Fix MBR

me juz installed norton goback on my computer
adn it say never install any parttion software
but i go installed linux OS when i log in computer it say bla bla bla error driver file goback.sys
norton go back is a good utilities start with the boot to restore driver depanding on ur HDD size

tried all of these, problem could also be bad hard drive. i ran a HDD read test on my problem machine to find out the hard drive itself is bad

I used the recovery console to create a new hard drive as follows:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
clean all (was taking two long so I stooped it and started over with out it)
create partition primary
select partition 1
Format fs=ntfs
active
exit

Then I put in Win XP Pro and my programs

NO MBR

I was able to bring up the system with a floppy disk
The system worked great BUT
The main partition was up against the first track of the HD!
No master boot record?

What command did I leave out of the recovery console?

I could move the entire partition 1 GB down,
Than what is the best way to add the MBR?

Hi, I was working on my laptop (Windows XP SP3)today morning and suddenly it hung and started showing HP boot screen..but did not.Then it popped MBR error with rest of the screen blank.

I tried using my old recovery console disk (this has XP SP2, I did not create recovery disk after I upgraded to SP3) to repair the damaged MBR file, but I get "hard disk write error" and asks me to quit setup.

Assuming that there was a problem with the boot CD unable to recognize the HDD, I used a stand alone XP SP2 cd and pressed F6 to install 3rd party drivers. Still it did not work.Is it possible that I connect my HDD to other computer and take a back up first and then reinstall XP from scratch? I am worried about my data. Please advice me.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, connect the drive to another computer via USB (get an enclosure kit) and you can do what you've proposed.

Thank you for the response. I did try doing what I mentioned in my previous post. The problem is that when I connect the HDD to other computer, it gets recognized as a mass storage device but does not show up on my computer to open it!! :(

When I tried looking it up through device manager, the drive is shown as unallocated drive which needs to be initialized. What does that mean? and if I do initialize it..does that harm the drive by ruining the partition and losing the data in partition permanently? Please advise..

I will use Hirens Boot Disk. It will help you to solve any problem with your HardDisk Drive. It quiet simple to work with Hirens Boot Disk.

I'm runnung a Windows XP Pro box. Today it says NTLDR IS MISSING on bootup. I tried running recovery from my XP disk, and tried FIXBOOT.
Nothing works. Any suggestions?

I was trying to install WinXP to a USB 2.0 external HD from my Dell laptop using a CD installation disk. After copying the files to the external HD it was going to restart the laptop. I removed the installation CD while the laptop was starting to boot and then I get an error message "could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware." I disconnected the external HD from the laptop and restarted it but it also gave me the same error message.I used the recovery console from the installation CD and tried the fixmbr and fixboot commands but it still gives me the same error message. Any ideas?

Fixed the MBR many, many times. Well the XP Recovery Disk hangs at the "repair" or "re-install" or "quit" screen. Re-booted like 100 times freezes at that screen every time no key does anything. Any suggestions?

i tried to fix mbr using recovery console and it said that it fixed but on rebooting again black screen comes.
please help me out

What if the HDD is connected via USB?

Hello
What do you do when you have a black screen???
Alain

worked like butter! Thanks so much...you saved me a bunch of heartache.

Why do both you and Ask Leo keep mentioning a windows CD/DVD? All people gerare a recovery partition and have to burn a recovery disk. My house went through 4 computers aand none of them came with a real windows disk. Nobody bought windows, either

I am trying to get to the repair screen, I have the blue screen that comes up with unmountable Boot volume. When the system boots up it acts like it is loading Windows xp but then the blue screen comes up everytime. I am hitting, f12, f8, none of these options is helping. I dont see the repair screen at all. I am also trying to reboot with the disk and the same thing comes up as well, there is no repair option or the dos format to have me enter in the codes suggested. chkdsk/r or fixboot. Does this mean my Hard Drive is not able to be fixed? again there is no option at all for repair option at all while loading the XP disk. Thanks for your suggestions.

have dual boot system, one for xp the other for vista, with xp is the primary boot.

Lately, I installed the power quest; partition resizer on the vista to extend the size, no complaint about the installation.

But, when I started the pqpr, a shot pop-up message asked me to correct the conflict in the vista partition.

I pressed y, and restarted the system, so far, the blue screen complained with proposing to use chkdsk /f to resolve the problem.

I then used "PTTD partition table doctor" to solve which reported the total sectors of 68356538,
with actual sectors of 68356575, the difference of the last 2 digits. The PTTD does nothing to solve the overlapping partition.

In xp which is still bootable, can see the vista as another drive.

Your help please!!!

BTW: Is it posible to copy patition table from xp to vista?, as xp works well, but vista has problem of partition size incorrect.

If you are stuck with the XP Password bug, (like I was) just use a Windows 98 CD or DOS boot disk. Once you boot to DOS, use

FDISK /MBR

Remove the CD or floppy, reboot and see XP resurrected! :)

@Willie

Great suggestion and a save I've used lots of times Willie!

If you don't have a copy of the venerable but still hugely useful DOS operating system available get one from http://www.freedos.org/
Load it on a flash drive or ISO copy to a CD; if necessary, adjust your BIOS to boot from that media first, and Away You Go!

One caveat, if you are running a dual or multi-boot system and are using an alternative boot loader such as GRUB you will have some additional jiggery-pokery to do, but you already know how to do that!

I tried all the suggestions. nothing worked. I'm ready to punt and go Apple. Put all this Microsoft nonsense, BS, headaches, insanity, frustrations, ridiculous crap behind me forever. Even when things are working correctly, its so slow and non intuitive, why do we put up with this crap?!?! because it's cheaper - get what you pay for. I'm out of here!!!

How do you do the master boot record make more than 4 partitions?