BOOTCMD is missing error

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

Hey, last night when I went to restart my computer, I got the above error. I tried every thing I know but still get the error. Would really rather not do a clean install, and there has got to be a way. I've run all the recovery possibilities. I've ensured the drive is active, the partition is active, and tons of stuff. Here's what I did so tell me if I'm missing something here please!
Using recovery disk-
startup repair - didn't work
advanced options -all options would complete but error remained. Did a system image recovery from external drive AND from CD disks and still there. System restore did nothing

From CMD prompt-
ensured partition was active
chkdsk /r
bcdboot C:\windows

bootrec /fixmbr -completed successfully
bootrec /fixboot -element not found
bootrec /rebuildbcd -found installation, but won't allow me to add it to boot list, again with element not found
bootrec /scanos - 1 installation of Windows found

The only thing I've done recently was merge my C drive partition with the unallocated space to give me complete use of the drive (of course, I didn't touch the repair or the system reserve partitions.) and that was like three weeks ago.

I'm able to still use my old SSD (from which I ghosted to the new drive) which is what's in here now...

any ideas?

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-bo...sing-windows-7 have you tried this yet?

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

yeah...did exactly, even changed directory but I didn't run it three times as suggested. I'll try that tonight then

[HTM~Bluesman]

Might want to check your boot order in bios as well. If your drives changed because of merging the partition it may be trying to boot from a non-bootable drive.

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

it's really weird. Boot order is good, no USB plugged in other than mouse/keyboard...no external drives. Brand new drive and when I checked it with SSDLIfe Pro, it gives me a 100% error free so no bad clusters. I can't get why it's not accepting the repair disk corrections. From what I always understood, the drive in need of repairs is like potholes in an otherwise smooth road. The repair disk checks the OS for missing or corrupted files and basically fills in the potholes without replacing any other files or settings that are healthy. So why isn't the corrupted or missing file being replaced? Very, very odd...

[DesTineD]

Wish i could help but am not knowledgeable at it...

[HTM|Minion]

Is the error "BOOTCMD is missing" as the title says or "BOOTMGR is missing" ?

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

ooops...bootmgr

[HTM~Bluesman]

Read a couple of references to doing exactly what you did:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

They also mentioned that you should check to be sure you are doing these commands while in the C:\ directory (not in the "X" directory that the install uses)

One also mentioned that if it didn't work right away that you should run startup repair 3 different times. Not sure what the logic is behind that, but, what do you have to lose.