No physical memory is available at the location required for the Windows Boot Manager. The system can not continue.

(1) Here is an article I found...

http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2001/scoug012.dfseetutorial.html#:~:text=To%20do%20this%3A%201%20We%20start%20the%20program,anything%20you%20want.%20...%203%20Press%20enter.%20 DFSee -- A Tutorial For OS/2 Users

When you start it, it's supposed to analyze the partitions. I guess they all pass muster, or you'd have said something. I guess, if you ever did the "Back Up, Back Up, Back Up" section, you'd have tried to restore those things. It looks a little scary to me, but can you see how to repair boot sectors & spareblocks with that? (I never heard of a spareblock before.)

(2) You've got no Recovery partition at all. Instead, the Windows partition likely is getting each new WinRE.wim (recovery environment) at C:\Recovery\WindowsRE. So, no repartitioning has been going on during your upgrades. Still, let's see...

BCDEdit /Store C:\Boot\BCD

/Store specifies where to look for the BCD. Without it, BCDEdit complained it couldn't find the "system device". It should show the location of bootmgr which should be C: (maybe referred to as HarddriveVolume3). Also, it should show C as the partition it will load. If that BCD were being used for the dual boot, it would also show a Boot Loader that identifies the eCS partition as D: (or maybe HarddiskVolume4). But EasyBCD shows it isn't a dual boot.

(3) But I guess you are right, there is an IBM Boot Manager on partition 1.

(a) Can EasyBCD show the IBM Boot Loader?

(b) What is the format of partition 1?

(c) Is it hidden like SR?

(d) If you unhide it, can you DIR it?

(4) In a Legacy installation, System Reserved (starting with Win 7). normally holds the boot files including BootMGR. Somehow yours got deactivated & the Windows partition now serves its purpose. That's OK. I think you've got the latest BootMGR. And you probably should be booting through partition 1 anyway which (I believe you) holds the IBM Boot Manager.

(5) You wrote...

"

If you mean on the disk, then yes. It is marked startable and active at this point bypassing IBM Boot Manager. If IBM Boot Manager is used it is marked startable and the 2 partitions Win and eCS are marked bootable.

diskpart dhows eCS as inactive, but again don't care really because IBM Boot Manager controls booting eCS when it is startable and this is how the system worked before failing.

"

That makes me dizzy to decipher. What app allows you to set Startable & Bootable? Is it DFSee? I wonder whether it is talking to the IBM Boot Manager to tell it which partition has the boot files & which has the OS. I wonder whether it also sets/removes the Active status. I think "startable" probably means it holds the boot files. And "bootable" probably means it holds the OS. So, Startable probably belongs on partition 1, & Bootable probably belongs on both the Windows & eCS partitions.

Your Windows partition has boot files, so it can be made startable. I guess the eCS partition does not have boot files, so it can't be made Startable & should not ever be Active.

(1) Right now no DVD/CDs will boot (except a DOS based one) under the Legacy Boot Options hitting F12 on BIOS screen and in fact booting anything HD, DVD/CD or external USB all get the "No physical..." message when trying to boot (except the DOS based one). The Macrium, Hiren's, Win ISO and Win recovery all boot under UEFI boot on the F12 option menu.

(2) Yes I can use DFsee to turn off and on the IBM BootManager.

(3) No. I had the author analyze some dump logs and he could not see anything wrong. Meanwhile, I can't boot Win or eCS even though all the data seems intact.

(4) DFsee cannot see the BCD. I use EasyBCD on Hiren's CD (See post with pic)

(5) I think it worked for 2 years and was very nice. The only thing that didn't work was the Wifi because the driver didn't work, so I have to plug an Ethernet cable in to get connectivity. Slow, but still works.

(6) I used DFSee to see the size of the partitions and like I said there is no difference between the D630 and D6530 which is what I expect since I cloned it. I don't remember if I used Macrium or DFSee to do it, but obviously it worked.

(7) Legacy vs UEFI boot, Order of boot, SATA operation. Maybe more?

Jordan

(1) So, is this bootmgr file on Win vs. SR specific to a particular Windows i.e. is the Win 7 PRO 64 bit one different from the Win 10 PRO 64 bit? Maybe I need to replace it from the installation CD (somehow?)

Yes, the SR is inactive. Has always been as it is unused.

(a) If you mean on the disk, then yes. It is marked startable and active at this point bypassing IBM Boot Manager. If IBM Boot Manager is used it is marked startable and the 2 partitions Win and eCS are marked bootable.

(b) diskpart dhows eCS as inactive, but again don't care really because IBM Boot Manager controls booting eCS when it is startable and this is how the system worked before failing.

(c)

(d) No. IBM Boot Manager is just like Windows Boot Manager. It boots multiple bootable entities on the HD. It doesn't make sense for it be in Windows Boot Manager. As you pointed out there is a way to use Windows Boot Manager to boot Win & eCS, but I haven't ever used it because I have been using IBM Boot Manager to dual or triple boot OSes for a very long time.

(e) Again. Not using Windows Boot Manager to boot eCS (and maybe not Win since IBM BM is startable?)

Partition 1 is IBM BM

Partition 2 is SR formatted NTFS

Partition 3 is Win 10 formatted NTFS

Partition 4 is eCS formatted HPFS

Partitions 5 is a data partition formatted as FAT32

Partitions 6,7,8, are data partitions formatted as NTFS

Jordan

(1) Is it only the eCS CD that won't boot on the E6530 or all CDs?

(2) Is DFsee what turns on/off the IBM Boot manager?

(3) If so, does it appear to be doing something to a file on eCS or on Windows?

(4) Is DFsee what you use to see the BCD? Or is it BCDEdit?

(5) Wow, that was quite a chore to get eCS onto the E6530. I guess it ended up well once you got the drivers right. But you never said how long it continued to work before the disaster struck.

(6) What did you use to see the size of the Windows partition on the old & new computer? I think DiskPart & other apps might not show a size difference when just a small chunk is removed. And the Recovery partition is small. The number of Recovery partitions on the HDD will say whether new ones have been getting created. That's why I want to see that List Part. But will the List Part show the System Reserved partition when it is hidden? I'll have to consider the implications that might have when I finally see the BCD. The BCD needs to count the partitions to know where they are.

(7) Well, what are the settings in your BIOS that relate to hardware?

(1) Both System Reserved (SR) & Windows have BootMGR in its root folder...

11/21/2010 03:23 AM 383,786 bootmgr <<<SR

09/01/2022 08:35 AM 415,530 bootmgr <<<Windows

I'm somewhat surprised BootMGR doesn't have an .exe filetype. But I am sure it is an executable. It is the Windows Boot Manager that ultimately looks into the BCD to determine which OS to load. In a dual-boot, it would give you a menu. It looks like you should never want to boot from the smaller, ancient one that is in SR. Did you check whether SR was marked Active? If so, make it Inactive this way...

DiskPart <<<Enter DiskPart

List Vol <<<Show volumes & letters

Select Vol=x <<<Select the Volume number that belongs to SR, not x

Detail Part <<<Show its Details -- does it say Active?

Inactive <<<Make it Inactive

Detail Part <<<Should now say Inactive

Exit <<<Leave DiskPart

Then hide SR again, whatever that involved. I guess you changed its Type/ID code. Removing its letter (if it has one) would only hide it from File Explorer. I guess changing its Type might hide it from the Bootstrap. But make it Inactive to be sure. That should also take it out of the Bootstrap.

(a) Is the Windows partition marked Active?

(b) Can DiskPart show whether the eCS partition is Active?

I'm still unsure whether the computer should boot using the BootMGR on C, or whether there is a boot manager (maybe named something other than BootMGR) on the eCS partition that should get control. Then that would offer the boot menu, & know which partition needs to load.

(c) You say you looked at it, can you show me the BCD that is at C:\Boot?

(d) Does it appear to have an entry for what looks like it might be the IBM Boot Manager?

(e) If so, does it identify the Windows & eCS partitions correctly?

I want to see the device/path to the partitions in the BCD & the order of the partitions on the disk...

DiskPart

List Vol

List Disk

Select Disk 0

List Part <<<Shows the order of the partitions

Exit

I'll answer the rest separately.