Fixmbr doesn't fix mbr

[Luca]

Hi,

I have problem. When I boot my PC, I have only a black screen with a cursor.

I tried the Windows XP CD and enter the Recovery Console.

I used FIXMBR but it claims that the hard disk has a non-standard or invalid
MBR.

I executed FIXMBR three times in a row, same error message...

I have cloned the HD (Samsung) to another HD (Western Digital) with same
capacity, run FIXMBR on other hard disk, same error message...

I tried FIXBOOT too, with no luck.

And now?

 

[db]

try

chkdsk /r

then

fixmbr

if still the master
boot record doesn't
fix,

you will need to take
that harddrive and
install it as a slave
on a functional pc.

then extract your
personal files so
that you can reformat
that corrupted drive.

did you happen to
use a partition manager
on it before the crash?
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[VanguardLH]

I have problem. When I boot my PC, I have only a black screen with a
cursor.

Are we to guess that your host was working before? That this is a new
problem or one that existed ever since you got the host? We are to
guess that you made absolutely no changes to your host between when it
worked and when it failed to subsequently [re]boot?

Where you multibooting before using Microsoft's dual-boot scheme or a
multiboot manager that usurps the bootstrap code area of the MBR (GAG,
grub, IBM boot manager, System Commander, etc)?

I tried the Windows XP CD and enter the Recovery Console. I used
FIXMBR but it claims that the hard disk has a non-standard or invalid
MBR. I executed FIXMBR three times in a row, same error message...

I have cloned the HD (Samsung) to another HD (Western Digital) with
same capacity, run FIXMBR on other hard disk, same error message...

Did you clone just the partition(s)? Or did you clone the entire disk,
including its MBR (master boot record) area (which is never inside a
partition)? Did you run FIXMBR on the 2nd disk before cloning over a
partition to it? I would think a clone program would have to update the
partition tables in the MBR before creating the partition into which it
clones the contents of another partition but I don't know how you did
your cloning.

I tried FIXBOOT too, with no luck.

If FIXMBR is reporting that the MBR is non-standard then something
changed the layout of its content which includes: partition tables (4 of
them), disk signature, and bootstrap code area. Malware can do this.
It rearranges the contents of the MBR so only it knows where are the
partition tables, signature, and bootstrap code. If the malware is
removed, nothing can use those non-standard positioned partition tables
in the MBR.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc977219.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

However, despite the warning, and as I recall, you could still have
FIXMBR lay down its standard layout for the partition tables, signature,
and bootstrap sections in the MBR (which means you won't be able to use
the malware's translation to find where are the existing partitions).
Whether the MBR's layout was corrupted or altered by malware or some
utility, it isn't in a standard layout that FIXMBR understands or that
most 3rd party utilities would understand.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266745
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

When prompted, did you tell FIXMBR to go ahead and overwrite its
standard structure (i.e., did you force a rewrite of the MBR)? Did you
load the Recovery Console mode from the hard disk or by using the
installation CD? If you used the install CD, is it as the same service
pack level as your installed instance of Windows?

 

[Luca]

Are we to guess that your host was working before?
Yes.

That this is a new
problem or one that existed ever since you got the host?

New problem on three PC for now.

We are to
guess that you made absolutely no changes to your host between when it
worked and when it failed to subsequently [re]boot?

No changes. Only a windows update (kb959426).

Where you multibooting before using Microsoft's dual-boot scheme or a
multiboot manager that usurps the bootstrap code area of the MBR (GAG,
grub, IBM boot manager, System Commander, etc)?

No multi-boot. Only one operating system, Windows XP, with its standard boot.

Did you clone just the partition(s)? Or did you clone the entire disk,
including its MBR (master boot record) area (which is never inside a
partition)? Did you run FIXMBR on the 2nd disk before cloning over a
partition to it? I would think a clone program would have to update the
partition tables in the MBR before creating the partition into which it
clones the contents of another partition but I don't know how you did
your cloning.

I cloned ENTIRE hard disk (from 80 GB to 80 GB) including its MBR. The
strange thing is that FIXMBR doesn't work neither on the second hard disk. So
surely it's not a hardware problem... And my clone software (that does a 1:1
copy) doesn't adjust MBR, it just does an exact copy. (to note: the clone
software is the linux comand "dd")

When prompted, did you tell FIXMBR to go ahead and overwrite its
standard structure (i.e., did you force a rewrite of the MBR)?
Yes.

Did you
load the Recovery Console mode from the hard disk or by using the
installation CD?

Only from installation CD, because the hard disk is unbootable.

If you used the install CD, is it as the same service
pack level as your installed instance of Windows?

On the machine there's windows xp service pack 3, I have only Windows XP SP2
CDs. How can I do?

 

[DL]

And what does the samsung bootable hd checking utility say about this drive?

Are we to guess that your host was working before?
Yes.

That this is a new
problem or one that existed ever since you got the host?

New problem on three PC for now.

We are to
guess that you made absolutely no changes to your host between when it
worked and when it failed to subsequently [re]boot?

No changes. Only a windows update (kb959426).

Where you multibooting before using Microsoft's dual-boot scheme or a
multiboot manager that usurps the bootstrap code area of the MBR (GAG,
grub, IBM boot manager, System Commander, etc)?

No multi-boot. Only one operating system, Windows XP, with its standard
boot.

Did you clone just the partition(s)? Or did you clone the entire disk,
including its MBR (master boot record) area (which is never inside a
partition)? Did you run FIXMBR on the 2nd disk before cloning over a
partition to it? I would think a clone program would have to update the
partition tables in the MBR before creating the partition into which it
clones the contents of another partition but I don't know how you did
your cloning.

I cloned ENTIRE hard disk (from 80 GB to 80 GB) including its MBR. The
strange thing is that FIXMBR doesn't work neither on the second hard disk.
So
surely it's not a hardware problem... And my clone software (that does a
1:1
copy) doesn't adjust MBR, it just does an exact copy. (to note: the clone
software is the linux comand "dd")

When prompted, did you tell FIXMBR to go ahead and overwrite its
standard structure (i.e., did you force a rewrite of the MBR)?
Yes.

Did you
load the Recovery Console mode from the hard disk or by using the
installation CD?

Only from installation CD, because the hard disk is unbootable.

If you used the install CD, is it as the same service
pack level as your installed instance of Windows?

On the machine there's windows xp service pack 3, I have only Windows XP
SP2
CDs. How can I do?

 

[Luca]

And what does the samsung bootable hd checking utility say about this drive?

It's OK.

But Mission Complete:

Norton Partition Manager claims that cylinders value was uncorrect. After
fixing it's bootable, again.

 

[db]

partition managers
can screw up the
disk,

if not used properly
or they are not up to
date.

if you noticed that you
couldn't boot up after
using the partition
manager,

you should have stated
as such.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[Luca]

Note: on these computers I've never used partition managers before.

 

[Bob Harris]

Many disk manufacturer provide tools to do lower level testing and repairs
to their disks.

For example, Hatachi offer a "Drive Fitness Test" tool that can, among other
things, erase the master boot record. (See page 21 of the PDF maual for
thier software.)

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Other disk makers probably offer similar tools for their hardware.

Once completely erased, use any disk preparation software (e.g, FDISK, XP
recovery console, etc) to partition, format, and make a boot record.

 

[VanguardLH]

It's OK.

But Mission Complete:

Norton Partition Manager claims that cylinders value was uncorrect. After
fixing it's bootable, again.

That would be a partitioning table error (i.e., one of the partition
entries had invalid values).

You fixed it already. My next suggestion would've been to not use
FIXMBR and get a DOS-bootable floppy on which fdisk.exe was copied and
run "fdisk /mbr". After that would've been some other MBR utilities
(that would discard anything in the MBR and create a new one, which
would mean no partitions since all the sector/cylinder counts for offset
and length for any existing partitions would have been zeroed).