Q: Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition

http://pastebin.com/7rrdjLKJ#

Repair utility did recognize the windows install and even stated it detected problems regarding boot.  But after repair, I just get the flashing cursor. 

Some new observations:  My superdrive is external and I've noticed that sometimes I get the same behavior of the flashing cursor when selecting it as a boot source.  Only sometimes though, as other times it works fine. Moving it to internal alleviates this phenomenon.  Reasoning that a similar issue might be happening with the Seagate, I then tried to run the repair utility with the disk installed in the main bay.  Still end up with the flashing cursor. 

The unpredictability of usb connectivity in this instance really adds to the frustration.  

Boot off a Windows installer DVD and manually run chkdsk on the Windows/BootCamp partition. If you get reasonable error messages that indicate the volume is fixable, you can then do chkdsk /f which will fix the problems with the file system. If you get a lot of very strange errors, it may be so badly corrupted that a repair will actually make things worse, and you may be better off making a sector copy of the partition to another disk, just in case the repair goes bad.

Chkdsk reports no problems.

Next try

chkdsk /f

It's important to use chkdsk again with /f because the journal may say the file system is clean when it isn't. So give /f a shot and see what happens.

Next read this. You may have to click on the link to show more information. It's not exactly clear what order they want you to try this in, I would do the following three in order all at once, then try a reboot.

/FixMbr

/FixBoot

/RebuildBcd

If those don't work, then I'd try this:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

c:

cd boot

attrib bcd -s -h -r

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

bootrec /RebuildBcd

Okay this is different....I tried robocopy to a fresh install which didn't work entirely (several programs wouldn't start). I had made a backup before I tried robocopy and when I went to restore I noticed that the recovery console actually saw the old bootcamp even though I had it connected via USB.  And recovery was reporting the boot issues again so I tried it and this time I get passed the flashing cursor! 

But it still didn't boot all the way....the windows logo shows up and then after several seconds a blue screen flashes for a fraction of a second (cant even read it, but I assume its a memory dump?) then reboots.

Not my area. I'd still make sure the file system is forced to repair with /f. I'd also fix the mbr the bootloader and rebuild the bcd as all of these are related to booting; your failure point is still at the boot stage.

Understood. 

As soon as I seen the behavior had changed, I decided to try winclone again to see if it would complete.  Currently it's about half way done. 

Thanks again for your help.  Your insight and expertise is far beyond what anyone has a right to expect in a public forum I think.  It was a pleasure to talk with such a knowledgeable person on file systems (and I'm sure much more) as yourself.  

Hello, I also have this problem after installing Mountain Lion fron Snow Leopard having an XP Bootcamp partition.

Im unable to boot into bootcamp, or within Parallels using my Bootcamp partition.  The partition is there and accessible.  I would like to fix this without destroying data:

gpt show: disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

gpt show: disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

      start       size  index  contents

          0          1         MBR

          1          1         Pri GPT header

          2         32         Pri GPT table

         34          6        

         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

     409640  839690416      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  840100056    1269544      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  841369600  135403520      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

  976773120         15        

  976773135         32         Sec GPT table

  976773167          1         Sec GPT header

Signature: 0xAA55

         Starting       Ending

#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  839690416] HFS+       

3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 840100056 -    1269544] Darwin Boot

*4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 841369600 -  135403520] HPFS/QNX/AUX

Please let me know if a  fix is possible.

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the MBR or GPT. This sounds like a bootloader problem. I'd try Windows Startup Repair. If that doesn't work, I'd first boot from the Windows installer DVD and run a chkdsk, then a chkdsk /f to make sure the file system is clean. Then use bootrec.exe and issue

/FixMbr

/FixBoot

/RebuildBcd

I am kinda curious BEFORE you do all of this what's going on in that MBR bootloader code region. This will copy and display it for copy/paste to the forum.

dd if=/dev/disk0 of=~/mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

hexdump -C ~/mbr.bin

When everything is working again you can toss ~/mbr.bin which is in your home folder.

Thanks Crhistopher, i will try fixing the MBR

In the meantime:

00000000  33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c fb  50 07 50 1f fc be 1b 7c  |3.....|.P.P....||

00000010  bf 1b 06 50 57 b9 e5 01  f3 a4 cb bd be 07 b1 04  |...PW...........|

00000020  38 6e 00 7c 09 75 13 83  c5 10 e2 f4 cd 18 8b f5  |8n.|.u..........|

00000030  83 c6 10 49 74 19 38 2c  74 f6 a0 b5 07 b4 07 8b  |...It.8,t.......|

00000040  f0 ac 3c 00 74 fc bb 07  00 b4 0e cd 10 eb f2 88  |..<.t...........|

00000050  4e 10 e8 46 00 73 2a fe  46 10 80 7e 04 0b 74 0b  |N..F.s*.F..~..t.|

00000060  80 7e 04 0c 74 05 a0 b6  07 75 d2 80 46 02 06 83  |.~..t....u..F...|

00000070  46 08 06 83 56 0a 00 e8  21 00 73 05 a0 b6 07 eb  |F...V...!.s.....|

00000080  bc 81 3e fe 7d 55 aa 74  0b 80 7e 10 00 74 c8 a0  |..>.}U.t..~..t..|

00000090  b7 07 eb a9 8b fc 1e 57  8b f5 cb bf 05 00 8a 56  |.......W.......V|

000000a0  00 b4 08 cd 13 72 23 8a  c1 24 3f 98 8a de 8a fc  |.....r#..$?.....|

000000b0  43 f7 e3 8b d1 86 d6 b1  06 d2 ee 42 f7 e2 39 56  |C..........B..9V|

000000c0  0a 77 23 72 05 39 46 08  73 1c b8 01 02 bb 00 7c  |.w#r.9F.s......||

000000d0  8b 4e 02 8b 56 00 cd 13  73 51 4f 74 4e 32 e4 8a  |.N..V...sQOtN2..|

000000e0  56 00 cd 13 eb e4 8a 56  00 60 bb aa 55 b4 41 cd  |V......V.`..U.A.|

000000f0  13 72 36 81 fb 55 aa 75  30 f6 c1 01 74 2b 61 60  |.r6..U.u0...t+a`|

00000100  6a 00 6a 00 ff 76 0a ff  76 08 6a 00 68 00 7c 6a  |j.j..v..v.j.h.|j|

00000110  01 6a 10 b4 42 8b f4 cd  13 61 61 73 0e 4f 74 0b  |.j..B....aas.Ot.|

00000120  32 e4 8a 56 00 cd 13 eb  d6 61 f9 c3 49 6e 76 61  |2..V.....a..Inva|

00000130  6c 69 64 20 70 61 72 74  69 74 69 6f 6e 20 74 61  |lid partition ta|

00000140  62 6c 65 00 45 72 72 6f  72 20 6c 6f 61 64 69 6e  |ble.Error loadin|

00000150  67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74  69 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74  |g operating syst|

00000160  65 6d 00 4d 69 73 73 69  6e 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61  |em.Missing opera|

00000170  74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73  74 65 6d 00 00 00 00 00  |ting system.....|

00000180  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|

*

000001b0  00 00 00 00 00 2c 44 63  89 3c 89 3c 00 00 00 fe  |.....,Dc.<.<....|

000001c0  ff ff ee fe ff ff 01 00  00 00 27 40 06 00 00 fe  |..........'@....|

000001d0  ff ff af fe ff ff 28 40  06 00 b0 a8 0c 32 00 fe  |......(@.....2..|

000001e0  ff ff ab fe ff ff d8 e8  12 32 28 5f 13 00 80 fe  |.........2(_....|

000001f0  ff ff 07 fe ff ff 00 48  26 32 00 18 12 08 55 aa  |.......H&2....U.|

00000200

Well the first two bytes look like normal valid bootloader code for Windows XP. I'd google "windows xp" boot repair. If you put windows xp in quotes it will only find results for windows xp.

I think you need to be patient in trying to repair this. Starting over will probably not work well (or at least be a different rabbit hole) because Lion/Mountain Lion expressly don't support Windows XP! So trying to reinstall XP with Lion/MountainLion Boot Camp Assistant will probably fail.

Christopher Murphy, your help is very much appreciated. I'm having a very similar issue that all started when I used the Mac Disk Utility to shrink the Mac partition. I had a previously installed bootcamp partition and hoped to first shrink the mac partition and then use the free space to expand the Windows Bootcamp partition, however I'm sure it's not surprising that it failed and I can no longer boot into windows.

I've managed to follow instructions to the point where I can now select "Windows" from the boot selection screen by holding alt/option on startup, however it still fails to load windows. I'm left with a blinking underscore insertion point on a black screen.

I have also booted a Windows 7 disc to utilize the startup recovery, however I am unable make any repairs because at the point in the process where I would normally select the Windows install that I would like to repair, I'm given no options. It seems to be oblivious to the fact that my windows partition exists, keeping me from accessing the C: drive to attempt the previously mentioned /fixmbr and /fixboot command. Drive X: is all I get! And of course the D: drive that has my windows install disc.

I will post the results of the previously mentioned read-only commands, as well as the contents of rEFIt's partition inspector. I'm hoping that the issue is clear from this information. I can't see anything obvious, but I'm positive that you know heaps more than I do about the subject, so your help would be greatly appreciated.

sudo gpt -r -vv show disk0

gpt show: disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

gpt show: disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

      start       size  index  contents

          0          1         MBR

          1          1         Pri GPT header

          2         32         Pri GPT table

         34          6        

         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

     409640  876254032      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  876663672    1269544      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  877933216   49528160        

  927461376   49311744      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

  976773120         15        

  976773135         32         Sec GPT table

  976773167          1         Sec GPT header

diskutil list       <---dev/disk1 is my windows 7 install disc

/dev/disk0

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            448.6 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

   4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         25.2 GB    disk0s4

/dev/disk1

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:                            GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD      *4.0 GB     disk1

rEFIt Partition Inspector

*** Report for internal hard disk ***

 

 

Current GPT partition table:

#      Start LBA      End LBA  Type

1             40       409639  EFI System (FAT)

2         409640    876663671  Mac OS X HFS+

3      876663672    877933215  Mac OS X Boot

4      927461376    976773119  Basic Data

 

 

Current MBR partition table:

# A    Start LBA      End LBA  Type

1              1       409639  ee  EFI Protective

2         409640    876663671  af  Mac OS X HFS+

3      876663672    877933215  ab  Mac OS X Boot

4 *    927461376    976773119  07  NTFS/HPFS

 

 

MBR contents:

Boot Code: Unknown, but bootable

 

 

Partition at LBA 40:

Boot Code: None (Non-system disk message)

File System: FAT32

Listed in GPT as partition 1, type EFI System (FAT)

 

 

Partition at LBA 409640:

Boot Code: None

File System: HFS Extended (HFS+)

Listed in GPT as partition 2, type Mac OS X HFS+

Listed in MBR as partition 2, type af  Mac OS X HFS+

 

 

Partition at LBA 876663672:

Boot Code: None

File System: HFS Extended (HFS+)

Listed in GPT as partition 3, type Mac OS X Boot

Listed in MBR as partition 3, type ab  Mac OS X Boot

 

 

Partition at LBA 927461376:

Boot Code: Windows BOOTMGR (Vista)

File System: Unknown

Listed in GPT as partition 4, type Basic Data

Listed in MBR as partition 4, type 07  NTFS/HPFS, active

And also,

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0

geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

         Starting       Ending

#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  876254032] HFS+       

3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 876663672 -    1269544] Darwin Boot

*4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 927461376 -   49311744] HPFS/QNX/AUX

So the MBR seems properly formed, and agrees with the GPT on the start and end LBA for the Windows volume, which also has a boot flag set. I don't have a good suggestio if the Windows install disk, even at the command line, doesn't see this partition. Even if it doesn't see it as a valid NTFS file system, it should see that partition so that seems like the first thing to figure out, and run a chkdisk followed by a chkdsk /f on that volume to make sure the file system is healthy and repair it if it isn't. Next you reboot and get your data off if you don't have a current backup.

Once you have a current backup, back to the Windows install DVD and run through the options in this document to repair the bootloader. You need to click "Click here to show/hide more information" under "Bootrec.exe options" to see the details. I think a corrupt bootloader is the likely cause for it not booting, but you don't want to make changes that involve the file system until you know it's repaired. In order I would use /FixMbr, /FixBoot, and /RebuildBcd and see where that gets you. /ScanOs may be needed before /RebuildBcd, I haven't actually had to use that feature yet.