Vista will not boot up after cloning on new hdd

[donpham]

Hi there,

I just bought a new laptop with Vista Home Basic SP-1. I use ghost v7.5 to clone original hard drive. I then restore successfully this cloned image to a new different hard drive. However, it does not start-up to the desktop windows. It gives error something about hardware/software has been changed, and list a file c:\windows\winload.exe.

Has anyone encountered similar issue? Or do you have any suggestions to fix this?

All responses appreciated.

[mongo66]

You will need to restore the master boot record (MBR) using Vista installation DVD (choose repair option). If you don't have one, get hold of bootsect.exe utility.

Usage:

bootsect.exe -NT60 All

[jaclaz]

@mongo66

that won't help much, if the system boots up to the point where it starts "complaining" about changed hardware, the MBR does it job allright, and, besides bootsect.exe "repairs" the bootsector not the MBR.

There is some confusion about that since MS referes to it:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749177.aspx

as "master boot code" (of the partition bootsector)

and previous versions of the utility behaved differently:

http://neosmart.net/blog/2007/bootsectexe-...or-not-the-mbr/

@donpham

It is possible that, for any reason, you did not image/clone the MBR and it's signature.

Can you verify that you actually have the same signature on both drives?

Reference for the MBR signature:

http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/Win2kmbr.htm

jaclaz

[mongo66]

@mongo66

that won't help much, if the system boots up to the point where it starts "complaining" about changed hardware, the

I ran into a similar situation not so long ago, used the Vista DVD repair option and was able to boot successfully.

MBR does it job allright, and, besides bootsect.exe "repairs" the bootsector not the MBR.

@jaclaz:

Sorry, my bad... I just woke up, so I'm not operating at 100% efficiency yet.

[jaclaz]

I ran into a similar situation not so long ago, used the Vista DVD repair option and was able to boot successfully.

Sure , I was referring just to the bootsect.exe.

The DVD repair is OK.

jaclaz

[donpham]

Thanks mongo66 and jaclaz for your responses.

My laptop does not come with Windows Vista Home Basic DVD disk. It stops right after passing POST screen. If I press "Enter" or "ESC" key, it keeps repeating the error.

Can I use Vista Ultimate disk to repair? It does not give a chance to entering DOS prompt, how can I use bootsec.exe?

[IcemanND]

I seem to recal that ghost 7.5 did not handle vista ntfs correctly you needed version 8.5 i believe or you had to use some switches.

[jaclaz]

Can I use Vista Ultimate disk to repair? It does not give a chance to entering DOS prompt, how can I use bootsec.exe?

Yep, that was exactly the idea:

During a Repair may work

Botsect.exe WON'T.

jaclaz