2008 Boot Loop Press Any Key To Boot From Cd / Dvd

[ericf]

Hope this is in the proper place.

I have been looking for an answer before I just throw in the towel and format.
After a smart drive fail. (I believe cache) I cloned my drive (avg. 2GB a hour) and was able to boot once. After that things went down hill.

2008 Enterprise Server 64bit
BIOS set first boot device CD, second HDD

system boots up to the press any key to boot from cd.... if I let it sit, after the count down it pops up press any key to boot from cd... again and again until I ctrl-alt-delete.
press any key to boot from cd / dvd
press any key to boot from cd / dvd
press any key to boot from cd / dvd
press any key to boot from cd / dvd
press any key to boot from cd / dvd
and on and on...

If I press any key before the loop starts I can boot from the 2008 DVD and go to repair console. I select the 2008, OS on the, c:\ local disk, and shows HDD size.

If BIOS set first boot device HDD, second CD or none

it goes to a blank screen with a flashing cursor in the top left.

Things I have done / attempted
from CMD in the repair console:
partition is active
chkdsk /f /r - no problems found
bcdedit /set {default} device partition=c: - was unknown
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=c: - was unknown
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=c: - was unknown
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd
bootselt /nt60 all


I could really use some help if anyone has any ideas. I dread a FFR :wallbash: but i'm running out of time to get it back up and running.

 

[ICTCity]

Hi,

I think your problem has been caused by different hardware, so my solution is just a reinstallation...

 

[ericf]

Thanks for the fast reply. No hardware has changed. With the exception of the HDD. I have put a HDD (1 TB) in the system and installed 2008 and loaded fine. I used it with the clone software. I have also cloned the "bad" drive to two HDD's (500 GB, 250 GB) and have the same problem with both. The "bad" drive placed back in the server as the boot drive, boots with out errors (with the exception of the SMART fail on POST). The problem seems to start off with a loading error with "\windows\system32\winload.exe", that is what prompted me to attempt using BCDEDIT to fix the problem.
Thanks again for the help
Eric

 

[ICTCity]

I had a similar problem and was caused by a restore from an image of another system. It's like Windows cannot read the bootloader anymore... you could try to reach the page where you can run bcdedit and so on, and let windows try to fix for you (there's an option, but I can't remember how it's called).

 

[ericf]

I think that is the problem is in the bootloader or some part of the boot operation. When I boot from the 2008 DVD and choose the repair option, I don't have the option to have windows repair, it has the restore from backup, mem test and command prompt. I have used the fix option on other OS's in the past but when I didn't see it in the 2008 repair menu. Any idea how to force it to show up or a command line?
Thanks again.

 

[ICTCity]

you could try to rewrite you MBR with a linux live cd or with bart pe...
But I'm quite sure it will not work...