[fikkser]

I started getting this message every time I boot the computer a wile ago. The solution for now is to press any key every time I boot...

I have no idea what has caused it. The drive I got windows 7 on is first in the boot sequence, I got nothing strange attached to the computer either.

I've had another windows version installed on another partition which is D: (used to be C: before I got win 7), most of the windows content is removed, but when I boot I've got to choose what windows I want to boot. Anyway, this hasn't caused the first problem before.

Tried google it and read some on the windows help thing, but no luck really.

Any suggestions?

[ducdao]

I started getting this message every time I boot the computer a wile ago. The solution for now is to press any key every time I boot...

I have no idea what has caused it. The drive I got windows 7 on is first in the boot sequence, I got nothing strange attached to the computer either.

I've had another windows version installed on another partition which is D: (used to be C: before I got win 7), most of the windows content is removed, but when I boot I've got to choose what windows I want to boot. Anyway, this hasn't caused the first problem before.

Tried google it and read some on the windows help thing, but no luck really.

Any suggestions?

I'm not too sure but it looks to me that your MBR (Master Boot Record) is corrupted. Can you take a look on Goggle and see if there is anything relevant to the issues that you're facing?

Hope this helps and good luck.

[fikkser]

Thanks! Will try to repair mbr later.

From what I see on google, people who get the invalid system disk message aren't able to boot at all, but I am. That's a bit odd.

[selar]

Ensure you have automatic updates turned on. If you dont know if its turned follow this Support Knowledge Base article The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool helps remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows XP
This will ensure that your computer will run the Malicious Software Removal Tool, virus infection is one of the causes of your problem.
Other causes could be disk management software. Try running the Malicious software removal tool first. I hope you are running an Antivirus.

[JohnBee]

I started getting this message every time I boot the computer a wile ago. The solution for now is to press any key every time I boot...

I have no idea what has caused it. The drive I got windows 7 on is first in the boot sequence, I got nothing strange attached to the computer either.

I've had another windows version installed on another partition which is D: (used to be C: before I got win 7), most of the windows content is removed, but when I boot I've got to choose what windows I want to boot. Anyway, this hasn't caused the first problem before.

Tried google it and read some on the windows help thing, but no luck really.

Any suggestions?

I can think of a few reasons for this. But off the cuff, I'd say this sounds as though your system BIOS is not assigned to boot on the proper device. Have you performed any BIOS modifications lately? Anyways, you might want to take a quick glance in your system setup(BIOS not Windows) and check if its set to boot on the proper device(usually the first HDD in the list). Otherwise, if its set in the wrong order, it could/would ask you to press any key and try booting off the next device in the list.

OR... your windows boot.ini configuration may be pointing to an invalid device(corrupt).

Again... with so many possibilities at hand, it would be very hard to determine what's what.

PS. have you tried looking in your even log to see if anything is reflected there?

[selar]

OR... your windows boot.ini configuration may be pointing to an invalid device(corrupt).

No boot.ini in windows 7 or vista

[clmonk]

This sounds too obvious, but....have you checked to make sure there is not a CD/DVD in the drive?? If you have Boot From CD/DVD enabled in the BIOS and have a non-bootable disk in the drive, it will pop this error.

[JohnBee]

No boot.ini in windows 7 or vista

Good catch.
I initially ended my response with what OS are you using.
But then I saw Windows 7 mentioned so I removed the comment and forgot the earlier one.

So I guess boot.ini would be replaced with: Windows 7's boot manager

[fikkser]

Thanks!

Boot sequence is correct.

And there's no cd or dvd in the drive.

One thing I came to think of is that I've made a few cmos resets because of different failures with OC and such. But the bios is reseted and should be good. Might be the thief, but what could have gone wrong when performing a cmos reset?

[VoiceOfReason]

Try running a linux live CD (boots an OS from a CD) and see if your hard drives are okay. If so try a system repair.

I like Linux Mint for booting from a CD myself, and it has allowed me to fix stuff where the OS has become corrupt. If the OS is corrupt, and can not be repaired, only reinstalled you can move stuff to your other drive while booted from the CD, then reinstall the OS, and go on about your business.

I've seen this type of stuff happen on multiple computers, and over half the time it is due to imminent or occurring hard drive failure.

[shooz]

Did you install win 7 clean, or from within your previous version of windows?
This sounds like a dual boot system.
My dual boot systems always ask what version of windows I would like to boot to.
Since one is missing, it could cause your problem.
Only cure I know of would be clean install of win 7.
You would need to save all pertinent data to a separate physical disk.
To rebuild the boot manager, you will need to delete BOTH partitions and build news ones from the windows disk.

[Adam]

I've had another windows version installed on another partition which is D:

Windows really likes the C drive designation. If Windows isn't running off the C drive, try reconfiguring your system.

If you use something like gparted to edit your partitions, then you can have multiple C drives (downside is that you won't be able to access the other partition from within the OS).

I currently have this setup for a dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows solution. I can access the Windows partition from Ubuntu, but not vice-versa.

[Vylen]

Windows really likes the C drive designation. If Windows isn't running off the C drive, try reconfiguring your system.

If you use something like gparted to edit your partitions, then you can have multiple C drives (downside is that you won't be able to access the other partition from within the OS).

I currently have this setup for a dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows solution. I can access the Windows partition from Ubuntu, but not vice-versa.

The C:\ drive designation is just a label. It holds no purpose during bootup sequence. Instead, the boot loader uses the hardware path (for lack of a better name). I can't think of the format that the Windows boot loader uses for distinguishing partitions/drives but it's synonymous to *nix's /dev/hda2 for example.

Also, Adam, you can't access your Ubuntu partition from Windows since your Ubuntu partition is most likely using the EXT4 Filesystem. Windows cannot natively read partitions formatted in that.

[JohnBee]

The C:\ drive designation is just a label. It holds no purpose during bootup sequence. Instead, the boot loader uses the hardware path (for lack of a better name). I can't think of the format that the Windows boot loader uses for distinguishing partitions/drives but it's synonymous to *nix's /dev/hda2 for example.

Also, Adam, you can't access your Ubuntu partition from Windows since your Ubuntu partition is most likely using the EXT4 Filesystem. Windows cannot natively read partitions formatted in that.

That's true
But... the system files can and do get separated or spread across several devices.
Windows does this if/when it encounters numerous devices that are marked Active.

And so when people alter or change those partitions, its common for windows to complain(as mentioned by the OP). One way to check or confirm this is to look in the boot manager to assess if Windows isn't addressing any invalid devices or device locations.

[Adam]

Windows cannot natively read partitions formatted in that.

Nor with the help of any known utility out there, unfortunately