New SSD install issue in HP 14 1000cto

Hey guys, I totally searched for this issue on the forums but couldn't find any one posting this problem. (which I find strange because I feel like it would be common)

Bought myself an SSD 120GB from OCZ back in March. Installed and did a clean install on it (Win7 Ult). Worked beautifully for 5 months. A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted my HP software that comes from factory so I slapped my original 320gb HDD with my factory installed OS and recovery drive and I made a recovery bootable flash drive from the recovery media creator. Once that was complete, I placed the SSD back in and proceeded to install a minimal recovery image. With me so far?

About 2 weeks after that the drive died. Plain just died. Wouldnt work in any computer i put it in. Did an RMA (by the way, OCD RMA Dept is freaking amazing). Had a brand NEW OCZ SSD VERTEX2 120GB in the mail.

Time to install a minimal recovery image again. Pulled out the flash drive with HP recovery media and began to install. It boots off the flash drive, "loads windows files", and brings me to the HP support wizard that allows you to choose the type of installation. I choose "minimal". It reformats and copies all necessary files nice big progress bar, even verifies files. Asks to continue and reboot so we can start setting up windows. It reboots and goes back to booting off flash drive and starts process all over again.

Thinking my boot order was switched (which it wasnt) I removed said flash drive and allowed computer to boot from SSD and thats where we get the issue "No bootable device found".

When changing sizes (especially to a smaller size drive), does the recovery media have issues? I mean, it's expecting there to be a 320, to create a nice 20gb or so partition for recovery and the other partition with drivers which is about 1gb.

Does this mean I can't use my HP recovery media to install on an upgraded drive? Am I forced to do a clean win 7 install if I want to use a 120gb SSD?

Thank you in advance, I'm sorry for the lengthy post but I wanted to be as detailed as possible.

HP Envy 14
i5-450
4gb ram
320gb hdd AND/OR 120gb ssd
radiance display (Ive had this bad boy for a 11 months)

 

There is a link to a document floating around on NBR on how to break the raid config of a SSD+HDD Envy and reinstall your OS. While the raid part doesn't pertain to you, follow the section on how to reset your bootsector/MBR and that should allow you to boot off your new SSD.

 

Here you go...hope it works out for you

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...ay-fix-hp-envy-17-3d-pavillion-notebooks.html


Mods...I do wish you would make the thread about the RAID fix a sticky. People keep needing it and never know where to find it...

 

Success!

I was able to fix the boot sector / mbr.

Thank you very much for showing me the pdf.

You know what's funny though? After desktop shows up, I check my partitions in my computer. No recovery partition. I'm not complaining, I don't want one anyways, need all the space I can get. But does the recovery media choose not to make the partition because it sees a smaller sized drive? Just curious.

 

Gratz on fixing the problem. Enjoy the speed...

As for the recovery partition, it probably isn't recreated with a minimal install.

I performed a full install from the recovery media on my Envy and it did recreate the recovery partition. I had the 160GB Intel SSD though.

 

Now it's time to clone the drive to image so I don't have to go through this all day process.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm dealing with the exact same problem. The megaupload link in that other thread linked above is dead (obviously) so I have no way to get the pdf. Could someone post the instructions for resetting the mbr here?

 

Can't speak to your issues with the RAID stuff but if rebuilding the MBR is what you need, there are myriad ways to do that if you have a Windows CD or recovery discs. Simplest thing to try first is a system repair with the recovery discs. I had a dual boot with Linux and the GRUB I installed it with totally wrecked the Windows BOOTSECT and MBR. Had to repair it to be able to boot to Windows after removing the Linux partition.

If the system repair doesn't work, try what is listed on this page:


How to fix MBR in Windows 7?

And if that doesn't work, check this page about the 3rd or 4th post down. He gives a fairly detailed description of the Bootsect.exe functions to use. It may require running the repair startup several times due to the massive changes being made and the default responses may vary.

Restore MBR of Win7 with Recovery DVD using bootsect.exe - Microsoft Answers

For sure back up anything you want to keep before you start the repair just in case of problems. My MBR/Bootsector repairs were done on my desktop using a Windows 7 CD so not sure the same things apply to the Envy with recovery discs--thankfully I havent' had to resort to anything that drastic with my Envy 14. Curious to know how it goes. By the way, it is good to be able to repair the MBR as it can become corrupted from time to time and it is a lifesaver rather than reinstalling Windows.

 

I was able to fix the MBR by booting into the HP recovery manager with my recovery USB drive and getting to a command prompt. Once I got to a command prompt I was able to run commands to fix the MBR. Google MBR plus your version of windows for specific commands to use.