Invalid MBR

[George W. Barrowcliff]

I have a multipartitioned system with XP Pro, RedHat Linux and OS2
Ecomstation along with an exchange data partition.

Running out of space for the XP partition and don't use the RedHat or OS2
partitions anyhow.

Using Partition Magic, I removed the RedHat partitions and extended the XP
partition from 10GB to 27GB.

I got an error when booting: Invalid MBR
I hit enter and it continued to boot up without problems.

I rebooted and got the Invalid MBR again
I hit enter and it continued to boot up without problems.

I rebooted, got the Invalid MBR message and selected the Recovery Console.
I did a FixBoot and FixMBR and rebooted but still am getting the 'Invalid
MBR'
(I did get the message about the invalid partition signature)

Everything is working once booted up, but I would like to get rid of the
error if possible.

Any suggestions?

MAP Results:

H: 5012 \device\hardisk0\Partition1
C: HPFS 23055MB \device\hardisk0\Partition2
D: FAT16 2040MB \device\hardisk0\Partition3
E: 23109 MB \device\hardisk0\Partition4
G: FAT32 23109MB \device\hardisk0\Partition5
A: \device\Floppy0
F: \device\CDRom)

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a multipartitioned system with XP Pro, RedHat Linux and OS2
Ecomstation along with an exchange data partition.

Running out of space for the XP partition and don't use the RedHat or OS2
partitions anyhow.

Using Partition Magic, I removed the RedHat partitions and extended the XP
partition from 10GB to 27GB.

I got an error when booting: Invalid MBR
I hit enter and it continued to boot up without problems.

I rebooted and got the Invalid MBR again
I hit enter and it continued to boot up without problems.

I rebooted, got the Invalid MBR message and selected the Recovery Console.
I did a FixBoot and FixMBR and rebooted but still am getting the 'Invalid
MBR'
(I did get the message about the invalid partition signature)

Everything is working once booted up, but I would like to get rid of the
error if possible.

Any suggestions?

MAP Results:

H: 5012 \device\hardisk0\Partition1
C: HPFS 23055MB \device\hardisk0\Partition2
D: FAT16 2040MB \device\hardisk0\Partition3
E: 23109 MB \device\hardisk0\Partition4
G: FAT32 23109MB \device\hardisk0\Partition5
A: \device\Floppy0
F: \device\CDRom)

Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk (www.bootdisk.com),
then run this command:
fdisk /mbr
It works for WinXP installations too.

 

[George W. Barrowcliff]

Tried it, executed OK but no difference, still get the Invalid MBR message,
booted twice to make sure.
I used the Win98 OEM Boot Disk. There are 4 versions at the site, don't
know if it makes any special difference.

Any other ideas?

Thanks, GWB

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The various versions of the Win98 boot disk are all based
on the same Win98 boot files.

I suggest you check what happens when you boot
the machine with a boot diskette made like so:
- Format it under WinXP.
- Copy these hidden files to it:
c:\boot.ini
c:\ntldr
c:\ntdetect.com
Do not take the files from anywhere else, as this would
make the test meaningless.

Now boot the machine with this diskette.