MBR Record 3

[Guest]

I am experiencing difficulty on startup (have to respond to flashing cursor
hangup by pressing restart which then works) and shut down (restarts after a
few minutes). On startup I get a a brief MBR Record 3 message.

I am using Vista Home Premium and would welcome any advice on how to repair
the MBR. Help!

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

First, try disconnecting all peripherals (like scanners, printers, etc.),
then try booting up. If it works ok, then one of them is causing a problem.

If not, then at a guess I'd say you have a hardware fault. Either timing is
set incorrectly, a cable is loose, or something is beginning to fail. As you
get a message about the mbr, if resetting timing defaults and cabling does
not help, then I would nect run a drive diagnostic from the hard drive
manufacturer, as it may be a candidate for replacement. If the system is
still under warranty, contact the manufacturer immediately to protect your
rights.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

I am replying to my own message because I have since found the answer and it
may be of help to others. This comes from a search of the Acronis/support
website Knowledge database for " MBR Error 3." It recommends rebooting with
the Vista Installation disk:

"Windows Vista Installation CD/DVD
Boot from Windows Vista installation disk, select language and keyboard or
input method, click Next and choose to Repair your computer. Then you will
need to select the operating system that you want to repair. In the Systems
Recovery Options dialog box click Command Prompt and type the following:

Bootrec.exe /FixMbr
Bootrec.exe /FixBoot

If you want to completely rebuild Windows Vista Boot Configuration Data,
then you should issue the following command:

Bootrec.exe /Rebuildbcd

This command scans all disks for installations that are compatible with
Windows Vista. Additionally, this option also allows select (sic) the
installations that you want to add to the Boot Configuration Data store."

I selected only the first of these options (/fixmbr), typing the whole line
in lower case as the command prompt does not know the difference. The
reaction was immediate with a message that it was successful, and all seems
to be well now. I hope this will help someone.

Best of luck.

 

[Guest]

Rick, please look at my reply to my own message below. It may be of interest
to you.