Corrupt master file table, chkdsk will not work.

[Anders]

Hi,
"chkdsk /F d:" returns the error "Corrupt master file
table" and quits.
Anybody knows how to restore a Corrupt master file table?
thanks,

Anders

 

[midnight]

Boot from the XP CD go to the repair console and type help [ENTER]. This
will show you a list of commands one of which is fixmbr which should fix
your master boot table.

If you type the command in the form "fixmbr /?" without the quotes it will
show you all the switches for fixmbr. To find out the switches available for
any command type the command then leave a space forward slash question mark
(like this "command /?" without the quotation marks) There are a few
commands to help fix broken boot files.

Any corrupted master file table can lead to corrupted data so you might want
to make a Norton Ghost clone booting from a floppy if you have Ghost on a
floppy. Clone the hard drive to a second hard drive if possable that way you
can always restore the corrupted data and try again. There are a number of
utilities that claim to fix MBRs but I have never tried them so can't
comment. A google search should show a list of the best available.

Midnight

 

[Alex Nichol]

Boot from the XP CD go to the repair console and type help [ENTER]. This
will show you a list of commands one of which is fixmbr which should fix
your master boot table.

That is *not* the Master File Table of an NTFS file system at all.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Hi,
"chkdsk /F d:" returns the error "Corrupt master file
table" and quits.
Anybody knows how to restore a Corrupt master file table?
thanks,

If chkdsk will not do it, it probably cannot be done. On the off
chance, boot with F8 and take Safe Mode - Command Prompt only, and try
the chkdsk from there. You could also there use /R rather than /F to try
to repair bad sectors and recover information, but it is a fairly
forlorn hope

 

[midnight]

Alex I made a mistake, one which I shouldn't have made with such an
important subject matter as the boot files.

Midnight

Boot from the XP CD go to the repair console and type help [ENTER]. This
will show you a list of commands one of which is fixmbr which should fix
your master boot table.

That is *not* the Master File Table of an NTFS file system at all.