Boot Sector or Boot Drive Renamed

[Guest]

My operating system is Windows XP. I had no errors, but when I tried to turn
the 6 month old computer (still under warranty) on, it gets to the boot
screen, but does not boot. By going through F10 while booting, I can get to
a command prompt where I can see that the computer thinks that c: drive is
now H: drive. I have run several check disks from the command prompt, and no
problem was found. I have active Virus and Spyware protection which I keep
enabled, and I regularly run scans.

I went through the computer's technical service, and they were at the point
of reinstalling the operating system, but I know that I can copy some files
that I want to my jump drive, before I do that. And, I want to see, if there
are other options.

How can I tell, if the boot sector is damaged, or whether Windows XP has
simply renamed the boot drive?

I am able to get on line via another computer to see responses.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dave Patrick]

Try creating a boot disk. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows XP the
disk must contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows XP
machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy),
and copy Windows XP versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it.
Edit the boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the machine you wish to
boot. Below is an example of boot.ini. The default is to start the operating
system located on the first partition of the primary or first drive
(drive0). Then drive0 partition 2 and so on.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 0,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 0,2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 1,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 1,2"

Another possibility is to try loading the controller driver also from
floppy. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows XP the disk must contain
the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows XP machine, not a
DOS/Win9x, so the "NT" boot sector gets written to the floppy), then copy
ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the boot.ini to give it a
correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.

In order for this to work you'll want to change the arc path in boot.ini
from multi syntax to scsi syntax to indicate that Windows XP will load a
boot device driver and use that driver to access the boot partition. Then
also copy the correct manufacturer SCSI, or ultra DMA, or ATA100, or raid,
or serial ATA driver to the floppy but renamed to ntbootdd.sys

Something like this below;

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 0,1"
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 0,2"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 1,1"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 1,2"


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Guest]

The new computer does not have a floppy drive. Can I do the same with a
CD-RW disk or a jump drive? The computer recognizes these drives.

Try creating a boot disk. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows XP the
disk must contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows XP
machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy),
and copy Windows XP versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it.
Edit the boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the machine you wish to
boot. Below is an example of boot.ini. The default is to start the operating
system located on the first partition of the primary or first drive
(drive0). Then drive0 partition 2 and so on.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 0,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 0,2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 1,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 1,2"

Another possibility is to try loading the controller driver also from
floppy. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows XP the disk must contain
the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows XP machine, not a
DOS/Win9x, so the "NT" boot sector gets written to the floppy), then copy
ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the boot.ini to give it a
correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.

In order for this to work you'll want to change the arc path in boot.ini
from multi syntax to scsi syntax to indicate that Windows XP will load a
boot device driver and use that driver to access the boot partition. Then
also copy the correct manufacturer SCSI, or ultra DMA, or ATA100, or raid,
or serial ATA driver to the floppy but renamed to ntbootdd.sys

Something like this below;

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 0,1"
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 0,2"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 1,1"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 1,2"


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

My operating system is Windows XP. I had no errors, but when I tried to
turn
the 6 month old computer (still under warranty) on, it gets to the boot
screen, but does not boot. By going through F10 while booting, I can get
to
a command prompt where I can see that the computer thinks that c: drive is
now H: drive. I have run several check disks from the command prompt, and
no
problem was found. I have active Virus and Spyware protection which I
keep
enabled, and I regularly run scans.

I went through the computer's technical service, and they were at the
point
of reinstalling the operating system, but I know that I can copy some
files
that I want to my jump drive, before I do that. And, I want to see, if
there
are other options.

How can I tell, if the boot sector is damaged, or whether Windows XP has
simply renamed the boot drive?

I am able to get on line via another computer to see responses.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You can do it with a CD-RW, provided that it is burnt
as a boot CD. The usual process is to burn it from a
boot diskette but perhaps the site below has some
suitable boot CD images.

Alternatively you could buy a floppy disk drive and
have it floating inside the PC during your experiments.
They cost very little!

The new computer does not have a floppy drive. Can I do the same with a
CD-RW disk or a jump drive? The computer recognizes these drives.

Try creating a boot disk. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows XP the
disk must contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows XP
machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy),
and copy Windows XP versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it.
Edit the boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the machine you wish to
boot. Below is an example of boot.ini. The default is to start the operating
system located on the first partition of the primary or first drive
(drive0). Then drive0 partition 2 and so on.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 0,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 0,2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 1,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 1,2"

Another possibility is to try loading the controller driver also from
floppy. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows XP the disk must contain
the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows XP machine, not a
DOS/Win9x, so the "NT" boot sector gets written to the floppy), then copy
ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the boot.ini to give it a
correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.

In order for this to work you'll want to change the arc path in boot.ini
from multi syntax to scsi syntax to indicate that Windows XP will load a
boot device driver and use that driver to access the boot partition. Then
also copy the correct manufacturer SCSI, or ultra DMA, or ATA100, or raid,
or serial ATA driver to the floppy but renamed to ntbootdd.sys

Something like this below;

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 0,1"
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 0,2"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows XP 1,1"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Windows XP 1,2"


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

My operating system is Windows XP. I had no errors, but when I tried to
turn
the 6 month old computer (still under warranty) on, it gets to the boot
screen, but does not boot. By going through F10 while booting, I can get
to
a command prompt where I can see that the computer thinks that c: drive is
now H: drive. I have run several check disks from the command prompt, and
no
problem was found. I have active Virus and Spyware protection which I
keep
enabled, and I regularly run scans.

I went through the computer's technical service, and they were at the
point
of reinstalling the operating system, but I know that I can copy some
files
that I want to my jump drive, before I do that. And, I want to see, if
there
are other options.

How can I tell, if the boot sector is damaged, or whether Windows XP has
simply renamed the boot drive?

I am able to get on line via another computer to see responses.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dave Patrick]

As long as the disk drive is bootable.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect