Master Boot Record Error

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

This afternoon when I went to turn on my HP Pavilion Desktop computer, I
received a message stating Master Boot Record Error. I am not able to get
into F8 or do a system recovery using F10.

The system recovery disks I have are not working to restore my system.
While HP will send me recovery disks, I need to get into my system ASAP as it
is my work computer as well as personal. A system recovery will more than
likely delete my existing files which I want to prevent. My computer did not
come with a Windows XP Home Edition disk. I went out and purchased one to
see if I can get into the Repair mode, but I can't do that either. I just
get Stop Messages.

Does anyone has some other suggestions? I would really appreciate any help
I can get.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi everyone,

This afternoon when I went to turn on my HP Pavilion Desktop computer, I
received a message stating Master Boot Record Error. I am not able to get
into F8 or do a system recovery using F10.

The system recovery disks I have are not working to restore my system.
While HP will send me recovery disks, I need to get into my system ASAP as it
is my work computer as well as personal. A system recovery will more than
likely delete my existing files which I want to prevent. My computer did not
come with a Windows XP Home Edition disk. I went out and purchased one to
see if I can get into the Repair mode, but I can't do that either. I just
get Stop Messages.

Does anyone has some other suggestions? I would really appreciate any help
I can get.

It is a little unclear what your current aim is.
- Do you want to restore the system with the HP recovery disk?
As you suspect, this might wipe your system completely.
- Do you want to try and restore it by other means? Again
there is a risk that you might lose the lot.
- Do you want to retrieve your important files? Are they
backed up on an independent medium? Do you have another
machine?

 

[Jon]

It's certainly worth mentioning that "TheGentleLynx"
<[email protected]> had previously written the
following in message

Hi everyone,

This afternoon when I went to turn on my HP Pavilion Desktop computer, I
received a message stating Master Boot Record Error. I am not able to get
into F8 or do a system recovery using F10.

The system recovery disks I have are not working to restore my system.
While HP will send me recovery disks, I need to get into my system ASAP as
it
is my work computer as well as personal. A system recovery will more than
likely delete my existing files which I want to prevent. My computer did
not
come with a Windows XP Home Edition disk. I went out and purchased one to
see if I can get into the Repair mode, but I can't do that either. I just
get Stop Messages.

Does anyone has some other suggestions? I would really appreciate any
help
I can get.

You'd be looking to get into the Recovery Console to run a 'fixmbr' command
via your Windows cd.

NB You press R for the recovery console on the Windows CD (rather than Enter
for 'setup' or 'repair'), which may have possibly have caused some confusion

 

[Guest]

Sorry for not being clear. I just want to get my computer up and running
again. The HP Recovery disks will not be here until Tuesday, so I was hoping
there may be another way so I could use it sooner. The files are not backed
up (totally my bad!). I realize that I will probably loose them. I will
just have to wait until Tuesday and hope that it will at least get my system
up. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Jon,

Thank you for the information. I cannot get into the Recovery Console of
the Windows CD. It just automatically goes into Setup. I'll just wait for
the Recovery Disks from HP and hope that it will at least get my system back
up. Thank you

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Here is a simple method to restore your Master Boot Record.
In most cases this is a risk free operation:
- Create a Win98 boot diskette from www.bootdisk.com.
- Boot the machine with this diskette.
- Type this command: fdisk /mbr