right to think that installing the Windows OS means that all of my data and programs will be wiped out?
Could the power outage have damaged the hard drive physically also?
NJDave
2 Intern
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404 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 11:00
The link to the Dell OS Recovery Tool in the linked post above now redirects to Linux recovery. The Windows recovery tool is here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/osiso/recoverytool It appears you need a working Windows system to run the tool, unfortunately. This post looks generally helpful (it's where I found the link above).
There's a site online that purports to offer downloadable Windows ISO images, but I cannot vouch for it or find anyone who will, so I won't link to it here. It's easily findable though.
I think in order to get the free upgrade to Windows 10, you need to start with a Windows 7 (or 8, or 8.1) system with a valid license. Once you perform the upgrade, you can reinstall Windows 10 from scratch without entering a license key, since Microsoft ties the Windows 10 license to your hardware.
Mick from Cov
10 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 11:00
Holy, a damaged hard drive!
I do have my hard drive backed up using Acronis.
I clicked the link you kindly supplied and it seems Dell does have a Windows 7 and Windows 8 download version but when I select the USB drive all I get is a flashing curser top left of the screen. Aaaaaaagh!
nyc10036
4 Operator
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5.6K Posts
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February 20th, 2022 12:00
Yes, everything is wiped.
If your hard drive is not SSD, take this opportunity to upgrade to one.
Buy a SSD and image it with the backup you made with Acronis.
Mick from Cov
10 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 12:00
Tks for your reply.
An SSD may be a good idea in the short term but I need to get up and running first.
Will my system look the same after I've reloaded the data and software using Acronis? I'm terrified by all of this, absolutely terrified.
Also:
1) Do you think that the HDD could have incurred physical damage rendering it useless - I really hope not!
2) Would a voltage stabiliser have helped prevent this problem?
Cheers,
Mick
NJDave
2 Intern
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404 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 13:00
If your HDD was physically damaged, you're not going to get far until it's replaced with either an HDD or an SSD. An SSD would be somewhat more expensive but would be MUCH faster. (You might also need an adapter bracket to physically mount an SSD in your system; you really haven't told us enough about your system to say for sure. There's probably a label on the chassis with a model number.) I believe Acronis will restore exactly the same to an SSD the same size as your HDD, so that you wouldn't notice the difference other than the speed.
Yes, it's possible the HDD incurred physical damage. It's possible other components did as well -- since you don't have a running system yet, it's hard to know what is and isn't OK. It'd probably be a good idea to run diagnostics from your system BIOS (if it offers that capability) to better gauge what's working. It is possible a voltage stabiliser/UPS would have helped, I think.
Mick from Cov
10 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 14:00
I'm working with Acronis now, yes it's trueimage.
Not sure of the model #, it just ssays 'Vostro' on the CPU.
Thanks for not shutting up I'll be cack with more details as they become apparent.
Cheers,
Mick
NJDave
2 Intern
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404 Posts
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February 20th, 2022 14:00
Because I can't seem to shut up:
When you say Acronis I presume you mean TrueImage or something similar that does an image backup of the entire drive. (Won't this let you boot from the installation CD, or a rescue CD, to restore your image backup?)
It's possible the HDD is just corrupted and not physically damaged. Won't know for sure until you try restoring to it.
The sort of stuff we'd learn from a model number: how many drives (and what size) will fit in the system, whether it might support pre-boot diagnostics, how old it is... etc.
Mick from Cov
10 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 06:00
Hi Guys,
To recap, a power cut resulted in my getting an error message 'Status: 0xc000000e', "Windows failed to start .....Insert your windows installation disc ....."
Well, after 3 days and numerous fruitless hours spent of online chat with Acronis support staff, producing boot media, going through endless restore menus and procedures, one of their engineers called me with the solution - and how simple it was in the end.
It involved making a 'Windows 7 repair disk', on my laptop. I then transferred the DVD to the desktop, booted the desktop and pressed F12 for the BIOS and selected the DVD and pressed any key to boot from the DVD.
Problem solved!
Thanks for all of your replies and support and I do hope that this solution may help some of you in the future - because it is scary when it happens.
Cheers,
Mick-from-Cov
nyc10036
4 Operator
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5.6K Posts
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February 24th, 2022 15:00
I didn't get any notice that you had replied.
So, it is now Feb 24.
Anyway, when creating the Acronis image, you should have also been prompted to create a USB flash drive that lets you boot from that USB flash to let you image the hard drive (that possibly is broken) with the image you created with Acronis. That image file created with Acronis should be on an external hard drive.
I use Macrium Reflect Free and it works the same way.
Mick from Cov
10 Posts
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February 25th, 2022 03:00
Hello 5 Iridium,
I did actually reply on 23-02-2021.
Here it is again, and thank you for kind attentions to my problem. As you can see, I went through the procedures as per your advise - to no avail. The actual solution was actually a much easier one.
"Hi Guys,
To recap, a power cut resulted in my getting an error message 'Status: 0xc000000e', "Windows failed to start .....Insert your windows installation disc ....."
Well, after 3 days and numerous fruitless hours spent of online chat with Acronis support staff, producing boot media, going through endless restore menus and procedures, one of their engineers called me with the solution - and how simple it was in the end.
It involved making a 'Windows 7 repair disk', on my laptop. I then transferred the DVD to the desktop, booted the desktop and pressed F12 for the BIOS and selected the DVD and pressed any key to boot from the DVD.
Problem solved!
Thanks for all of your replies and support and I do hope that this solution may help some of you in the future - because it is scary when it happens.
Cheers,
Mick-from-Cov"
nyc10036
4 Operator
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5.6K Posts
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February 27th, 2022 07:00
I know you posted on Feb 23, but you replied to yourself. Notice the small grey text In response to Mick from Cov ????
Most people use a USB flash drive instead of a DVD to boot. Almost all laptops these days do not have a DVD drive. What you did with the DVD is what would be done to create a bootable USB flash drive.