SBMK Bad!

[kawet]

Hi everybody!
My computer used to work perfectly fine, and then a few days ago it
doesn't want to boot anymore and I get this message "SBMK Bad!". I have
no idea what this means and went looking on the web to see that it has
something to do with Smart Boot Manager...
Before, I had a menu to choose whether I wanted XP, Me or Linux to
launch when my computer started but I did not install this myself and I
would like to know if I can get rid of that "menu" if that could be the
problem related to SBMK Bad? I managed to launch my XP thanks to a boot
floppy disk but would like to get rid of that error message.
Can anybody help me with this? I am really lost!
Thanks a lot!!!
kawet

 

[Roby]

Hi everybody!
My computer used to work perfectly fine, and then a few days ago it
doesn't want to boot anymore and I get this message "SBMK Bad!". I have
no idea what this means and went looking on the web to see that it has
something to do with Smart Boot Manager...
Before, I had a menu to choose whether I wanted XP, Me or Linux to
launch when my computer started but I did not install this myself and I
would like to know if I can get rid of that "menu" if that could be the
problem related to SBMK Bad? I managed to launch my XP thanks to a boot
floppy disk but would like to get rid of that error message.
Can anybody help me with this? I am really lost!
Thanks a lot!!!
kawet

Ah, the infamous "SMBK Bad!" message. Yes, that's from Smart Boot Manager.
Apparently, it was installed on the master boot record of your hard drive,
and the menu is SMB asking which boot loader you wish to load.

Linux usually boots from either grub or lilo ... you most likely have one
of these already in your linux install. Either can put up a boot menu
that allows you to boot a selected o/s. For sure, the list includes
linux, ME, DOS ... and probably XP as well. So one option is to install
grub or lilo in the mbr and use it. The other option is to put XP's
boot thingy back in the mbr and have it provide the boot menu. I don't
do windows, but I'm sure there are others here who can help with this
option. Option 3: download SBM and re-install it on the hard drive to
restore things as they were before you broke the SMBK.

So how would you like to proceed?

Roby

 

[kawet]

Hi Roby,

Thanks very much for your help! I actually would like to get rid of
that menu as I would like to delete my Me and Linux to get some place
back on the harddrive as I never use those 2! So your option to "to put
XP's boot thingy back in the mbr and have it provide the boot menu"
would be GREAT! Can anybody help with that?
Thanks a lot!!!
kawet


Roby a écrit :

 

[MF]

Hi Roby,

Thanks very much for your help! I actually would like to get rid of
that menu as I would like to delete my Me and Linux to get some place
back on the harddrive as I never use those 2! So your option to "to put
XP's boot thingy back in the mbr and have it provide the boot menu"
would be GREAT! Can anybody help with that?
Thanks a lot!!!
kawet

You need to do the following running as the administrator.

Boot XP with your floppy. put in your XP CD. Close the auto run menu. go
to the command prompt and type X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons.

See if it installs. If it does, reboot normally and see if your boot thingy
is repaired.

If it is not repaired, boot from the XP CD. proceed as if going to install,
then choose the option to repair (R) when it appears. choose Repair Console
as the method of repair. when it comes up, at the prompt, type fixmbr

If that doesn't do it, boot the CD as before. this time type fixboot.

If that doesn't do it (it should) do a repair installation (inplace upgrade:
Start the install process and tell it you want to upgrade and pick the drive
XP is on) of XP. that should save your settings and fix the boot problem.

If nothing works, go to google and type fix mbr. Read. then type fix boot.
read.

Google is your friend.






Roby a écrit :

 

[kawet]

Hi again,
I tried the first solution, the console installed but then nothing
happened, after booting the PC, I did not find anything in the menu as
indicated.
Then I tried the fixmbr, and I had a message that all my partitions
might become unavailable so I cancelled the action. Is that really a
possibility that everything becomes unavailable??
I tried fixboot, it did something but I had the SBMK Bad again :-(
and finally, I tried the repair installation and it did not help
either... I am starting to desesperate!!!!!!
anybody has an idea? in the meantime, I will be using google friend...
thanks!!!
kawet

MF a écrit :

 

[kawet]

my boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

don't know if that helps...


kawet a écrit :

 

[MF]

your mbr contains a list of your partitions, a flag on the active partition,
and a bit of code that locates the partition boot sector and the OS boot
loader. so, yes, any time you touch it, everything on your drive may
disappear. you can probably get it back, though.

your boot.ini says that XP is on the first partition of the first drive on
the first controller (ide channel).
is that correct? running fixboot _should_ have ensured that it is.

if so,

check in your cmos setup program to see if some sort of bios virus detection
is enabled. if it is, turn it off, (and leave it off) save, and try to
boot. if it works, fine; if not:

back up everything you need including the os partition. run the recovery
console and fixmbr. just because msft says something might happen doesn't
mean it will and you'll have your back up if it does. i hate to say
this, but fix the mbr by fixing the mbr by running fixmbr from the recovery
console.

in addition to boot.ini, windows needs ntldr and ntdetect.com to boot. all
in the root of the c: drive.
it's possible that one or both are missing or corrupt (although you usually
get an error message if they are). You can replace them with the
corresponding files from the i386 directory on your xp CD, or from whatever
service pack you have installed, which is what you should do if you have
installed a service pack. to get them out of the service pack executable,
open it with WinRar (winzip should work) and extract the two files. then
just copy them to the root of the c: drive. you may have to first remove
the read only attribute from the originals.

if none of this works, it is possible that the first sector of the drive is
damaged - though that seems unlikely, because if it were, damage would
probably show up elsewhere on the drive as well. but you can try running the
drive manufacturers diagnostic utility against the drive. if nothing else
has worked and the drive looks okay, as roby said, you could try
re-installing SBM - or some other boot manager, since it looks like you are
better off without SBM. there are lots of other boot managers.

good luck

Mike



my boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

don't know if that helps...


kawet a écrit :