MBR problem or loader problem?

[Timothy Daniels]

The WinXP boot manager on my archive HD says it can't find an
operating system to load, but the primary partition that contains it
is visible and it looks intact, and the boot.ini file in the active partition
"points" to the partition that contains the OS. Is this an MBR problem
or a ntloader problem. How can one fix it? Basically, I have this
archived WinXP system that I can't boot load.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Eric Gisin]

There are two messages in the MBR: Error & Missing operating system. Both
indicate problems with the partition boot sector, or perhaps CHS incorrect.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

What utitlity can one use to restore the MBR, and where can one find it?
(I have the WinXP Pro CD that I used to install the original OS.)

*TimDaniels*

 

[Zvi Netiv]

What utitlity can one use to restore the MBR, and where can one find it?
(I have the WinXP Pro CD that I used to install the original OS.)

Top posters usually deserve capital punishment. Thus losing access to
partitions is a light sentence, compared. There is no need to "restore the
MBR" if you can see all partitions. Unless you insist on risking to lose
access.

Would you mind repeating the exact phrasing of the error message? I can't
remember a message "can't find an operating system to load", unless you use some
obscure boot manager. Would you mind telling us what boot manager do you use?
Also, why do you use a boot manager? Do you have dual boot, or multiple OS boot
capability? To what operating systems? Under which one you can "see" the
primary partition? How many partitions are there? Do you see them all (except
the primary one, which you already informed us that you see)? Under what boot
conditions / OS?

The XP repair console has a couple of tools, FIXMBR and FIXBOOT, but I wouldn't
recommend trying them before having fully assessed your problem, as these tools
could easily transform a simple problem into full blown disaster, given the
appropriate conditions.

Zvi

 

[Eric Gisin]

The MBR is fine, the active partition has a bad boot sector.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

[.....] Would you mind telling us what boot manager do you use?

Windows XP's.

Also, why do you use a boot manager?

I boot between various WinXPs with different configurations.

Do you have dual boot, or multiple OS boot capability?
Multiple.

To what operating systems?

All WinXP.

Under which one you can "see" the primary partition?

The one in the HD that doesn't have the booting problem.

How many partitions are there?

1 on the "good" HD, 3 on the "bad" HD.

Do you see them all (except the primary one, which you already
informed us that you see)?

I see them all using the OS booted from the "good" HD.
They are all primary partitions.

Under what boot conditions / OS?

When I use the "good" HD (which runs WinXP).

The XP repair console has a couple of tools, FIXMBR and
FIXBOOT, but I wouldn't recommend trying them before
having fully assessed your problem, as these tools could easily
transform a simple problem into full blown disaster, given the
appropriate conditions.

Thanks for your questions to clarify the situation. I fixed the
problem. The "active" partition had been the one that I had
deleted from the 2nd HD, and I hadn't designated another partition
on the 2nd HD to be the "active" one. Once I set one of the
other partitions to be "active" and also adjusted the parameters
in the boot.ini file on that partition, I could load the OS from any
partition on the 2nd HD.

In all this, though, I had never been able to locate the repair
or recovery console on the WinXP installation CD. How does
one access it:?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Zvi Netiv]

[.....] Would you mind telling us what boot manager do you use?

Windows XP's.

Also, why do you use a boot manager?

I boot between various WinXPs with different configurations.

Since they all run under XP then it's much simpler to create several "users",
each one with its own profile. It's also more economical disk-space wise (no
need for separate XP installations).

[...]

Thanks for your questions to clarify the situation. I fixed the
problem. The "active" partition had been the one that I had
deleted from the 2nd HD, and I hadn't designated another partition
on the 2nd HD to be the "active" one. Once I set one of the
other partitions to be "active" and also adjusted the parameters
in the boot.ini file on that partition, I could load the OS from any
partition on the 2nd HD.

In all this, though, I had never been able to locate the repair
or recovery console on the WinXP installation CD. How does
one access it:?

Pay attention to the messages displayed when booting XP from the setup CD-ROM.
At some stage you'll see something of the sort "press "R" to repair .... etc.".
Pressing the R key will bring you to the repair console (command line). This is
from where you can run FIXMBR and FIXBOOT.

Regards