Winload.exe Not Found after MFT Defrag

Hi,

I did a boot time defrag (Big mistake - Diskeeper) which I think
damaged either my MBR or MFT or both.

Everytime I try to boot I get the Winload.exe not found error.

The Vista Repair Windows option cannot see the partition where Vista is
installed.

When I go to dos I can see all the files on two partitions but not the
Vista OS Partition.

On that Partition only a few Directories and Files are found.

When I use a BootCD with Recovery utilities I can find all the files
and directories on the Vista OS partition but I'm unsure what to do
next.


This is a new area for me so I was hoping for some advice on what steps
to try next, hopefully from the easiest and gradually moving to the more
complex.

The solution I am trying to avoid is recovering all the files to an
external drive, reformatting and re-installing Vista from scratch


Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated


--
Greygor

The solution you are trying to avoid is likely the only viable one. If the
MFT (this would not be an MBR problem) is damaged, there is little you can
do to fix it. And actually, it sounds more like the file system has been
damaged. This may or may not be related to running the defrag (unless you
used an older version of Diskeeper that was not Vista-compatible, that would
wreak havoc with the file system). A wipe and reload is warranted, likely
you will need to rebuild the installation volume by deleting and recreating
it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Greygor" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hi,
>
> I did a boot time defrag (Big mistake - Diskeeper) which I think
> damaged either my MBR or MFT or both.
>
> Everytime I try to boot I get the Winload.exe not found error.
>
> The Vista Repair Windows option cannot see the partition where Vista is
> installed.
>
> When I go to dos I can see all the files on two partitions but not the
> Vista OS Partition.
>
> On that Partition only a few Directories and Files are found.
>
> When I use a BootCD with Recovery utilities I can find all the files
> and directories on the Vista OS partition but I'm unsure what to do
> next.
>
>
> This is a new area for me so I was hoping for some advice on what steps
> to try next, hopefully from the easiest and gradually moving to the more
> complex.
>
> The solution I am trying to avoid is recovering all the files to an
> external drive, reformatting and re-installing Vista from scratch
>
>
> Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated
>
>
> --
> Greygor

bikerider;1086665 Wrote:
> I am sorry to hear that you experienced a problem with your hard drive.
> The MFT keeps track of the location of the files on your hard drive.
> There is a backup but if the first one is bad, most likely the backup
> will probably be bad.
>
> If you have the technical expertise, I would recommend that you put the
> drive in another system or set this up as a slave drive if you did not
> perform a backup and need to retrieve the files on this drive.
>
> I also wanted to assure you that Diskeeper is safe in it's movement of
> files. Diskeeper uses mechanisms built into the operating system to
> move
> files since the built-in defragmenter that comes with Windows was
> developed by Diskeeper.
>
> When you reinstall Windows Vista, I would strongly recommend that you
> install all of the updates and service packs. There is a known problem
> with chkdsk with Vista SP1 and following is a link to this information
> on Microsoft's web site:
>
> 'The Chkdsk.exe tool cannot detect bad clusters or bad sectors on a
> Windows Server 2003-based computer when the size of a compressed file is
> larger than 4 gigabytes (GB)'
> (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931689)
>
>
> --
> bikerider
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> bikerider's Profile: 'bikerider's profile on TechArena Computer
> Hardware Support Forums of India'
> (http://forums.techarena.in/members/113516.htm)
> View this thread: 'Winload.exe Not Found after MFT Defrag - Vista Setup
> and Install'
> (http://forums.techarena.in/vista-set...ll/1210068.htm)
>
> 'TechArena Community - Technology and Computer Hardware Support Forums
> of India' (http://forums.techarena.in)

Thanks, but it was fully up to date with all current vista updates.


--
Greygor