Fix MBR - Comments Page 6

Hi Bob! In some cases when I go to repair a computer, I found this problem. One day when I partitioned a hard disk with Partition Magic, the problem persisted, then I decided partition with FDISK command, and all works! Rare, no?

Yes, worked perfectly, THANK YOU! I had installed LINUX, just playing around but didn't know how to get WINDOWS back. Now I will teach WINDOWS to boot LINUX - while still retaining control of the MBR.

Hey!! You are the man and I'm sooo glad google pulled your page up. I had decided to remove Linux from my dual boot sys using Partition Magic and all went okay until I tried to re-boot. No luck. Followed your instructions and in less than 5 minutes I was back up and running on my 3rd pc. Can NOT thank you enough!!!

Hi Bob,
I copied one hard drive to another. It Had Windows XP on a compaq presario and i tried to hook up the copied hard drive to a dell and it won't work. It says that there is a hardware problem. any suggestions. thanks

EDITOR'S NOTE: Are you using it as a boot drive? If so, you lack the hardware drivers for the Dell machine. Your best bet is to use the old drive as a secondary (non-boot) drive in the Dell machine.

I am not sure I have this problem. My error window states The problem seems to be caused by the following file: LVPrcMon.sys The driver unloaded without canelling pending operations. I have tried numerous approaches to resolve this by getting to start then run then configsys to do a FSC /scannow to repair problem. I cannot access this. I do not have a Windows XP CD it came loaded in my ACER I have an ACER Recovery disk, which I have tried to boot off of with the same result. Is there something I can download and place on my thumb drive to boot the ACER to be able to work on it?

Will fixmbr delete any files? At fixmbr I receive a Caution message that reads This computer appears to have a non-standard or master boot record. FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed. This could cause all the partitions on the current hard disk to become inaccessible. If you are not having problems accessing your drive do not proceed. Are you sure you want to proceed. I received the error loading operating system.

EDITOR'S NOTE: FIXMBR twiddles around with the boot record, a single file on the drive that specifies where the operating system is located. It won't delete anything else, but it could make those files inaccessible, at least temporarily. You might try FIXBOOT instead, and use FIXMBR as a last resort. Even better, try the TESTDISK program I've recommended on this site.

Twice in one year I had a boot problem. When I switched on the computer, I received a notice " NTLDR is missing Press Ctr Alt Del to Restart". (I'm not 100% sure this was the exact phrase)

Anyway, pressing CTR/ALT/DEL tried to start Windows, with again the same repeated message. It was like my system was stuck in a loop. I was able to access the 'problem' primary hard drive windows(C) through my backup hard drive(D)and windows and all appeared fine. So I messed with the BIOS, but still no luck in booting to C.

I remember I tried the fixmbr, with no success. I kept going in circles with the dreaded message "NTLDR is missing Press Ctr Alt Del to Restart" thing, until it drove me crazy, so I ended up re-formatting my primary hard drive.

I have this fear of this re-occurring, but can't figure out why this happened, and how to fix it if it happens again. Hopefully Bob's suggestions will work ( I have printed out his 'fix' article...just in case.)

I dont even know my admistrator password,Where would it be located so I can write it down if incase the BSOD happens to me?

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's not stored anywhere you can find it. In most cases, it's your logon password, unless you took the trouble to create a limited account and you login with it.

I have WinVista. Suddenly the system will not boot. I had tried the Disk Recovery and
Repair for Vista and it still will not boot. I tried Easy BCD and it will only work if the system is operating. I used a live CD to get into the hard drive and I cannot even right click the hard drive and go to properties to repair the disk. The system will not allow this. Some friends said they did this and then ran the recovery console it finally fixed it. Is there a master boot repair disk that will boot the disk so I can repair the system. I have tried the console prompt but the instructions off the internet were not complete. I was not seeing what they said I should. Do you have a method of fixing the MBR. I already copied some important info off the disk just in cast but some of the software is to expensive to lose now. I don't have all of the serials on record. I know this disk will start up somehow.

EDITOR"S NOTE: Did you try my instructions in the "Repairing a Damaged MBR" section? If so, what specifically did you have trouble with?

is this a similar fix to the old fdisk /mbr command which you could use with the win98 boot disk?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, very similar.