PBR2

[Skiprad]

I turned on my computer a Dell Inspiron Laptop and this is what happened.
the dell screen poped up which has the options f2 & f12
then it went to www.dell.com on the top in blue, then the screen went to
black and the only thing on it was "PBR2...

The laptop freezes at that point and Windows XP SP2 will start. Can anyone
please tell me how to fix it.

thank you,

 

[Skiprad]

I turned on my computer a Dell Inspiron Laptop and this is what happened.
the dell screen poped up which has the options f2 & f12
then it went to www.dell.com on the top in blue, then the screen went to
black and the only thing on it was Loading "PBR2...

The laptop freezes at that point and Windows XP SP2 will NOT start. Can anyone
please tell me how to fix it.

thank you,

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I turned on my computer a Dell Inspiron Laptop and this is what happened.
the dell screen poped up which has the options f2 & f12
then it went to www.dell.com on the top in blue, then the screen went to
black and the only thing on it was "PBR2...

The laptop freezes at that point and Windows XP SP2 will start. Can anyone
please tell me how to fix it.

thank you,

This freeze appears to be prior to the OS loading, and so likely has nothing
to do with Windows and points towards hardware failure.

Suggest you contact Dell support, with a view to your warranty situation.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I turned on my computer a Dell Inspiron Laptop and this is what happened.
the dell screen poped up which has the options f2 & f12
then it went to www.dell.com on the top in blue, then the screen went to
black and the only thing on it was "PBR2...

The laptop freezes at that point and Windows XP SP2 will start. Can anyone
please tell me how to fix it.

thank you,

On the topic of warranty, if Dell wants you to send back the system,
consider that if you have data on the drive, you'll likely never see it
again. Before you send the system anywhere, you'll want to remove the hard
disk, attach it to another system, and copy your files off.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I turned on my computer a Dell Inspiron Laptop and this is what happened.
the dell screen poped up which has the options f2 & f12
then it went to www.dell.com on the top in blue, then the screen went to
black and the only thing on it was "PBR2...

The laptop freezes at that point and Windows XP SP2 will start. Can anyone
please tell me how to fix it.

thank you,

PBR2 = Primary Boot Record 2. What this means is that to use the PC again,
you may have to try fixing the MBR or use the Dell disks to wipe the drive
and re-create the partitions and reinstall the OS.

Of course, that implies that all data will be lost too, so if you don't have
very current backups, you might instead choose to get a new hard disk (where
I am, 250 gig laptop drives are around $70), set the old one aside while you
install to the new one, and later connect the old drive and attempt to
recover data from it. However, the possibility exists that if the
partitions are damaged badly enough, you won't recover anything.

HTH
-pk

 

[Malke]

Hardware failure. Contact Dell tech support. If the laptop is out of
warranty, you can hope it is only the hard drive as you can replace that
yourself (or have a tech do it). Test it with Dell's diagnostic utilities
or the hard drive mftr.'s utility.

Malke

 

[Paul]

A quick search, turns up a reference here.

http://www.fixya.com/support/t308478-booting_problem

"When PBR.....2 hangs, the comp can't find the MBR(master boot record)
the PBR=Partition Boot Record. Its something that is loaded before
windows but after BIOS."

Now, if that is true, it may be possible to repair it.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/hpa-issues.htm ("PBR2" mentioned here.)
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/manualrestore/ (fun with partitions...)

So there is information available, that explains what lurks
underneath a Dell. It would appear a Dell is a bit of
a specialty item.

Your first priority is ensuring your user data is backed up,
and either using a USB enclosure/adapter to hold the laptop drive
temporarily, or connecting the drive via an appropriate
adapter to an internal desktop drive interface, should allow
you to copy user data and email database etc.

Example of an adapter, for connecting a hard drive, via
USB2 interface, to another computer. This one apparently
covers SATA and older IDE style drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156017

Example of an adapter, for connecting a 44 pin 2.5" laptop IDE
drive, to the 40 pin ribbon cable interface on the inside of a
desktop computer. The pin pitch on the 44 pin and 40 pin sections
is different, which is where the adapter helps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812203012

Paul