ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk Topic is solved

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Achille
Posts: 5
Joined: 08 Aug 2020, 16:46

ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#1 Post by Achille »

Hi, I'm an old PC user with little knowledge of hard disk partitions and filesystems.
I have an ASUS zenbook that since few days was not starting anymore because the corrupted boot sector. The OS is windows10 with a 500Gb Toshiba HD.
I used an Ubuntu live pendrive and ran testdisk.
Following is the log:

TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015
Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Linux, kernel 5.3.0-28-generic (#30~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 17 06:11:07 UTC 2020) i686
Compiler: GCC 7.2
ext2fs lib: 1.44.1, ntfs lib: libntfs-3g, reiserfs lib: none, ewf lib: none, curses lib: ncurses 6.0
/dev/sda: LBA, HPA, LBA48, DCO support
/dev/sda: size 976773168 sectors
/dev/sda: user_max 976773168 sectors
/dev/sda: native_max 976773168 sectors
Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/mapper/control - 0 B - 0 sectors, sector size=512
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63, sector size=512 - TOSHIBA MQ01ABF050, S/N:17THTFZ3T, FW:AM0B3J
Disk /dev/sdb - 15 GB / 14 GiB - CHS 15000 64 32, sector size=512 - VendorCo ProductCode, FW:2.00

Partition table type (auto): EFI GPT
Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - TOSHIBA MQ01ABF050
Partition table type: EFI GPT

Analyse Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=976773167 (expected 976773167)
hdr_lba_start=34
hdr_lba_end=976773134
hdr_lba_table=2
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
check_part_gpt failed for partition
2 P MS Reserved 534528 567295 32768 [Microsoft reserved partition]
Current partition structure:
1 P EFI System 2048 534527 532480 [EFI system partition]
No FAT, NTFS, ext2, JFS, Reiser, cramfs or XFS marker
2 P MS Reserved 534528 567295 32768 [Microsoft reserved partition]
2 P MS Reserved 534528 567295 32768 [Microsoft reserved partition]
3 P MS Data 567296 975008355 974441060 [Basic data partition]
4 P Unknown 975009792 976773119 1763328


How you can see there are problems on MS Reserved. I ran the Quick search and receive this info:

NTFS at 35/79/45
filesystem size 974441060
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
NTFS part_offset=290455552, part_size=498913822720, sector_size=512
NTFS partition cannot be added (part_offset<part_size).
NTFS at 35/79/45
filesystem size 974441060
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 567296 975008355 974441060
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 498 GB / 464 Gntfs_attr_pread_i: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
Failed to read index block: Input/output error
ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup_warn: magic: 0x00000000 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 0: Invalid argument
Record 0 has no FILE magic (0x0)
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error
ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup_warn: magic: 0x00000000 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 0: Invalid argument
Record 0 has no FILE magic (0x0)
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error
iB
NTFS at 60691/140/58
filesystem size 1763328
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 73472
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 973246465 975009792 1763328
NTFS found using backup sector, blocksize=4096, 902 MB / 861 MiB
NTFS at 60691/140/58
filesystem size 1763328
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 73472
mftmirr_lcn 2
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
MS Data 975009792 976773119 1763328
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 902 MB / 861 MiB
Search for partition aborted

Results
MS Data 567296 975008355 974441060
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 498 GB / 464 GiB
MS Data 973246465 975009792 1763328
NTFS found using backup sector, blocksize=4096, 902 MB / 861 MiB
MS Data 975009792 976773119 1763328
NTFS, blocksize=4096, 902 MB / 861 MiB

Hint for advanced users. dmsetup may be used if you prefer to avoid to rewrite the partition table for the moment:
echo "0 974441060 linear /dev/sda 567296" | dmsetup create test0
echo "0 1763328 linear /dev/sda 973246465" | dmsetup create test1
echo "0 1763328 linear /dev/sda 975009792" | dmsetup create test2
ntfs_device_testdisk_io_ioctl() unimplemented
file_pread(4,16,buffer,567712(35/86/20)) read err: Partial read
[/size]

can someone kindly help me choose the appropriate options to continue?
Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad English

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cgrenier
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Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#2 Post by cgrenier »

The partition table is OK.
You should boot Windows in safe mode or from a Windows DVD and select Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, Command Prompt and run "chkdsk /f c:" to check an repair the filesystem.
and if it doesn't solve the boot problem, try Startup Repair.
See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... -safe-mode for more information

Achille
Posts: 5
Joined: 08 Aug 2020, 16:46

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#3 Post by Achille »

thank you for the prompt reply.
Unfortunately I cannot launch Windows in any way even in safe mode because the BIOS does not detect the hard disk as bootable. When the notebook is turned on, only the bios utility appears so I insert the pen drive and I can launch linux live and then testdisk (with the command "sudo testdisk", without _static).
In xubuntu desktop I see the HD icon labeled as OS; it's not possible to mount the volume and read the files.
Thanks again for your attention

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#4 Post by recuperation »

Achille wrote: 09 Aug 2020, 10:56 thank you for the prompt reply.
Unfortunately I cannot launch Windows in any way even in safe mode because the BIOS does not detect the hard disk as bootable.
Christophe said:
You should boot Windows in safe mode or from a Windows DVD

Achille
Posts: 5
Joined: 08 Aug 2020, 16:46

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#5 Post by Achille »

The Zenbook has no DVD drive; moreover the Windows is pre-installed so I don't have any DVD.
I'm trying to make an winPE live USB.
As option, I can use a Windows DVD from my HP desktop and an external DVD drive. What you think? Thanks

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#6 Post by recuperation »

Try everything out.

Achille
Posts: 5
Joined: 08 Aug 2020, 16:46

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#7 Post by Achille »

I'm back to give some feedback. Since last time I made many steps.
- I moved the Toshiba HDD from Zenbook to a USB box case and checked the disk with “chkdsk /f /v”.
The DOS command fixed many many errors and created a large “found” folder; from this folder I saved several my files (documents, pdf, jpg...) and the Asus eSupport folder for the notebook drivers.

However it was impossible to boot the machine and start Windows. So I decided to reinstall Windows 10, downloading the ISO file from Microsoft using the Media Creation tool to create a bootable USB pendrive.
The first tries were unsuccessfull because the installation stopped without to copy the Windows files to the HDD (error 0x80070057, System Reserved Partition corrupted).

Briefly , after some troubles, I went to DOS within the installation wizard with Shift f10 key, and then ran DISKPART:
- list disk
- select disk n
- clean
- convert GPT
(the first time I used also "create partition primary" and "format fs=ntfs quick" but this is useless because Windows installation tool works also on disk with unallocate space).

Exited from DOS I resumed the Windows installation succesfully. Now the notebook works fine, finally.

Later I ran the HDDScan program and received the attached S.M.A.R.T. report.
HDDScan.JPG
HDDScan.JPG (203.76 KiB) Viewed 2380 times

Now I have a question about the two warnings in the report, the "reallocation sector count" and "reallocation event count". I read this means the HDD is going to die.
Can anyone give me more information or do they have experience of this event?
Thank you

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#8 Post by recuperation »

You are reading right. Duplicate the failing drive using ddrescue as described in the manual.

Achille
Posts: 5
Joined: 08 Aug 2020, 16:46

Re: ASUS zenbook does not boot because corrupted Hard disk

#9 Post by Achille »

Thank you recuperation. I'll replace the HDD.

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