Nothing working to get FUBAR PC to boot

[kyrathaba]

I inherited a little mini-PC. No CD drive. Just has a small SSD. Problem is: won't boot. I've tried manipulating BIOS. Got it to look at USB keys first in boot order. And I have a USB key with WinXP Pro 64x installation files (which would be fine, for this little PC, though naturally I prefer Win7 which I don't have an installation disc for). It obviously tries to access the USB key. I see the key light up and flash, but I get a Missing Boot Manager screen. I take it the Win7 installation that was originally on the SSD is dorked. It's a Lenovo ThinkCentre M53 Tiny. The OEM Lenovo Restore software runs from the Recovery partition, but is unable to fix the problem. And when I try to access a 500Gb USB removable drive (on which I have a backup image), Lenovo Recovery won't detect the removable drive.

Any ideas on how I might restore this little machine? Never again will I fool with a PC that doesn't have a CD drive...

[Shades]

Stoic Joker has a suggestion to try: this DC thread

This very likely enables the repair option (that comes with the device at sounds) to complete.

[kyrathaba]

Thanks for the link, Shades.

Unfortunately, I cannot even reach Step 1 in SJ's post:

1.   Boot from appropriate OS media.

Nothing I've tried has allowed me to boot from a bootable USB stick, and the PC has no CD drive.

[tomos]

have you tried a windows 7 recovery disc (on usb of course) ?
(FWIW, I made an ISO of the CD and used Rufus to 'burn' it to usb-stick)

EDIT// I guess it probably wont work if the installation disc wont work - but I did have some success in repairing a MBR (that could not find the OS install) lately with it

[kyrathaba]

Hmm, I'll try that, tomos, and let you know... thanks!

[kyrathaba]

Thanks again, tomos, THAT worked! Course I still have to download and install drivers but there's a fresh copy of Win 7 Ultimate on the little box

[tomos]

Thanks again, tomos, THAT worked! Course I still have to download and install drivers but there's a fresh copy of Win 7 Ultimate on the little box

-kyrathaba (August 01, 2015, 06:33 PM)

great

[kyrathaba]

So, I've got a nice, shiny new installation of Win 7 Ultimate x64, but no software came with the unit. I went to Lenovo's website to get drivers, and naturally they aren't available currently:

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre-m-series-desktops/thinkcentre-m53

Anyone know where device drivers for the Lenovo ThinkCentre M53 Tiny might be obtained?

[4wd]

^That website has something strange with it, I can't see the drivers in Pale Moon on my desktop but I downloaded both the chipset and graphic drivers using Chrome on my android tablet.

So, something to try.

Otherwise, my one shop stop for driver installation these days if I can't find them, is DriverPack Solution (which you can install to a flash drive to run).  I usually download the ISO (~10GB) but the online version might get you what you want, assuming you have net access on it.

[Deozaan]

I went looking on Archive.org and it didn't have anything useful. But I also looked with archive.is and it seems to have links:

https://archive.is/MEFpY

I think it has something to do with adblock/scriptblockers. The content is there. But if your browser won't let the Javascript load it in (is that still being called AJAX?) it will just say "currently unavailable" and be totally unhelpful.

[4wd]

I think it has something to do with adblock/scriptblockers.

-Deozaan (August 01, 2015, 10:33 PM)

Yep, looks like it, all downloads show up under K-Meleon.

[kyrathaba]

Thanks, guys. Got some downloads from there, and hopefully will get LAN driver successfully installed.

[kyrathaba]

Just an update. Got chipset driver, wireless and LAN drivers installed and this machine is <i>humming</i> with Win 7 Ultimate, running on 8GB RAM on a SSD.

[Shades]

DC knows best...