SATA and MBR

[Bjorn]

A program changed mbr so I got a bootmenu that didnt work.
I couldnt boot to reset that program.
I tried fixmbr and several programs to fix mbr, they didnt work.
So, I tried DIR C: and it didnt exist.
Probaly the SATA driver was lost then the bootmenu replaced mbr.
I booted with the XP CD to install that driver and tried fixmbr again.
The menu was gone but I now have a standard mbr and my SATA drive will not
boot as the drive cannot be found.

How can I solve this problem without reinstall everything?

Thanks

Björn

 

[Lil' Dave]

A program changed mbr so I got a bootmenu that didnt work.
I couldnt boot to reset that program.
I tried fixmbr and several programs to fix mbr, they didnt work.
So, I tried DIR C: and it didnt exist.
Probaly the SATA driver was lost then the bootmenu replaced mbr.
I booted with the XP CD to install that driver and tried fixmbr again.
The menu was gone but I now have a standard mbr and my SATA drive will not
boot as the drive cannot be found.

How can I solve this problem without reinstall everything?

Thanks

Björn

Only time I've seen that is when the software you're talking about is msdos
oriented and couldn't cope with a SATA drive.

 

[Bjorn]

Thanks,
Its Paragons Harddisk Manager Suite 2008 and the actual part of it is
Bootmanager. in Partion Manager. No changes to partion table, it has only
created a bootmenu as it does after changes to partions.

But I tried a demo version that cant do any changes to disk and i didnt used
Bootmanager as I have only one standad partion on each of my drives.
I used defragmentation, two days later with no use of this suite I had
Paragons bootmenu on my disk.
I didnt even open this program for 2 days.

Paragon support have been very helpful but now we have had a lot of talk for
more than 10 days and we havnt found any solution.
We dont know what can activate this part of the suite, especially as it is a
non working demo version.

But, my problem is to get my mbr back as it was before the change to this
bootmenu.
I tried several programs at the same time but the bootmenu was from Paragon.

Note here that it seems to me that all programs I have tried to change mbr
back seems to do not work with SATA drives.
Also installing Windows on a SATA drive can be difficult sometimes.

 

[raylopez99]

Note here that it seems to me that all programs I have tried to change mbr
back seems to do not work with SATA drives.
Also installing Windows on a SATA drive can be difficult sometimes.

"Also installing Windows on a SATA drive can be difficult sometimes."
This is so true. I just build a system with SATA drives and even
though I am pretty proficient with PCs, it took me two whole days.
The hardware was top of the line and modern, and the Hitachi Sata
drive I used had the latest drivers built into Vista, but still, in
the end, the only way I could boot from the Sata drive was to first
install an IDE as the primary C: drive, then use Norton Ghost to
"diskcopy" the C: drive onto a Sata drive, then physically switch the
drives and fiddle with the BIOS and motherboard switches. Before I
figured this out I spent a day doing other fixes, to no avail.

Also your problem underscores the importance of backing up an image of
the harddrive, using Norton Ghost or equivalent, onto a seperate,
external HD.

RL

 

[Carl G]

I use SATA drives all the time and have never had an issue like you
discribe.
Xp and Vista install no problem.
But I use Segate or Western digital drives.
Don't know if that would make a difference or not.
And also use Intel and Asus boards.
Hope this may help.

 

[Bjorn]

Well, I have 3 SATA and around 30 ATA. One SATA have this problem after
Paragons Hard Disk Manager Suite 2008 changed the mbr to contained a boot
menu that didnt worked. To get rid of that and restore mbr I used fixmbr so I
now have a standard mbr. But It cant boot. I use the disk for storage so
nothing wrong with it. Its just the boot, it cannot be recognized as a boot
disk.

Most of my drives, and all 3 SATA, is from Seagate. But the driver is for
VIA chipset. What driver depends on the chipset on mainboard. Therefore these
drivers could not be included in Windows XP but Vista cover some but not all
SATA. The latest ver of XP is from 2004 and at that time SATA was not well
spread. VIA chip set often cause problems. Mob for intel always have better
support. I have MSI with VIA and AMD but the VIA driver works, no problems,
but how to install it without reinstalling Windows and all programs?

If it is not the driver missing, Paragons program have changed something
more than mbr. Support admitted mbr but nothing more.

About missing driver or not I was told that they had no support for hardware.
They are a software company. If so, they should not make program that change
the boot and partions. Also this program was a demo that cannot make changes
to HD but I got a boot menu from Paragon, how come? But they have really
tried to help for 10 days or more.

 

[Carl G]

Come to think of it , I did have a DFI Lanparty board that wouldn't load
windows XP , Had to use the F6 at boot up to install sata drivers from a
floppy ,while installing windows.
Hope this is of some use to someone.

 

[scully]

Come to think of it , I did have a DFI Lanparty board that wouldn't load
windows XP , Had to use the F6 at boot up to install sata drivers from a
floppy ,while installing windows.
Hope this is of some use to someone.

normal in early sata motherboard - xp had no support for sata -
util cd usually have routine to create floppy or one is provide in
nobo package - without a floppy you r screwed as xp wont read driver
off anything but A drive
scul

 

[raylopez99]

normal in early sata motherboard - xp had no support for sata -
util cd usually have routine to create floppy or one is provide in
nobo package - without a floppy you r screwed as xp wont read driver
off anything but A drive
scul

Yes, hence "slipstreaming" where you put the drives on a CD.

 

[raylopez99]

Yes, very good. F6 is the key. Bjorn is right too. "Slipstreaming"
is another "keyword" when doing a Google search.

Funny thing is that you don't see this in any official sources, since
it's done at the OEM level. Even the technicians building my system
(I was with them) had problems with my SATA system, and I should have
bought a copy of Vista from them rather than installing my pirate
version. They got Vista to work, but with a lot of fiddling and
multiple reboots, with a team of three working together--and these
guys are professionals who do this everyday. I declined to buy a
genuine Vista copy from them--big mistake--and instead they did an
FDISK at the end of building my system and left me with a blank SATA
HD, which was the start of all my problems. Like Bjorn says, XP SP2
does not support SATA very well (XP SP2 actually did load itself onto
the Sata HD, but only by using BART PE's CD was I able to see this,
and I never did actually get inside the OS until I did the physical
switching business using Norton Ghost--it's strange).

RL