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Need help with SGE and getting to POA (freeze/reboot/crash before POA appears)

Hi,

I have had this happen a few times in the past but was usually able to get around it by resetting BIOS settings, but this time it's not working.  Here's the scenario:

Dell Latitude Laptops (various models) encrypted with SGE 6.1.  User did *something* to his E6520 and now it does not boot properly.  Sophos PBA messages come up as if it's about to give the POA screen, but instead just freezes, usually giving an artifact laced screen.  I figure something happened to the MBR.  I go into BIOS and change the SATA Operation from it's usual "RAID On" to AHCI.  Same result.  I swap it back, same result again.  OK, Load up my 6.1 boot disc to get into WinPE.  Decrypt the drive using C/R and attempt the bootrec/rebuild bcd - no installations are found.  OK - bcdedit shows the default partition on the D: when it should be on the C: - change it to C, bootrec now finds the installation and I add it to the config.  Reboot - no dice.  I repeat the process to get into WinPE, this time trying the Repair MBR in BE_Restore, again, no good.  I get desperate and try different combinations of tools to tell it how to boot the OS.  

So by now I've probably messed something up, but my data is sitll in tact.  I really don't want to have to rebuild the computer from scratch.  I have backups of the data, but rebuilding the laptop can take a full day or two.  Does anyone have any suggestions on fixing the MBR or Bootsector or whatever is causing boot to fail?  Thanks in advance.

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  • OK so after a lot of research and trial and error, I've been able to get back to the POA screen where the user is locked and needs to do a C/R (after messing with the MBR and stuff I tried the F# hotkeys, the video one worked after disabling almost everything in BIOS).  So I can do the C/R, but then computer reboots almost automatically.  I've tried safe mode, last known good config, etc.  I'm guessing the local cache got messed with but not sure if there's an easy way to go about restoring that.  Any tips on what to try next?

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