Fix the MBR in Windows XP

[Big Booger]

HELP!

After reading this thread (found it doing a Google!) I think you might be able to help... I have a very similar problem.. (this might be long winded.. but I really need to get this drive back as it has photos of my son on it and I never back it up... )

The drive in Question is set up as my Primary Slave and was just a spare drive to store work, Gen' stuff on and the odd program

I noticed one day that some icons on my desktop had the default Windows logo, and not there actually ones. I went to check the programs that I had installed on to this drive (happens to be D:\) and when I double clicked to open it, it said that the drive wasn't formatted and did I want to format it now... HELL NO I said...

Well, I booted up the PC with a Partition Magic 8 Bootable CD and it said that Drive 1 and 3 were fine (they showed the right size and usage) but drive 2 (the problem drive) wasn't active. I set it to active. but still not joy in windows. I checked in Disk Management and it shows all 3 HDD, but D:\ doesn't have a File system like the other two. (both NTFS like D:\ used to be.)

So.. .if anyone can help... I'd owe them many a Beer... (not sure how I'd get the beer to them... but I'd try my damn'est!...

First I'd check the cables, power etc.... unplug then plug it back it. Boot and see if you can read the drive.

If not, check here:

http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/hdd...ruption-c.html

I'd be careful. If you value the data, then you might just want to use some other tooks to retrieve the data.

Another option would be to use a Linux Live CD and see if you can access it from there. The live CD should make no changes to the disk, and might be able to access it.. but I dunno for sure.

[badpapajj]

I need some info on fdisk /mbr. Do you type it on the win98>. I am not getting any fix or any response when I type it in, it just goes back to the prompt. I am running XP Home, upgrade version from 98SE. My cd does not boot, it is an upgrade. My 98SE cd will boot. Thanks, be as detailed as you can please.

I am running XP Home. Two days ago it would take forever to boot. It will take over a minute on the black Windows screen, then take another two minuts on a blank screen before it takes you to user password screen, then everything works kind of normal. It does not do this in safe mode. I tried last known config, restoring to an earlier time when this didnot happen but nothing changes same problem. I tried all my anti virus, spyware, malware software and it looks clean. Hijackthis looks clean. I cannot get it to boot from a cd because the boot won't give me that option on boot up. It is configured to boot from cd first but it won't. Help please. The whole boot process takes betwwen 5 and 6 minutes to get to the welcome screen. Correction, it will let me boot to cd but this cd is an upgrade to XP from 98. It will recognize the 98 cd but not the XP upgrade. I was trying to fix MBR to see if that will work. Any ideas.

[Big Booger]

I need some info on fdisk /mbr. Do you type it on the win98>. I am not getting any fix or any response when I type it in, it just goes back to the prompt. I am running XP Home, upgrade version from 98SE. My cd does not boot, it is an upgrade. My 98SE cd will boot. Thanks, be as detailed as you can please.

I am running XP Home. Two days ago it would take forever to boot. It will take over a minute on the black Windows screen, then take another two minuts on a blank screen before it takes you to user password screen, then everything works kind of normal. It does not do this in safe mode. I tried last known config, restoring to an earlier time when this didnot happen but nothing changes same problem. I tried all my anti virus, spyware, malware software and it looks clean. Hijackthis looks clean. I cannot get it to boot from a cd because the boot won't give me that option on boot up. It is configured to boot from cd first but it won't. Help please. The whole boot process takes betwwen 5 and 6 minutes to get to the welcome screen. Correction, it will let me boot to cd but this cd is an upgrade to XP from 98. It will recognize the 98 cd but not the XP upgrade. I was trying to fix MBR to see if that will work. Any ideas.

You either have a virus, spyware, adware, or something else like that. If your computer will boot (even slowly), your MBR is fine AFAIK.

http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9739

Check that thread out on the double time! Move it soldier. Be all that you can be, get an edge on life in the spyware thread!

http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/photos00/00254b.jpg

Also something else that might slow up your booting times:

Do you have a boot time defragger installed? Have you isntalled any software recently? Have you tried messing in the MSCONFIG settings under the startup tab * go there and remove any unnecessary crap*.

Honestly you should do a clean install, instead of an upgrade from windows 98.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...p_sg_clean.asp

that site will walk you through the process.

[Ergolad]

So I've been reading this thread with interest. My situation is this:

Installed GoBack 4 on an XP Home Toshiba Laptop that didn't like it. System posts, gives the Windows logo and then fades to black. Can boot into Safe Mode. The Symantec site shows that this can be a problem and blames a corrupted MBR:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...1101713193807?

They provide an ISO to create a bootable disk that has utilities to correct the issue, but they didn't work. I check with Toshiba to see if the MBR is locked in some way and they say no. The solution they offered me was a complete system restore back to factory. Not so keen on that.

Next I decided to go about repairing the MBR the ways suggested by this thread. Problem is that I can't load the Recovery Console because of the password issue with my admin account. I read up on the fix offered by MS, but the system I am using \doesn't have a floppy drive. Is there a way to access the appropriate utilities otherwise? I have a 98 SE upgrade disk, but it won't let me boot to it. Strange because I am able to boot to the XP cd...

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance.

[Big Booger]

So I've been reading this thread with interest. My situation is this:

Installed GoBack 4 on an XP Home Toshiba Laptop that didn't like it. System posts, gives the Windows logo and then fades to black. Can boot into Safe Mode. The Symantec site shows that this can be a problem and blames a corrupted MBR:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...1101713193807?

They provide an ISO to create a bootable disk that has utilities to correct the issue, but they didn't work. I check with Toshiba to see if the MBR is locked in some way and they say no. The solution they offered me was a complete system restore back to factory. Not so keen on that.

Next I decided to go about repairing the MBR the ways suggested by this thread. Problem is that I can't load the Recovery Console because of the password issue with my admin account. I read up on the fix offered by MS, but the system I am using \doesn't have a floppy drive. Is there a way to access the appropriate utilities otherwise? I have a 98 SE upgrade disk, but it won't let me boot to it. Strange because I am able to boot to the XP cd...

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance.

External floppy disk? USB card reader (clip drive) etc...

[Ergolad]

Thanks. I had been avoiding the option to restore the system to the last known config that had worked when booting. I was afraid that it would somehow screw up my ability to uninstall GoBack. It turns out that restore to a previous config indeed got things going again, and I was able to uninstall GoBack using Add/Remove.

Thanks.