will fixmbr loose my data

[number657]

Will 'fixmbr' wipe my un-bootable C drive?

The files appear to be intact on the drive, it just won't boot for
some reason. I would try a repair install of windows on the drive
except that booting to the windows XP cd freezes as well.

I don't want to do a 'fixmbr' if it will risk loosing all my data on
the drive. 'fixboot' appeared to have no effect on the drive.

 

[Malke]

Will 'fixmbr' wipe my un-bootable C drive?

The files appear to be intact on the drive, it just won't boot for
some reason. I would try a repair install of windows on the drive
except that booting to the windows XP cd freezes as well.

I don't want to do a 'fixmbr' if it will risk loosing all my data on
the drive. 'fixboot' appeared to have no effect on the drive.

No, fixmbr will only rewrite the Master Boot Record. However, I doubt
that it will solve your problem. Since you don't give any details
except for saying your machine won't boot (do you even get a POST? does
the machine turn on? where does it halt? etc.), I can't give you any
help. However, if you haven't backed up your data (and now you know why
you should have), take the hard drive out, slave it in another machine,
and copy the data over to be burned on a cd-r. That way, you won't have
to worry about losing your stuff. Then you can start troubleshooting
the sick machine. If you can't do this yourself, then take the machine
to a good local computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy store)
and have them rescue your data and fix your computer.

Malke

 

[number657]

The computer boots to bios, bios completes it's scans, then the
computer freezes. Oddly, trying to boot off the windows xp cd freezes
as well (bios -> press any key to boot off cd -> scanning devices ->
hang). Putting in a different hard drive, the computer boots off the
cd fine.

I'm in the process of doing the backups now..

 

[Malke]

The computer boots to bios, bios completes it's scans, then the
computer freezes. Oddly, trying to boot off the windows xp cd freezes
as well (bios -> press any key to boot off cd -> scanning devices ->
hang). Putting in a different hard drive, the computer boots off the
cd fine.

I'm in the process of doing the backups now..

Good, because it sure sounds like a bad hard drive.

Good luck,

Malke