Boot loader

[TarsierSpectral]

Hi,

I installed Windows XP on my D drive. Then I reformatted C. When I rebooted Windows wouldn't start. I just get a black screen and a blinking cursor. I think I broke the boot loader. I am not sure how to fix it as I don't have a CD/DVD drive in my netbook. Any recommendations?

Thanks

 

[vacunita]

Yes you effectively killed the boot files for XP by wiping out C.

How did you install Windows XP?

You'll need to get a USB CD drive and run a Repair on the boot drive.

Otherwise there's not much you can do.

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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[TarsierSpectral]

thanks vacunita. I'll just get a drive and reinstall Windows. I had nothing on it so not a big deal. Can I have a boot loader on D:?

 

[vacunita]

You can point the installer to D and tell it to repair the installation that's present there. There should be no need for a re-install just a repair of the installation to create a new loader.

The Xp setup should let you specify the drive to repair, and assuming there's no partition and formatting on the C drive it should put everything into the D drive. Of course it may turn the D drive into C though since it will be self contained.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[linney]

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q291/9/80.asp

HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP(Q305595)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

If you want it to boot from C: you could just copy the boot files back on to C: To boot from your C drive (copy ntldr, ntdetect.com & boot.ini to it). These are hidden and system files responsible for booting XP. Make sure the Boot.ini is pointing to D: drive and not C: If you want to boot from D: straight off then you may have to play around with making D: the first hard drive in the Bios, or making the Partition the Active Partition.

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q289/0/22.asp

 

[TarsierSpectral]

Thanks. Will do that!