Master Boot Record repair

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 08:42 PM

I need to fix the Master Boot Record on my PC. The PC won't go further than the Verify the DMI Data Pool. It then locks unless I use a floppy. The CD/DVD drive refuses to operate as well, rendering my XP disk useless. The disk's MBR has corrupted but I can't fix it atm because I can't use the XP disk and thus can't use the repair installation or fdisk utility in the Recovery console.

Any help is really appreciated!

Problem Solved

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 09:55 PM

bump- I've been without my proper PC for 3 days!

LiNKiN · Jul 19, 2007, 09:59 PM

Can you make a Dos disk and do the command?

zekrahminator · Jul 19, 2007, 10:01 PM

Hold on a second.

I don't think your XP disk has been rendered useless. BIOS/Setup is telling the computer to boot onto the hard drive before booting onto the CD. Go into BIOS/Setup, tell it to boot from the CD, and then stick the XP disk in and reboot.

Once you have the XP disk running, I'm pretty sure you know what to do from there. If not, I can post a quick guide for you.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zekrahminator

Hold on a second.

I don't think your XP disk has been rendered useless. BIOS/Setup is telling the computer to boot onto the hard drive before booting onto the CD. Go into BIOS/Setup, tell it to boot from the CD, and then stick the XP disk in and reboot.

Once you have the XP disk running, I'm pretty sure you know what to do from there. If not, I can post a quick guide for you.

No it refuses to boot when I made the CD as first priority. It hangs when it says Boot from CD/DVD. It seems to only boot from floppy. Don't worry, I'm not that dense! How do I make a DOS disk?

zekrahminator · Jul 19, 2007, 10:06 PM

Sorry

.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zekrahminator

Sorry

.

I wasn't offended don't worry. I know the best solution is normally the simplest one!

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 10:28 PM

This is my solution to the problem. I have had this happen MANY times. When this happens I say, "fuck it time to reformat." Now if you have files you need to keep the partition of windows and get those so now make a new partition of xxxx gbs you need, and then move the files, and reinstall windows on the partition. Now the MBR is really not fun to work with so I recommend you kill that, kill linux (backup files there too) and then reinstall both windows and linux.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

This is my solution to the problem. I have had this happen MANY times. When this happens I say, "fuck it time to reformat." Now if you have files you need to keep the partition of windows and get those so now make a new partition of xxxx gbs you need, and then move the files, and reinstall windows on the partition. Now the MBR is really not fun to work with so I recommend you kill that, kill linux (backup files there too) and then reinstall both windows and linux.

There's a problem though- I can't boot from CD either! Help, also I don't have Linux yet- I will as soon as I get this fixed. I really want to get into it''''oddly enough more so than playing a game!

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 10:32 PM

Boot from a floppy, or a thumb drive. You do have floppy right... *shakes head*

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

Boot from a floppy, or a thumb drive. You do have floppy right... *shakes head*

Yes I do-of course I do

, but how do I boot from it? How do I make a DOS disk?

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theonetruewill

Yes I do-of course I do

, but how do I boot from it? How do I make a DOS disk?

Don't make a fucking dos disk, get Gparted and make another partition.

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 10:34 PM

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php

Edit: See liveusb?!?!? Click it for happy.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php

Edit: See liveusb?!?!? Click it for happy.

Can you come on MSN?

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 10:40 PM

Gladly.

Jonnycat · Jul 19, 2007, 10:41 PM

If you can't access CD drive, you have more problems than a borked MBR (assuming you have already found all of the BIOS switches for alternate boot device, boot alternate device enable, et cetera).

A few things to try:

Disconnect all IDE devices and see what happens.

Connect only one IDE device and see what happens (either a CD-ROM or a different IDE HDD than you have now).

Reset the BIOS.

Try an add-on PCI IDE card and see if you can get that to boot.

With the information gleaned from the above procedures, you will have a clearer picture of what your problem is. It could be something as simple as a cable that has gone funky or intermittent, but without getting more information, there is no way to know.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonnycat

If you can't access CD drive, you have more problems than a borked MBR (assuming you have already found all of the BIOS switches for alternate boot device, boot alternate device enable, et cetera).

A few things to try:

Disconnect all IDE devices and see what happens.

Connect only one IDE device and see what happens (either a CD-ROM or a different IDE HDD than you have now).

Reset the BIOS.

Try an add-on PCI IDE card and see if you can get that to boot.

With the information gleaned from the above procedures, you will have a clearer picture of what your problem is. It could be something as simple as a cable that has gone funky or intermittent, but without getting more information, there is no way to know.

I have replaced all SATA cables. I will try and fit my other CD drive.

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 10:57 PM

Ok fyi, it could be all nothing, but if you unplug all your components then you can make sure the DVD drive is not messin with the comp. I have had an optical drive mess with the boot before. Good point jcat.

Edit: Truewill thank Jcat, not me, he came up with t3h idea that gave me the idea.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

Ok fyi, it could be all nothing, but if you unplug all your components then you can make sure the DVD drive is not messin with the comp. I have had an optical drive mess with the boot before. Good point jcat.

Will do now

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 11:02 PM

Wasn't the Optical drive- no change.

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 11:03 PM

K remember the what OS are you? Well I got slax and if you understand how people consider me insane this is why. My solutions might feel like they take longer but they are obviously easier and don't need you to have a CD drive cause I'm too 1337 for that.

So thumb drive it up and first get Gparted thumb drive, steal some windoze partition, make a backup of the files you want and then you get the thumb drive, and put DSL on there, then boot to that from the USB drive, then with your magical powerz, put all the windoze files which hopefully dsl can see onto the the newly created backup partion. End rant.

theonetruewill · Jul 19, 2007, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

K remember the what OS are you? Well I got slax and if you understand how people consider me insane this is why. My solutions might feel like they take longer but they are obviously easier and don't need you to have a CD drive cause I'm too 1337 for that.

So thumb drive it up and first get Gparted thumb drive, steal some windoze partition, make a backup of the files you want and then you get the thumb drive, and put DSL on there, then boot to that from the USB drive, then with your magical powerz, put all the windoze files which hopefully dsl can see onto the the newly created backup partion. End rant.

MSN again?!

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 19, 2007, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theonetruewill

MSN again?!

I keep losing internet and during the wootoff of all times! Ya be there.

theonetruewill · Jul 21, 2007, 09:46 PM

Fixed! Using Windows 95 via floppy disk installation. Windows 95 FTW!

PVTCaboose1337 · Jul 22, 2007, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theonetruewill

Fixed! Using Windows 95 via floppy disk installation. Windows 95 FTW!

Nice job!

Jul 19, 2007, 08:42 PM	#1
theonetruewill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London - Close your eyes and you'll see me Posts: 2,618 (1.10/day) Thanks: 364 Thanked 246 Times in 195 Posts System Specs	Master Boot Record repair I need to fix the Master Boot Record on my PC. The PC won't go further than the Verify the DMI Data Pool. It then locks unless I use a floppy. The CD/DVD drive refuses to operate as well, rendering my XP disk useless. The disk's MBR has corrupted but I can't fix it atm because I can't use the XP disk and thus can't use the repair installation or fdisk utility in the Recovery console. Any help is really appreciated! Problem Solved __________________ Laptop Overclockers Club - Take a look at this - Please vote “we're a split personality of shy lesbians” -W1zzard “i really find it amazing sometimes with what kinds of threads you people can come up ” -W1zzard Game Republic! Last edited by theonetruewill; Jul 21, 2007 at 09:47 PM.

System Name:	COLOSSUS-MK4
Processor:	E8400 @4.4 GHz - FSB @550 MHZ
Motherboard:	Asus P5K Premium (Black Pearl)
Cooling:	Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Memory:	2x1GB Geil BlckDrgn 800 @1158 5-5-5-18
Video Card:	8800GT 512MB @740/1782/2080
Hard Disk:	Hitachi T7K250 250GB & 7200.10 Seagate 250GB
Optical Drive:	Asus Lightscribe DVD R/RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Gateway FPD1975W 19" Widescreen
Case:	Antec 1200
Sound Card:	Xi-FI Xtreme Audio
PSU:	CoolerMaster IGreen 500W
Software:	XP Home SP3
Benchmarks:	SuperPi: 10.563 Sciencemark: 2563.14

Jul 19, 2007, 09:55 PM	#2
theonetruewill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London - Close your eyes and you'll see me Posts: 2,618 (1.10/day) Thanks: 364 Thanked 246 Times in 195 Posts System Specs	bump- I've been without my proper PC for 3 days! __________________ Laptop Overclockers Club - Take a look at this - Please vote “we're a split personality of shy lesbians” -W1zzard “i really find it amazing sometimes with what kinds of threads you people can come up ” -W1zzard Game Republic!

System Name:	COLOSSUS-MK4
Processor:	E8400 @4.4 GHz - FSB @550 MHZ
Motherboard:	Asus P5K Premium (Black Pearl)
Cooling:	Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Memory:	2x1GB Geil BlckDrgn 800 @1158 5-5-5-18
Video Card:	8800GT 512MB @740/1782/2080
Hard Disk:	Hitachi T7K250 250GB & 7200.10 Seagate 250GB
Optical Drive:	Asus Lightscribe DVD R/RW
CRT/LCD Model:	Gateway FPD1975W 19" Widescreen
Case:	Antec 1200
Sound Card:	Xi-FI Xtreme Audio
PSU:	CoolerMaster IGreen 500W
Software:	XP Home SP3
Benchmarks:	SuperPi: 10.563 Sciencemark: 2563.14

System Name:	Bazinga!
Processor:	AMD A10-5800K
Motherboard:	GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4
Cooling:	COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
Memory:	G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 2133
Video Card:	MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC
Hard Disk:	OCZ Agility 4 128G (Boot)/WD Blue 1TB (Storage)/Seagate 3TB (Games)
Optical Drive:	SAMSUNG SH-B123L
CRT/LCD Model:	VIZIO 37" 1080p 60Hz HDTV, E371VL
Case:	COOLER MASTER CM Storm Scout 2
Sound Card:	ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels
PSU:	OCZ Fatal1ty 750W Modular Gaming 80Plus
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Jul 19, 2007, 09:59 PM	#3
LiNKiN Staff Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,375 (0.51/day) Thanks: 221 Thanked 294 Times in 204 Posts System Specs	Can you make a Dos disk and do the command?

Jul 19, 2007, 10:01 PM	#4
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	Hold on a second. I don't think your XP disk has been rendered useless. BIOS/Setup is telling the computer to boot onto the hard drive before booting onto the CD. Go into BIOS/Setup, tell it to boot from the CD, and then stick the XP disk in and reboot. Once you have the XP disk running, I'm pretty sure you know what to do from there. If not, I can post a quick guide for you. __________________ “Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you should do porn.”

Processor:	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane @ 2.8GHz (224x12.5, 1.425V)
Motherboard:	Gigabyte sumthin-or-another, it's got an nForce 430
Cooling:	Dual 120mm case fans front/rear, Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, Zalman VF-900 on GPU
Memory:	2GB G.Skill DDR2 800
Video Card:	Sapphire X850XT @ 580/600
Hard Disk:	WD 160 GB SATA hard drive.
Optical Drive:	Lite-On DVD-RW.
CRT/LCD Model:	Hanns G 19" widescreen, 5ms response time, 1440x900
Case:	Thermaltake Soprano (black with side window).
Sound Card:	Soundblaster Live! 24 bit (paired with X-530 speakers).
PSU:	ThermalTake 430W TR2
Software:	XP Home SP2, can't wait for Vista SP1.

Jul 19, 2007, 10:06 PM	#6
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	Sorry . __________________ “Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you should do porn.”

Jul 19, 2007, 10:28 PM	#8
PVTCaboose1337 Graphical Hacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,478 (2.80/day) Thanks: 798 Thanked 1,174 Times in 834 Posts System Specs	This is my solution to the problem. I have had this happen MANY times. When this happens I say, "fuck it time to reformat." Now if you have files you need to keep the partition of windows and get those so now make a new partition of xxxx gbs you need, and then move the files, and reinstall windows on the partition. Now the MBR is really not fun to work with so I recommend you kill that, kill linux (backup files there too) and then reinstall both windows and linux. __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

System Name:	Whim
Processor:	Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.4ghz
Motherboard:	Gigabyte P67A-D3-B3
Cooling:	Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Memory:	2 x 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws @ 1600mhz
Video Card:	Gigabyte GTX 670 2gb
Hard Disk:	WD 640gb Black (Main), WD 2tb Black (Secondary)
Optical Drive:	LG DVD-RW Drive
CRT/LCD Model:	Asus VE228 and Samsung 2053BW
Case:	Cooler Master 430 Elite
Sound Card:	Onboard > PA2V2 Amp > Senn 595's
PSU:	Seasonic 650w
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate (Tweaked)

Jul 19, 2007, 10:32 PM	#10
PVTCaboose1337 Graphical Hacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,478 (2.80/day) Thanks: 798 Thanked 1,174 Times in 834 Posts System Specs	Boot from a floppy, or a thumb drive. You do have floppy right... shakes head __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Jul 19, 2007, 10:34 PM	#13
PVTCaboose1337 Graphical Hacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,478 (2.80/day) Thanks: 798 Thanked 1,174 Times in 834 Posts System Specs	http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php Edit: See liveusb?!?!? Click it for happy. __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Jul 19, 2007, 10:40 PM	#15
PVTCaboose1337 Graphical Hacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,478 (2.80/day) Thanks: 798 Thanked 1,174 Times in 834 Posts System Specs	Gladly. __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Jul 19, 2007, 10:41 PM	#16
Jonnycat Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: PNW Posts: 198 (0.08/day) Thanks: 3 Thanked 19 Times in 19 Posts System Specs	If you can't access CD drive, you have more problems than a borked MBR (assuming you have already found all of the BIOS switches for alternate boot device, boot alternate device enable, et cetera). A few things to try: Disconnect all IDE devices and see what happens. Connect only one IDE device and see what happens (either a CD-ROM or a different IDE HDD than you have now). Reset the BIOS. Try an add-on PCI IDE card and see if you can get that to boot. With the information gleaned from the above procedures, you will have a clearer picture of what your problem is. It could be something as simple as a cable that has gone funky or intermittent, but without getting more information, there is no way to know.

Jul 19, 2007, 10:57 PM	#18
PVTCaboose1337 Graphical Hacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,478 (2.80/day) Thanks: 798 Thanked 1,174 Times in 834 Posts System Specs	Ok fyi, it could be all nothing, but if you unplug all your components then you can make sure the DVD drive is not messin with the comp. I have had an optical drive mess with the boot before. Good point jcat. Edit: Truewill thank Jcat, not me, he came up with t3h idea that gave me the idea. __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Jul 19, 2007, 11:02 PM	#20
theonetruewill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London - Close your eyes and you'll see me Posts: 2,618 (1.10/day) Thanks: 364 Thanked 246 Times in 195 Posts System Specs	Wasn't the Optical drive- no change. __________________ Laptop Overclockers Club - Take a look at this - Please vote “we're a split personality of shy lesbians” -W1zzard “i really find it amazing sometimes with what kinds of threads you people can come up ” -W1zzard Game Republic!

Jul 19, 2007, 11:03 PM	#21
PVTCaboose1337 Graphical Hacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,478 (2.80/day) Thanks: 798 Thanked 1,174 Times in 834 Posts System Specs	K remember the what OS are you? Well I got slax and if you understand how people consider me insane this is why. My solutions might feel like they take longer but they are obviously easier and don't need you to have a CD drive cause I'm too 1337 for that. So thumb drive it up and first get Gparted thumb drive, steal some windoze partition, make a backup of the files you want and then you get the thumb drive, and put DSL on there, then boot to that from the USB drive, then with your magical powerz, put all the windoze files which hopefully dsl can see onto the the newly created backup partion. End rant. __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Jul 21, 2007, 09:46 PM	#24
theonetruewill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London - Close your eyes and you'll see me Posts: 2,618 (1.10/day) Thanks: 364 Thanked 246 Times in 195 Posts System Specs	Fixed! Using Windows 95 via floppy disk installation. Windows 95 FTW! __________________ Laptop Overclockers Club - Take a look at this - Please vote “we're a split personality of shy lesbians” -W1zzard “i really find it amazing sometimes with what kinds of threads you people can come up ” -W1zzard Game Republic!

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)