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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Super Moderator Big Booger's Avatar
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    Fix the MBR in Windows XP

    Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console. Select your windows XP installation from the list, and enter the administrator password.
    Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes) at the input prompt and confirm the next question with a "Y" (without the quotes). Use exit to restore the computer.

    I had to use this on a PC that I had corrupted the MBR with by using a boot manager.

    Worked perfectly. This may have been posted before, and if so, forgive me. If not, now you know how to repair your MBR. By the way MBR stands for Master Boot Record. THis procedure kind of replaced Fdisk I think.

    BB

  2. #2
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    Worked Great

    Awesome fix. I had a half baked install of bootmagic on an xp machine. Fix MBR worked great (although after reading the warning in FIXMBR about ruining partitions etc., I held my breath until I had successfully rebooted into XP). Thanks for the fix.

  3. #3
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    a word of caution.. sometimes there is no adminsitrator password entered (by you) but the program insists on a password.

    microsoft admits there is a bug in its XP and there is a workaround for it. i know because it happened to me. it was no fun not realizing it was a bug until way after the fact and cure.

  4. #4
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    http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;308402

    There's the knowledge base article from Microsoft that shows how to fix what cityman posted. Thanks cityman for your contribution. Luckily I didn't run into this issue, but now if users do, there is a fix.

  5. #5
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    http://phoenixfire.thenetdragon.net/referenced/fixmbr/

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    Well thanks for the tips, but on my HD both the FIXMBR and FIXBOOT commands did not do the trick. In the end, this is how I solved the problem:

    I added an old 1GB hd to the primairy IDE controller, connected the drive I wanted to repair (a 40GB Maxtor HD) to the seconday IDE controller, installed windowsXP on the 1st drive (the 1GB drive). The broken disk was a Maxtor HD. I downloaded maxblast 3 for windows (not the floppy version or ISO version, which both should work also) and run maxblast 3 from the freshly installed XP. I corrected everything on the Maxtor 40GB drive (setting it as boot drive and making a new 15GB partition with NTFS).
    Maxblast copied everything from the 1GB XP OS and builds up a new OS on the new partition. Shutdown the PC, removed the old 1GB HD and started the PC again...DONE

    KUDOS to Maxtor!
    Link for the maxtor software tools:
    Maxtor sodtware download
    (remember for using this trick you need a Maxtor HD)
    Last edited by beyond3d; July 4th, 2004 at 10:43 AM.

  7. #7
    Member Jackpot's Avatar
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    Red face

    For what it's worth... I have always just
    booted off of a windows 98 boot disk and typed "fdisk /mbr" without
    the quotes of course and voila, she b fixed...

    Please advise me if this proceedure is a dangerous method, so far it has
    worked for me...


    thanks...
    Jackpot

  8. #8
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    Be VERY careful with FDISK /MBR. It rewrites the master boot record. If the machine is multi-booting XP and another OS, /MBR may blast away the boot loader, thus crippling multi-boot capability. It may also wreck multi-boot capabilities under Win 9x if programs've installed a boot manager that /MBR overwrites.

  9. #9
    Super Moderator Super Moderator Big Booger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berserker
    Be VERY careful with FDISK /MBR. It rewrites the master boot record. If the machine is multi-booting XP and another OS, /MBR may blast away the boot loader, thus crippling multi-boot capability. It may also wreck multi-boot capabilities under Win 9x if programs've installed a boot manager that /MBR overwrites.
    Thanks for the word of caution. Always pays to be cautious and before doing anything ask or research it.

  10. #10
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    Ok i have the stupid MBR problem and everytime i start the computer and if no WIndows XP CD iis inside the CD-ROM the windows wont start and it keep saying ..

    Master Boot Record has changed.
    Press any key to enter to restore master boot or something...

    i tried doing fixmbr but didnt help and it keeps coming...if i dnt insert the CD inside...so how do i fix this problem anyone help? thanks!

  11. #11
    Friendly Neighborhood Super Moderator phishhead's Avatar
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    jackpot i've never tried your method since I dont use floppy drives...but does it work with xp. if so then the fdisk.exe must have never changed and should work fine.



  12. #12
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    Lightbulb

    Quote Originally Posted by phishhead
    jackpot i've never tried your method since I dont use floppy drives...but does it work with xp. if so then the fdisk.exe must have never changed and should work fine.
    ----------------------------------------------------
    Yes, works fine with XP...

    I got this info along time ago when i was playing around
    with Lindows (Linspire) and couldn't get rid of the dual boot
    screen, Lol

    It also worked with "Xandros" for me too, but i wanted to be
    sure not to mess up or cause any probs for anyone here..!

    Thanks..!
    JP

  13. #13
    Super Moderator Super Moderator Big Booger's Avatar
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    Yeah I would do that too if I had a floppy drive. I now use a clip drive instead of a floppy and have given the floppy the boot LMAO..

    Nice tip though

  14. #14
    Super Moderator Super Moderator Big Booger's Avatar
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    It's odd that this procedure doesn't work. Everytime I have had an MBR issue the fix I posted above worked.


    You could try a few things...


    Run a repair install
    Reinstall over the existing installation

    Or using the XP disk, make a new partition, and install XP that way. Then you'll be all set.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big Booger
    It's odd that this procedure doesn't work. Everytime I have had an MBR issue the fix I posted above worked.


    You could try a few things...

    Run a repair install
    Reinstall over the existing installation

    Or using the XP disk, make a new partition, and install XP that way. Then you'll be all set.
    Would it not be possible to simply
    * Insert Windows XP CD
    * enter recovery console
    * copy command.com and fixmbr.(com, exe) to corrupted HDD
    * Go to drive in question
    * Type command.com (will effectively create a command session generating the appearance of system drive?)
    * Type FixMBR


    As I read in a Windows XP support page, FIXMBR only operates on the system drive! So if you boot from the CD, it'll try to re-write the MBR on the CD.

    This should work, assuming the Windows XP kernel respects the command interpereter. Each time you run command it creates a new session inside the first one, most of the environment variables should be moved over to the HDD.


    Rigel
    Last edited by master_rigel2; January 1st, 2006 at 22:53 PM.

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