4530s restore UEFI to "fresh" hdd

[GeminiDomino]

Ran into an issue that corrupted the hard drive in my Windows 7 4530s. I've gone through all the tests and the hard drive is physically okay, but the partitions are lost. As such, I can't boot or enter the bios settings (presumably because the UEFI partition is gone). I created the HP_Tools USB drive, but it doesn't seem to do anything if I can't boot Windows.

I tried installing Linux, but the bare bones bios that's left won't boot to it (gives me the Boot OS error). If I boot off the Ubuntu CD I can get into the Linux install with "boot from first hard disk" so I know the OS is there, it's the bootloader that's not looking in the right place to see it.

Is there some way I can get the UEFI back onto this thing to make it usable again? I'm more than comfortable with a Linux live CD so if I can do it that way, that's fine too.

[CherylG]

You analysis really makes no sense. People replace hard drives every day with new blank drives and can boot from Windows install disk- or Linux disks.

You say you have gone through all of the tests- what tests? BIOS tests?

[GeminiDomino]

I can boot from the OS install disks without a problem, and even run through the install process. The issue is that I can't boot without a CD, even after reinstalling an OS. 

And yes, the tests I was referring to are the built-in hard drive diagnostic, and an extended SMART test (performed by connecting the drive to another machine).

[CherylG]

@GeminiDomino

First thing I would try is enter BIOS and reset it to Default settings. Save & Exit.

If no change>Boot from your Windows 7 disk.

Select your language preferences and click on Next.  

Click Repair Your Computer . 
Select Command Prompt and type the following commands (pressing Enter after each one): 

bootrec /fixMBR 
bootrec /fixBoot 
bootrec /rebuildBCD 
Note: there is a space before the / 

If still no joy

Boot from Windows disk and  run Startup Repair 3 times before trying to boot Windows.

If still no joy- the thread here may help:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/8b24383a-cb60-443e-a8f5-00205dcb0bcd/cant-...

[GeminiDomino]

That's the problem: I can't enter BIOS. When I hit the key to do so, it only gives me the built-in HP diagnostics menu. 

It's not a windows issue, since the problem persists even after installing Linux instead. 

[CherylG]

You shouldn't have to enter BIOS to boot from the Windows disk. Immediately after powering on start tapping the Esc key to halt boot and open the startup menu where you should have F9 Boot options.

[GeminiDomino · Accepted solution]

Yes, I can boot from CD without a problem.  It was booting from HDD that was blocking me. 

I managed to work it out. At some point during the linux install, the drive was changed from MBR to GPT, and apparently that was enough to stop it from booting.  Fixed that and I can at least get it to boot now.