Checking the UEFI boot sector


larc919

larc919

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Is there any way to check integrity of the boot sector other than booting into recovery mode and running bootrec.exe? Can anything be done from within Windows 11? I just changed NVMe drives on a couple of PCs and ran into boot problems on both even though I had cloned the system drive including boot sector to each. Things finally got worked out when I could boot into safe mode. From there, booting normally worked. But it's still slow. While any remaining problems would likely get fixed with a repair install, I'd like to know if the boot sector really needs that before doing it.
 

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    Win10 Pro x64 & 11 Pro
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Do you have Macrium Reflect? It can repair boot problems if you boot from the rescue iso.
 

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System One

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    Win 11 Pro
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@larc919

If you do use Macrium Reflect, try this first... this is available on the bootable Rescue Media.

Image1.webp



You can also access the command prompt from the same bootable media...

Image1.webp
 

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System One System Two

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    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦26100.3775 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦24H2 ♦♦♦non-Insider
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
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    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 5002)
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    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
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    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
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    Dell U3011 30"
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    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
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    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
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    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
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    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
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    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
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    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
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    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
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    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
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    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
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    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
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    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 15 years?

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 26100.3915
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Alienware Aurora R16
    CPU
    Intel Core i9 14900F (24 -Core, 68 MB Total Cache)
    Motherboard
    Dell Alienware
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
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    RTX 4080 Super w/566.36
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    Realtec
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    Corsair XENEON 32QHD165
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    2560 X 1440
    Hard Drives
    1-2TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe NVMe M2 SSD
    1-4TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe NVMe M2 SSD
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    1000 Watt Platinum Dell
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    Alienware
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    Linux Mint 22.1--Winindows 11 Pro Lite
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    IBuypower
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    ASRock
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    Dell 2419HGCF
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    1920 X 1080
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    850Watt
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    Small
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    IBP
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    IBP
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    1GB
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    Firefox 137.0
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    Windows Defender
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    Noisy but fast
Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned this in my OP, but I did try Macrium Reflect bootable. It may have helped with the solution, but didn't solve the problem right away on either PC. It (v. 8.1 Home) was also what I used to clone to the new drives. Maybe that older version didn't quite jibe with current 11 Insider versions. In hindsight, I wish I had used Partition Wizard instead.

Thanks for your suggestion, Josey Wales. I'll try it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win10 Pro x64 & 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-11700
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix Z590 Gaming
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200MHz 16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce RTX 3050
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 32UN650 32" 4k
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160 @ 60Hz (175% scaling)
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe 250GB; WD Gold (WD1005FBYZ) 1TB; WD Black (WD1003FZEX) 1TB
    PSU
    Corsair RM850x
    Case
    Antec P100
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO V2 with Noctua NF-P12 Redux & 120mm Case Fan x3
    Keyboard
    Logitech K740
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    372 Mb down/12Mb up
    Browser
    Firefox & Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender & Free MBAM
    Other Info
    Main PC
UEFI doesn't utilize a boot sector. There is a legacy MBR record but it's not used by UEFI.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
neemobeer said:
UEFI doesn't utilize a boot sector. There is a legacy MBR record but it's not used by UEFI.
Click to expand...
Then, what specifically is the UEFI boot part called?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win10 Pro x64 & 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-11700
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix Z590 Gaming
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200MHz 16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce RTX 3050
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 32UN650 32" 4k
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160 @ 60Hz (175% scaling)
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe 250GB; WD Gold (WD1005FBYZ) 1TB; WD Black (WD1003FZEX) 1TB
    PSU
    Corsair RM850x
    Case
    Antec P100
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO V2 with Noctua NF-P12 Redux & 120mm Case Fan x3
    Keyboard
    Logitech K740
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    372 Mb down/12Mb up
    Browser
    Firefox & Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender & Free MBAM
    Other Info
    Main PC
High level
  1. UEFI loads from a ROM chip
  2. Drivers load to read disks
  3. Drives are scanned for a EFI boot loader
  4. Boot loader is selected and takes over boot process

Possibly messed up ESP partition or corrupted EFI file.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
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