messed up MBR

[DJKoop]

every time I go to install Yoper is screws up my MBR and XP won't boot up any more. Can't even fix the MBR. I have to run a util from a floppy from maxtor to wipe my drive and then re-install XP. I wouldn't mind not having Windows if linux could game half as good and have opengl support that worked. This is the only distro that gives me this problem. Anyone have any ideas?

[techieMoe]

To fix the MBR in XP without reinstalling, boot from the XP CD and when prompted type "R" to bring up the recovery console. At the console prompt type FIXMBR and yes to any dialogs. This will wipe your MBR and allow MS Windows to boot properly. However you will lose access to Linux when you do this.

[DJKoop]

Already tried that, said it was fixed but still would not boot XP. Even after a fix with fixmbr windows won't boot from a clean install unless I run maxtor,s util. to wipe the drive clean, go figure.

[techieMoe]

Already tried that, said it was fixed but still would not boot XP. Even after a fix with fixmbr windows won't boot from a clean install unless I run maxtor,s util. to wipe the drive clean, go figure.

This sounds to me like a hardware problem with your Maxtor drive. I have had issues with boot sectors in Maxtor drives before.

[solman66]

its possible that the boot.ini file in windows was stuck on a different partition number than what was actually there.

I've had this problem before. Even after you fixmbr, it won't boot because (for example) Windows is now on partition 0 2, but the boot.ini claims that windows is on partition 0 1.

Fixing that is a *****.... you have to boot to something that can write to your windows partition. From there you have to edit the boot.ini file to reflect the correct partition position.

The situation you described about XP not booting even after a clean install (before wiping) is very strange, because windows re-writes the MBR during install and booting from that is required to finish the installation (remember all the restarts that XP does?)

Anyway, i would suggest letting GRUB or LILO take care of the MBR so you can dual boot. Or... if you don't want that, choose a distro which gives you more control over installation, that way you can choose not to overwrite the MBR.

[mattblack_uk]

I had this problem too. When I intalled Yoper to dual boot with Windows 2000, I chose lilo as the boot loader, and when I tried to reboot back into windows it gave me 'NTLDR missing' message. The lilo.conf was correct. I uninstalled lilo, and tried to fix the mbr with no luck. I ended up having to reinstall windows. I attempted the Yoper install again, but this time I chose to use grub, and everything now works fine....

...so maybe the problem is with lilo messing up the mbr.

[psyro]

this sound familiar,

I've got a maxtor drive, and my boot sector seems to have corrupted, which sucks a$$!!!! Especially since i installed debian on a seperate hdd to avoid any trouble, GRRR!!!

If anyone has had success in re-writing the boot sector without wiping their drive, let me know.

Cheers,

Psyro.

[mcirsta]

I've had similar problems with Mandrake 10 . I installed Lilo and it totally messed up the MBR on my Maxtor HDD . Not even a new XP install would solve the problem . I don't remember what i did exactly but I think I had to wipe all the partitions from my HDD . It wasn't too nice . I think maybe it's a LILO + Maxtor thing .

[mattblack_uk]

Don't think its a Maxtor problem. It happened to me and I have a Seagate drive.

[psyro]

i got it fixed!!!

THanks to Gnux, i used the command lilo -u in the console after booting from a floppy and that restored my 2 windows installations on my other two drives.

Good stuff, thought id let you know.

Psyro.