XP missing MBR?

[Guest]

I have recently built my own PC and installed Windows XP Pro. I'm using it
now to write this. Everything is fine, except the computer refuses to boot
from the hard disk ... I have to have the installation CD in the CD drive to
boot. As you can imagine, this is an incredibly slow boot.

I've come to believe that I missed a step in the install and did not
indicate that the hard drive (C should have the MBR (master boot record)
installed. (Note that the BIOS is set to use the hard disk prior to the CD.)
But I would have thought that the install would have been bullet proof and
would have forced me to put a MBR somewhere, so that doesn't make any sense.

Anyway, I loaded the Recovery Console so I could straighten out the MBR
problem. When I entered RC during the boot process, i got this error message
after I typed in the Administrator Password:

The password is not valid. Please retype the password.
Type the Administrator password:

At first I didn't have a password and simply pressed enter. Being clueless,
I added an adminstrator password and got the same message the next time I
tried RC. I've found out that there is a hotfix for the RC, namely, Q308402.
Supposedly, Microsoft will waive the fee for contacting them in this case. On
the other hand, they indicate that this could be the OEM's problem for using
Sysprep. Well, considering I must be the OEM as I built the computer from
scratch, so that doesn't help -- especially considering that the XP install
was on a virgin hard disk.

So I guess I have 2 questions:

1. Does anyone have any suggestions about my basic boot problem (i.e., CD
only)?

2. Will Microsoft give me a freebie on hotfix Q308402 -- which I probably
need regardless of how I resolve my boot issue.

Thanks for any help.

Tom Kane

 

[Ron Badour]

Check the BIOS boot sequence and if the hard drive is not the first boot
device, change it and see if that is your problem.

Microsoft does not charge for hotfixes. When you call, discuss nothing else
but the hotfix: I am calling about the hotfix in KB article xxxxxx. The
symptoms in my PC are exactly as described in the KB article and I would
like the hotfix to try and solve my problem.

 

[Anna]

Check the BIOS boot sequence and if the hard drive is not the first boot
device, change it and see if that is your problem.

Microsoft does not charge for hotfixes. When you call, discuss nothing
else but the hotfix: I am calling about the hotfix in KB article xxxxxx.
The symptoms in my PC are exactly as described in the KB article and I
would like the hotfix to try and solve my problem.
--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007

Tom:
I'm really not sure that at this point you should be spending time trying to
access the Recovery Console, etc. to resolve your problem. Seems to me there
may be more fundamental issues involved here than MBR manipulation and
password problems.

With that in mind, the obvious question is - have you undertaken at least
one other fresh install of the XP OS? The same problem?

Has this problem existed from the very first, right after you finished
building the computer and installing XP? Or was it functioning without
problems for some time before the problem you describe arose? If the latter,
any clue there?

And when you do fresh install the OS, can we assume it proceeds without
incident - no error messages or untoward incidents along the way? An
apparently normal install of the OS?

And you've checked & rechecked your motherboard's User Guide/Manual to
determine the BIOS settings are appropriate for your system?

You're working with a single HDD? Do you have another HDD which you can use
to fresh install XP to see what happens re this problem?

What *precisely* happens when you try to undertake a "normal" boot without
the XP installation CD present? A black screen? What kind of error message,
if any?

And what happens when you do insert the XP installation CD upon bootup? I
assume you get the usual "Press any key..." message but you simply bypass it
and then the system boots to a normal Desktop. Is that it?

And when you say "this is an incredibly slow boot" are you indicating that
the XP installation CD that you've inserted is going through its normal
functions of loading files, etc., and at some point you arrive at your
Desktop as if the system went through a "normal" boot? You don't get the
usual opening screen of the XP installation CD that ordinarily one would
get? Or if you do, how do you get to your Desktop from there?

Well, since you say you're able to access the Recovery Console it seems
obvious that you *do* get the regular opening screen of the XP installation
CD. So how *do* you get to your Desktop from there?

Just to see what happens...have you changed the BIOS boot priority order so
that HDD will be the boot device following the CD-ROM - (which would
ordinarily be the usual setting for most users)?
Anna