Unable to reinstall Windows XP

[VinayKS]

Hi, i have windows xp and federo installed on my system on seperate partition and using grub loader for dual boot. Unfortunately am unable to boot the windows and it hangs with the blue screen and with safe mode it stops at mup.sys and doesnt proceed further.

I tried booting with a windows xp CD but it looks like it is unable to recognize the disk even if i say boot with a CD in BIOS settings. Does anybody knows how to make the CD recognizable so that i can go into the windows repair mode.

[oz]

I tried booting with a windows xp CD but it looks like it is unable to recognize the disk even if i say boot with a CD in BIOS settings. Does anybody knows how to make the CD recognizable so that i can go into the windows repair mode.

Hello and welcome!

Some machines have trouble reading the Windows CD when GRUB resides on the MBR. If you clear the MBR, your disk will probably be able to work again, but you'll need to restore GRUB after installing Windows if you want to continue using it as your bootloader.

[VinayKS]

hi ozar, thanks for the update. How can i clear the MBR? I am unable to get to the command prompt. All i can do at the moment is to login to my federo linux. I am fine with even loosing linux and GRUB.

[oz]

To clear the MBR only, leaving partition table intact, go to a terminal in Linux, su to root, then run the following command:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

...changing the sda in the command to the appropriate device for your own MBR.

If you use sudo, don't forget to add it to your command.

You can also do this using a Linux liveCD, in which case you won't need to worry about gaining root access.

Note that it's always a good idea to have a system backup in place before you start manipulating partitions and master boot records.

[VinayKS]

hi Oz, what do you mean by,
changing the sda in the command to the appropriate device for your own MBR

Is it the partition where linux is installed. I actually had done partition long time back on my PC and not sure on which drive it stays. How do i know what exactly do i need to replace sda with?

[VinayKS]

Oz, also do let me know once i run these commands what are the next steps that needs to be followed to make my windows bootable CD recognizable. Also, when i run this command as it is impacting Master Boot Record does it have any side effects. I am fine as long as my windows runs at the moment.

I have some critical data on my hard disk so i dont want to format and loose the stuff and wanted to repair my windows so that i can have the data intact. Appreciate your help on this.

[nujinini]

hi Oz, what do you mean by,
changing the sda in the command to the appropriate device for your own MBR

Is it the partition where linux is installed. I actually had done partition long time back on my PC and not sure on which drive it stays. How do i know what exactly do i need to replace sda with?

Hi!

Maybe it can help if you can boot using a live cd, go to terminal and post the output of

fdisk -l
df -h

before you proceed.

[VinayKS]

hi, I dont have a linux live CD. At the moment i just have windows xp CD. Is there any alternate way.

[nujinini]

The command given by ozar can only be executed in a linux terminal.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

Hope you can find a way to boot in your linux partition first. Or get hold of a live cd from somebody or a usb that can boot linux.

If I'm not wrong, I think that would be a prerequisite.

[VinayKS]

Hi, I can login to Linux and open an terminal.
But Ozar was suggesting to replace sda with a appropriate device for my MBR. But am not sure what is that device name?

Can i just run this command and once i run it what are the next steps to make my windows bootable CD recognizable so that i can fix my windows xp?