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Windows 7 recovery

A friends system (about a year old) won't boot into Windows. Goes through the Dell Inspiron splash screen and then just sits at a blinking cursor. I suspect the boot sector has been overwritten.

Said friend did not create a recovery disk and they do not have the disks provided by Dell. Is it possible to use a recovery disk from another Windows 7 machine to repair the boot sector? I don't think so, but figured I would ask.

If it won't work, any other ideas?

Thanks

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Run5k

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ThePATMAN26

ASKER

Ok, the disks that came with the Dell are not available. I have thr install disks for my hp that have a copy of the OS. Will that work for the process discussed in how to article?

Run5k

That depends upon the type of disc. If it's a proprietary HP system reload disc, it may boot directly into a Windows reload menu and not allow you to boot into the Windows Recovery Environment.

Wonderboyyyy

Also, if the steps above do not work you may want to look at the SATA mode in the BIOS. I've seen that issue with the wrong mode selected. Try AHCI first.

PatrickITguy

Is there an option at boot (tap on F12 during boot) for booting from the Diagnostic or recovery partition. Most Dells have this partition that will allow to boot in the recovery console. From their you may be able to do a startup repair

ded9

What happens when you tap F8 key at the dell splash screen...do you get any options.

Connect mouse, keyboard, display, power cables disconnect the reset...reboot and check.

Ded9

nobus

i would first make sure the disk drive is ok - best run the disk diag from UBCD : http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
then try to repair