Setting partition/drive to active?

[socrates]

In recovery console,

how do I see which partition/drive is active?
how do I set a partition/drive as active?

If need be how do I change drive letters? I've read on some posts to
use DISKPART but am not sure what are the proper commands and would
prefer not to screw up my drive/parttion.

The above may help me solve the issue... which comes from:


I am trying to figure out why my systems no longer wants to boot!!!
I have a A7N8X-E deluxe with AMD 3200 with 3 HDs.

1) One SATA with Windows XP installed
2) One IDE master w/o any OS (just data)
3) One IDE slave w/o any OS (just data)

drive 1 was assigned letter C
drive 2 was assigned letter S
drive 3 was assigned letter P

when I booted my system on Saturday instead of loading Windows (and
logo) I see the NVIDIA boot something message ... I got a message that
essentially said cannot find os.

When I go into recovery console (loading the SATA drivers) it finds
the only instance of Windows but it now says that it is on drive D.
And now drive 2 is assigned C.

If I run MAP I get:

E: FAT32 983MB \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1
C: FAT32 xxxMB \Device\Harddisk4\Partition1
P: NTFS xxxMB \Device\Harddisk5\Partition1
D: NTFS xxxMB \Device\Harddisk6\Partition1
A: \Device\Floppy0
I: \Device\CdRom0

the CDROM is supposed to be D.
Drive E I don't know what it is.
Drive C is just data and is supposed to be S.
Drive P is just fine.
Drive is supposed to be C and is the one with Windows XP installed on
it.

My Boot.ini looks is:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Should Harddisk# match the disk(0) of "..multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)..."?
Is my boot.ini file ok as is?
Please help!!!

 

[Ben]

It is in Computer Management Tools----> Computer Manaement-----> Disk
Management

 

[Tim]

Socrates,

Have you plugged in a USB pen drive or anything like that recently?
Have you added one of those new fangled mutli media devices (for digital
camera cards etc.)?
Do you have a smart media card (or any of these equivalents) of 1GB in size?

That may be your "new" C drive and causing all the fuss. If this is the case
then try disconnecting it completely (IE power cable and Interface cable)
and rebooting.

You *may* need to update your bios so please post back with the details of
the current bios version and motherboard revision level. The bios version is
shown on-screen very early during boot. The motherboard revision level is
usually on a label on the side of one of the PCI slots or perhaps printed on
the motherboard. Do not update your bios if you are not well versed on how
to do it. Many here can help in this process...

- Tim

 

[sheer]

In the bios ensure your harddrives can all be seen and ensure your SATA
drive is in the boot sequence IE most likely CD/DVD first then SATA second.
Make sure your IDEs are not in the boot sequence.

 

[socrates]

Tim you nailed it!!!

Man do I feel dumb!!! It was a 1GB CF card left in the card reader
that got windows all confused!! I simply removed the card and the
systems works just fine.

Note to self... always ensure that the card reader is empty before
rebooting.

I cannot believe that MS allows Windows XP to be fooled so easily...
with the spread of digital cameras the likelihood of this happening to
people are getting higher and higher by the day!!

Thanks to all for trying to help and especially to Tim for solving it.
-Socrates

Socrates,

Have you plugged in a USB pen drive or anything like that recently?
Have you added one of those new fangled mutli media devices (for digital
camera cards etc.)?
Do you have a smart media card (or any of these equivalents) of 1GB in size?

That may be your "new" C drive and causing all the fuss. If this is the case
then try disconnecting it completely (IE power cable and Interface cable)
and rebooting.

You *may* need to update your bios so please post back with the details of
the current bios version and motherboard revision level. The bios version is
shown on-screen very early during boot. The motherboard revision level is
usually on a label on the side of one of the PCI slots or perhaps printed on
the motherboard. Do not update your bios if you are not well versed on how
to do it. Many here can help in this process...

- Tim

In recovery console,

how do I see which partition/drive is active?
how do I set a partition/drive as active?

If need be how do I change drive letters? I've read on some posts to
use DISKPART but am not sure what are the proper commands and would
prefer not to screw up my drive/parttion.

The above may help me solve the issue... which comes from:


I am trying to figure out why my systems no longer wants to boot!!!
I have a A7N8X-E deluxe with AMD 3200 with 3 HDs.

1) One SATA with Windows XP installed
2) One IDE master w/o any OS (just data)
3) One IDE slave w/o any OS (just data)

drive 1 was assigned letter C
drive 2 was assigned letter S
drive 3 was assigned letter P

when I booted my system on Saturday instead of loading Windows (and
logo) I see the NVIDIA boot something message ... I got a message that
essentially said cannot find os.

When I go into recovery console (loading the SATA drivers) it finds
the only instance of Windows but it now says that it is on drive D.
And now drive 2 is assigned C.

If I run MAP I get:

E: FAT32 983MB \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1
C: FAT32 xxxMB \Device\Harddisk4\Partition1
P: NTFS xxxMB \Device\Harddisk5\Partition1
D: NTFS xxxMB \Device\Harddisk6\Partition1
A: \Device\Floppy0
I: \Device\CdRom0

the CDROM is supposed to be D.
Drive E I don't know what it is.
Drive C is just data and is supposed to be S.
Drive P is just fine.
Drive is supposed to be C and is the one with Windows XP installed on
it.

My Boot.ini looks is:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Should Harddisk# match the disk(0) of "..multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)..."?
Is my boot.ini file ok as is?
Please help!!!