Can't boot from new drive

[Hardball]

I just installed a new WD IDE drive to replace an older one that was failing. Before installing the new drive I used Drive Image XML to make an image of my Win7 Pro install. I saved the image to an external drive. I then installed the new drive (exact same make and model, under warranty) and used Ultimate Boot CD to launch Drive Image and restore the saved image from the external drive. It restored the image to the new drive, but I cannot boot from it. I put in the Win7 install disk and ran the repair option, but it says there are no problems with the Win7 install and I can boot. I reboot, but the system gets to the device listing screen during post and just stops there with the cursor blinking. Any ideas?

 

[VirtualLarry]

You did remember to set the CMOS settings to boot off of that drive, didn't you?
It sounds like a BIOS issue, like it's not even getting to the Windows bootloader.

 

[Hardball]

Yes, bios is set to boot from the HD. The drive is seen and listed in the bios. Is there a way to fix/rebuild the MBR or anything else associated with the boot process? It's weird that if it is a MBR or other such issue that the Win7 repair process doesn't find it.

 

[Hardball]

Just found this tip on a Symantec forum and tried it and it seems to have fixed the issue:
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/windows-7-64-bit-professional-cant-boot-after-restoring-image


Boot up from the windows 7 64 bit DVD
Run from command prompt
Type bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
attrib -h -s C:\boot\BCD
del C:\boot\BCD
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

Does anything in those commands look like a potential problem or source of system instability? The only difference with my setup is that it is Windows7 32bit and not 64 bit.

 

[VirtualLarry]

those commands all look fine to me, but I would start with just the "bootrec /fixmbr" for starters, and see if that fixes things.

 

[Doomer]

MiniTool Partition Wizard always works for me.