Disk Boot Failure In XP, how to fix MBR?

[jdunderhill]

Hi

My uncle has defragged his drive and it has affected the boot process

Disk Boot Failure, please insert setup CD and press enter

The Hard Drive is correctly installed and the BIOS is correctly setup, I need to insert the XP CD to boot the HDD

What I was wondering is, do I need to fix the MBR so that the HDD will boot without the need of the XP CD?

Many thanks

Jamie

 

[Jump1ng]

Just doing a normal defrag shouldn't kill the boot record. I would do a proper test on the drive to see if its starting to develop faults if all he did was using windows defrag and it killed the drive.

Download the manufacturers tool from their website and let it do a full scan of the disk. If it checks out ok.

Boot up with your windows setup disk and go to the repair console. In there you should have access to the command fixmbr which should hopefully fix your messed up mbr.

 

[jdunderhill]

Thanks for the reply, I will ask him to download the tool from Maxtor

When I boot with the XP CD it takes me straight to the welcome screen, is there an option that needs to be selected to get there?

Thanks

Jamie

 

[Jump1ng]

Look here for a good guide and information about the recovery console

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_rec.htm

Here is MS description of recovery console in XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058

 

[jdunderhill]

Thanks mate

I'll give the links a try

Jamie

 

[Jump1ng]

The commands you are most likely to run are probably either or both.
Fixmbr
Fixboot

Here is another windows repair guide shows you the windows repair install on top etc.

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm#How to Repair the Boot Sector:

 

[Nelviticus]

Checking the hard drive thoroughly is a good idea. If it turns out fine but you still can't get Windows started without the setup CD, try this once you're logged in:

- Right-click on 'my computer'
- Select 'properties'
- Go to the 'advanced' tab
- Click on 'startup and recovery'

Here under 'system startup' you can play with what happens when your system starts. You can edit - or, hopefully, create - the text file that tells the machine which operating system to load and where to find it.

NB the procedure may be slightly different to what I've typed as I'm at a Windows 2000 machine at work at the moment.

Nelviticus

 

[Shekinah]

Just a though. You say that BIOS is set up correctly. It might be worth checking that you do have the HDD listed as a boot device. If the CD is the only one in the list...

Again, just a though but worth double checking.

 

[jdunderhill]

Cheers, I will give it a go

Many thanks

Jamie