cant boot to either linux or win now

[teimu]

i was using PM to reformat my linux partition. First I had to delete the partition and then reallocate the space for the new partition. The deleting part was all done in WinXP (home), but to make the partition, i had to reboot. Here is where i encoutered the problems.

At the time I had been using Grub as my bootloader. It seems that when i deleted the old Linux partition, i deleted some part of grub. i booted and now i get a "grub>" prompt with no selections of OSes to load. The new partitions were never made
I have a few options i think:

-I could possibly load the win partition IF i knew the commands to run from grub.

-I could try to reinstall linux now using the CDs. this would possible "rebuild" the GRUB loader so i can choose which OS -- here tho, i run into a problem, during install, it stalls at "running /sbin/loader". this happened even before i used PM. maybe i need to make some new CDs

-I tried using my WinXP boot CD and first i tried using the Recovery Console, but i need my administrator password. This would seem to be an easy task but my administrator password does NOT WORK
i have no idea why. i tryed using a blank pass(its by default blank), and my usual one. no avail.
Then i did a repair of the partition, which seems to only repair the Win system files, nothing MBR related.

-Reformat... this is a very last resort. infact, i dont think i could do this.

-Delete the grub. Since I have no othe OS than WIN, it should just boot to win by itself
I read an article on how to do this in the microsoft knowlegde base here
But firstly, i dont have lilo, and i cant get a dos prompt which are the only things that this guide gives directions for

Im kind of in a dead end. I dont really know what i could do. Any help is immensly appreciated. Thanks.

[Goran]

You have a few solutions:
1. find out the grub commands (maybe root=/dev/hda)
2. Make a botable floppy on another machine
Once you actually boot into linux you can use dd to overwrite the mbr.

[systempilot]

You can try these for password:

Instructions
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
image files
http://ntpass.blaa.net/bd011022.zip (1.4MB - Bootdisk image, date 011022)
http://ntpass.blaa.net/sc011022.zip (~700KB) - SCSI-drivers (011022)
This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your NT system, by modifying the crypted password in the registrys SAM file.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
image writer
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/rawrite2.zip

Another one
Change administrator password on NT/2000, without knowing it!!! Bootdisk...
http://www.thomasmathiesen.com/itak/html/software.html
image file
http://www.thomasmathiesen.com/filez...xbootimage.zip
image writer
http://www.thomasmathiesen.com/filez...magewriter.zip
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Another one
http://www.pc-pipeline.com/modules.p...eq=getit&lid=6

Run it to create a boot floppy then follow the instructions. If you choose to do this then you are doing this at your own risk. Just change the admin pw and login then change the account pw's that you desire.

Make sure you have a floppy disk in the floppy drive and let the program create the boot floppy. Now restart the machine a let it boot from the floppy. Now follow what it instructs you to do.

Use it like a bootdisk.

----------------------------------
NTAccess can replace the administrator password of a Windows XP, Windows NT or Windows 2000 system by rebooting the computer with a special set of boot disks or CD-ROM (XP only). This is useful if you forgot the administrator password and cannot access the Windows XP/2000/NT system.
http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/product.cfm?id=265


LC3 - The Password Auditing and Recovery Application

LC3 is the latest version of the award-winning password auditing and recovery application, L0phtCrack. It provides two critical capabilities to Windows® network administrators:
Free 15 day trial
http://www.atstake.com/research/lc3/index.html


L0phtCrack, The integrated password cracker for NT
http://www.securiteam.com/tools/L0ph...er_for_NT.html
Locksmith
http://www.winternals.com/products/r.../locksmith.asp

Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key is a program to reset Windows XP / 2000 / NT security if Administrator password, secure boot password or key disk is lost.
http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm

Or you could, if you have a FAT32 file system, just boot to a Win98 bootdisk and rename the SAM file (registry Hive) in the C:\WINNT\system32\config folder to something else. Of course this will remove all accounts on the system and you will need to rebuild them. If you are using NTFS then boot to the Win2000 CD and do this from the Recovery console.

For XP
Windows XP Tip: Password Recovery Disk
Take preventive measures against losing user-level passwords
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/an...356093,00.html

Taken from http://www.experts-exchange.com/Oper..._20348448.html .

Good luck

[teimu]

YESSSS....okay. i got it to work. i just added it as a secondary HD to another computer. That way it bypasses the mbr on it. When i run win, its just seen as another HD . I just wanted to backup basically. I copied my stuff to the other comp, and now im set. I will reformat it clean. Im not sure, but i think a reformat will clear the MBR.

Thanks for your time systempilot and Goran.