Fixboot does what?

[Guest]

Hi,

My track zero is a mess, according to MBRtool. (It has about 40-60 sectors
full of stuff on it, including the remains of GAG, following an otherwise
successful disk clone to a new SATA disk. GAG (which I put on in a panic)
found Windows but not Linux, so I used FIXMBR (which I should have used in
the first place!) to be sure Windows was ok - it was, and then re-installed
Linux, and now I can boot ok to either Windows XP or Linux via GRUB.)

I do not have any problems in booting up. However, a few things which used
to work on my old dual boot disk, now either don't work (such as rfstool), or
take far too long (such as GoBack), and CheckDisk, when run on two disks,
does each of them twice!

It would be nice to get it clean and neat, but re-installing XP is out of
the question. During the above experience, I nearly used FIXBOOT, but was
frightened off by the Microsoft warnings on one of the web pages. Now I want
to get things sorted properly. I want to go through the motions of clearing
track zero, then having the Windows XP MBR on it before reinstalling grub -
even if grub then overwrites it - so that my track zero is as it was
originally. But I am unsure about a couple of things. So, with apologies
for my naiivety, here's my question...

If FIXBOOT clears all of track zero, and if FIXMBR puts back only the
Windows boot code, then how do the volume bytes and the partition table get
written back to the disk?

Thanks in advance. I hope to be able to reply before the new year.

jessj

 

[Guest]

My preferred dual-boot method is to put a simple partition-selector in the
MBR such as the one with Ranish, put Lilo on the Linux partition, and the
Windows bootloader, well, where you would expect.

Sounds overcomplicated having three bootloaders for two OSs, but much
simpler to manage, and if an OS pops its clogs you just need to reload that
partition, the other OS is unaffected.

 

[deebs]

My preferred dual-boot method is to put a simple partition-selector in the
MBR such as the one with Ranish, put Lilo on the Linux partition, and the
Windows bootloader, well, where you would expect.

Sounds overcomplicated having three bootloaders for two OSs, but much
simpler to manage, and if an OS pops its clogs you just need to reload that
partition, the other OS is unaffected.

Yeah - but what is the trade off?

How zippy is the pc? (Assuming it works at all?)

IMO: don't compromise a mission critical machine with "stuff"

 

[Guest]

I had not actually thought about partition selectors. Sounds interesting.
But before I start worrying and asking a hundred questions about that, let me
re-sate my case. I fear I may have confused matters a little.

My only bootloader is GRUB. And it works fine - I can boot to both systems.
I did the FIXMBR before Linux (and GRUB) was (were) re-installed just for
peace of mind because that's how this machine was originally confugred. And
it wouldn't do any harm - I believe GRUB overwrites (or somehow deals with)
the Windows boot code. (The GAG business was used prior to all this, in
panic: now I just want it cleared from there.)

Incidentally, when I do Norton antivirus scans, I'm told I have 3 MBRs and 4
boot records. I used to have 2 and 2 before adding my new third disk. So
now, surely, I should have 3 and 3.

All I really want to know, at this point, is exactly what FIXBOOT does, and
how the partition table and volume info get put on to track 0.

Cheers,

jessj

--
Jess
(XP Home SP/2 OEM. HDD1:Windows NTFS 280GB; Fat32 1GB; Linux 19GB.
HDD2: NTFS 80GB. HDD3: NTFS 40GB. P4 HT. 512MB)
[Please note: Display name changed from Jess. I want to be unique!]

 

[Guest]

Whoops, forgot to address my second respondent.

It's fairly fast i think, 3 GHz.

I must take issue with your terms "mission critical" and "stuff". Why
shouldn't a person have more than one interest? But this is the stuff of
another thread!

jessj

--
Jess
(XP Home SP/2 OEM. HDD1:Windows NTFS 280GB; Fat32 1GB; Linux 19GB.
HDD2: NTFS 80GB. HDD3: NTFS 40GB. P4 HT. 512MB)
[Please note: Display name changed from Jess. I want to be unique!]

 

[David Candy]

Partition tables are with MBRs. FixMBR does this. FixBoot does a Dos Boot Record aka Partition Boot Record.


MBR read partition tables, find the right Dos Boot Record, load and execute that. DBRs find the NTLDR file and load and execute that. NTLDR displays a menu and depending on what you choose either loads windows or loads a PBR stored in a file (the PBR doesn't know it came from a file) and that PBR does whatever OS it's supposed to. There are three common PBRs stored in files (windows gets them from the PBR of the OS concerned) - old Dos, Dos/Win9x, & Recovery Console. For NT systems all NTLDR can boot all older NT based systems. If XP is installed with NT4, NT4 starts it's boot with XP's files (and it will boot quicker).
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goodbye Web Diary
http://margokingston.typepad.com/harry_version_2/2005/12/thank_you_and_g.html#comments
=================================================

I had not actually thought about partition selectors. Sounds interesting.
But before I start worrying and asking a hundred questions about that, let me
re-sate my case. I fear I may have confused matters a little.

My only bootloader is GRUB. And it works fine - I can boot to both systems.
I did the FIXMBR before Linux (and GRUB) was (were) re-installed just for
peace of mind because that's how this machine was originally confugred. And
it wouldn't do any harm - I believe GRUB overwrites (or somehow deals with)
the Windows boot code. (The GAG business was used prior to all this, in
panic: now I just want it cleared from there.)

Incidentally, when I do Norton antivirus scans, I'm told I have 3 MBRs and 4
boot records. I used to have 2 and 2 before adding my new third disk. So
now, surely, I should have 3 and 3.

All I really want to know, at this point, is exactly what FIXBOOT does, and
how the partition table and volume info get put on to track 0.

Cheers,

jessj

--
Jess
(XP Home SP/2 OEM. HDD1:Windows NTFS 280GB; Fat32 1GB; Linux 19GB.
HDD2: NTFS 80GB. HDD3: NTFS 40GB. P4 HT. 512MB)
[Please note: Display name changed from Jess. I want to be unique!]

Yeah - but what is the trade off?

How zippy is the pc? (Assuming it works at all?)

IMO: don't compromise a mission critical machine with "stuff"

 

[Guest]

Hi David,

So sorry it's taken me so long to reply. Anyway, here I am. When I wrote
my previous reply to this thread, your post was not displayed, although when
I'd finished posting and submitted it, and my reply displayed, it appeared
after yours! I was not ignoring you.

Thanks for the booting information. I'm still unclear, however, about
exactly what to do.

Ok. So I could use something like MBRTool to clear the whole of track zero,
then, optionally use FixBoot (I don't have any versions of DOS on my machine,
although I do have some DOS emulators), then use FixMBR. At that point I
should be able to boot XP. Then I can go on to reinstall Grub (over it?)
after which I'll be able to get at both XP and Linux. Then all the things
that get perturbed by my present extra boot record will be pacified.

Does anyone else out there agree with my proposal?

Jess
--
Jess
(XP Home SP/2 OEM. HDD1:Windows NTFS 280GB; Fat32 1GB; Linux 19GB.
HDD2: NTFS 80GB. HDD3: NTFS 40GB. P4 HT. 512MB)
[Please note: Display name changed from Jess. I want to be unique!]

Partition tables are with MBRs. FixMBR does this. FixBoot does a Dos Boot Record aka Partition Boot Record.


MBR read partition tables, find the right Dos Boot Record, load and execute that. DBRs find the NTLDR file and load and execute that. NTLDR displays a menu and depending on what you choose either loads windows or loads a PBR stored in a file (the PBR doesn't know it came from a file) and that PBR does whatever OS it's supposed to. There are three common PBRs stored in files (windows gets them from the PBR of the OS concerned) - old Dos, Dos/Win9x, & Recovery Console. For NT systems all NTLDR can boot all older NT based systems. If XP is installed with NT4, NT4 starts it's boot with XP's files (and it will boot quicker).
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goodbye Web Diary
http://margokingston.typepad.com/harry_version_2/2005/12/thank_you_and_g.html#comments
=================================================

I had not actually thought about partition selectors. Sounds interesting.
But before I start worrying and asking a hundred questions about that, let me
re-sate my case. I fear I may have confused matters a little.

My only bootloader is GRUB. And it works fine - I can boot to both systems.
I did the FIXMBR before Linux (and GRUB) was (were) re-installed just for
peace of mind because that's how this machine was originally confugred. And
it wouldn't do any harm - I believe GRUB overwrites (or somehow deals with)
the Windows boot code. (The GAG business was used prior to all this, in
panic: now I just want it cleared from there.)

Incidentally, when I do Norton antivirus scans, I'm told I have 3 MBRs and 4
boot records. I used to have 2 and 2 before adding my new third disk. So
now, surely, I should have 3 and 3.

All I really want to know, at this point, is exactly what FIXBOOT does, and
how the partition table and volume info get put on to track 0.

Cheers,

jessj

--
Jess
(XP Home SP/2 OEM. HDD1:Windows NTFS 280GB; Fat32 1GB; Linux 19GB.
HDD2: NTFS 80GB. HDD3: NTFS 40GB. P4 HT. 512MB)
[Please note: Display name changed from Jess. I want to be unique!]

Ian wrote:
My preferred dual-boot method is to put a simple partition-selector in the
MBR such as the one with Ranish, put Lilo on the Linux partition, and the
Windows bootloader, well, where you would expect.

Sounds overcomplicated having three bootloaders for two OSs, but much
simpler to manage, and if an OS pops its clogs you just need to reload that
partition, the other OS is unaffected.


Yeah - but what is the trade off?

How zippy is the pc? (Assuming it works at all?)

IMO: don't compromise a mission critical machine with "stuff"