Can't find NTLDR after Linux install

[Help!]

Hi!

My problem isn't as simple as the subject suggests.

I just installed Fedora Core2 Test 3 onto my PC. I specifically told the
installer to put GRUB onto the second hard drive /hdb1, which is where the
/boot partition is. I specifically avoided to anything to change the Windows
XP drive, which is /hda1.

I've tried booting from my XP CD to get into the recovery console and run
FIXMBR, but the CD freezes the PC just after is starts scanning my
hardware... Basically, I hit a key to boot from the CD, the program says
it's scanning my hardware for about half a second and then the screen goes
blank.

This is how my system is configured
- ASUS P4C800E mainboard (gigabit LAN, audio, USB2, Firewire all onboard)
- P4 2.6Ghz CPU
- 512meg of DDR 533 memory
- ATI Radeon 9600XT AGP card
- DVDRW in a firewire/usb2 enclosure
- 52x CDRW in a usb2 enclosure
- 40gig IBM deathstar as master on the primary channel
- 37gigs is XP on an NTFS partition
- Remaining 3gigs is Linux swapfile
- 40gig Seagate as master on the secondary channel
-First 100meg is /boot for Linux
-The rest, except for 3 gigs in the / install for Linux
- The final 3 gigs is FAT32 for XP swapfile and moving files between XP
and Linux

I've tried booting my XP from both external drives as well as an internal
52x CDRom drive.
I've disconnected the Linux drive completely without any change.

Can anyone tell me...
- Why won't my XP CD boot to the recover console (or any of the blue install
screens)?
- Why did Fedora write to my XP drive. I specifically told it not to?
- How can I get my MBR, etc repaired in XP?

Any assitance is appreciated!!!

 

[Help!]

Laptop battery died before I could add this...

- Disconnected my XP drive and the WinXP CD boots normally.
- Booted up my Partition Magic 8 diskettes and it reported an error #110 on
the drive... something about the LBA sizes mismatching.The whole drive looks
trashed at this point....

BLAH!

....now to find some drive recovery software.

 

[Help!]

Well...

I disconnected my bad drive and still had problems booting into the recovery
console.

I booting to the Linux install CD and used FDISK to wipe out the partitions
on the second drive (no data on the drive, just the new Linux install) and
then reloaded Win XP on this second drive (the only connected drive in the
PC)

....I just connected the old drive back up and I can see the data on the
drive fine so it doesn't appear to be damaged at all.

ScanDisk doesn't report any errors...

ARGH! Does anyone know how I can recover the MBR/Boot records/files on my PC
since it won't let me get to the recovery console if that hard drive is
connected?

Thanks!

 

[Help!]

Recap...

WinXP on a 40gig drive booted fine. I added a second HDD and installed
Fedora Core2 Test3 onto the second drive, making sure that GRUB (boot
manager) was installed on the second drive. Now I get "NTLDR is missing"
errors when trying to boot. Trying to boot from the Win XP CD to do a repair
it freezes when detecting hardware (probably due to an error on the HDD).
Partition Magic 8 reports an error on the partition. (#110)

I've done the following with no change...
- Removed 2nd HDD. No change.

- Disconnected 1st HDD and reconnected 2nd HDD and installed XP here. Works
fine. Reconnect the 1st drive and I can still boot to the second drive and
ALL the data on the 1st HDD is fine. Scandisk reports no errors. I can see
the NTLDR file on the C: drive and size is OK. BOOT.INI file looks normal
(but it's not getting that far.)

- Disconnected 2nd HDD for rest of troubleshooting...

- Disconnected HDD from power, booted WinXP CD and reconnected drive after
scanning for hardware. Got into the recovery console, logged onto the C:
drive.
- FIXMBR, FIXBOOT and BOOTCFG /REBUILD had no effect on the problem.
- CHKDSK reported no errors
- Did a repair install of XP and still seeing "NTLDR is missing" on
reboot.

My last idea is to grab a copy of the partition using GHOST, then deleting
all partitions on the drive and trying a restore. If it's the partition
table thats bad and not the partition itself, this should work. I'll report
back on what happens.

....at this point I'm considering just backing up what I can from the drive
and doing a format/install but I'd rather avoid losing my configuration.

Is there ANYTHING else I can do to get this drive working short of a fresh
installation?

 

[granny]

here's what I did after installing Linux and then un-installing it:

Boot from a bootable Cd or Win98 floppy
at the a prompt enter the following:
sys c: (enter)
now do a repair install of XP

note: my hard drives are all FAT32 for this reason.

jeanette

 

[Noozer]

WinXP on a 40gig drive booted fine. I added a second HDD and installed

Fedora Core2 Test3 onto the second drive, making sure that GRUB (boot
manager) was installed on the second drive. Now I get "NTLDR is missing"
errors when trying to boot. Trying to boot from the Win XP CD to do a repair
it freezes when detecting hardware (probably due to an error on the HDD).
Partition Magic 8 reports an error on the partition. (#110)

I've done the following with no change...
- Removed 2nd HDD. No change.

- Disconnected 1st HDD and reconnected 2nd HDD and installed XP here. Works
fine. Reconnect the 1st drive and I can still boot to the second drive and
ALL the data on the 1st HDD is fine. Scandisk reports no errors. I can see
the NTLDR file on the C: drive and size is OK. BOOT.INI file looks normal
(but it's not getting that far.)

- Disconnected 2nd HDD for rest of troubleshooting...

- Disconnected HDD from power, booted WinXP CD and reconnected drive after
scanning for hardware. Got into the recovery console, logged onto the C:
drive.
- FIXMBR, FIXBOOT and BOOTCFG /REBUILD had no effect on the problem.
- CHKDSK reported no errors
- Did a repair install of XP and still seeing "NTLDR is missing" on
reboot.

My last idea is to grab a copy of the partition using GHOST, then deleting
all partitions on the drive and trying a restore. If it's the partition
table thats bad and not the partition itself, this should work. I'll report
back on what happens.

*sigh* This fixed it. Partition was fine, partition table was damaged, I
guess.

Used the WinXP install CD to delete all partitions and then create a new
partition. I rebooted the PC before it started copying files and then
restored the Ghost image of the partition and after a few reboots, the PC is
fine again.