HELP! MBR defunct, cannot boot anymore D:

[HoBu]

Hi, I am having trouble with my Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2000 laptop:

It is a pre-installed Windows XP pro version (SP2); later on a SuSe version (it might be 8.2, but cannot remember anymore) was installed by a friend of my father. The laptop had a SuSe boot system (GRUB) where one could choose between Windows & Linux.
So, trouble starts: As I do not use Linux that often and I needed some extra harddisk space, my dad decides to erase SuSe by just erasing the partition !! NOT GOOD. Didnt have any problems until today, when I decided to defragment all of my partitions. After rebooting the system, I can see the start desktop ("Fujitsu Siemens etc etc, Press F2, Press F12 etc"), but then just a blank screen with "GRUB _" in the upper left corner. I cant press any buttons, it just beeps at me annoyed & doesnt react at all. Tried to boot with:

- Windows XP pro Sp3 disk
- Windows 2000 pro Sp4 disk
- Ultimate Boot Disc
- Knoppix 5.1.1
- Knoppix 6.0.1

Changed of course to first boot from CD-ROM drive; nothing helped. I can hear the CDs starting, but then after a short time "GRUB _" is returning again!
Read that the MBR (Master Boot Record) must be damaged while defragmenting the partition Linux was on, AND I have found out in some forum entry that the CD-ROM boot option might have gone down the drain with it, too

Does anyone have any hints & tips what to do??? Help is highly appreciated!!!

Thank you all,
Hon

[coopstah13]

boot up xp disk and select repair, use fixmbr command to load windows bootloader

[HoBu]

boot up xp disk and select repair, use fixmbr command to load windows bootloader

Thanks, but as I have mentioned before: I cannot boot ANY disks at all!! Neither changing boot order in BIOS helped nor going directly to boot menu.

Otherwise itll be quite easy...

BIOS is PhoenixBIOS, btw!


EDIT: Ok sorry, I found out what went wrong ... now it can first boot from CD-ROM but now Ive got "Operating System not found" on my screen. Again, no other reaction... Any ideas?

[Lostfarmer]

Need clerifcation: When you get "Operating System not found", is that when booting to CD or hdd after doing 'fixmbr' ?

If it is hdd after runing 'fixmbr' , you will need to make sure that the XP partition is set Active.

[HoBu]

Need clerifcation: When you get "Operating System not found", is that when booting to CD or hdd after doing 'fixmbr' ?

If it is hdd after runing 'fixmbr' , you will need to make sure that the XP partition is set Active.

I got "Operating System not found" after trying to boot from CD, but nothing else happened. When I tried to boot from HDD again, "GRUB _" returned.

Just to clarify: I cant type in ANY command as of yet, not even fixmbr :/

Is there any other way to get to change XP partition to active (it is C: ) ??

[Jonathan183]

Try Supergrub ... if CD does not work can you boot from USB?

[yancek]

You were dual booting xp and Suse using the Grub bootloader. Your father deletes the Suse partition thereby removing the vast majority of bootloader files from your system. Based on your posts, you have not been able to modify anything so you still have the Grub stage1 file in the mbr pointing to an empty partition.

Read that the MBR (Master Boot Record) must be damaged while defragmenting the partition Linux was on

No. MBR is not on any partition, it's before your partitions start. How did you defragment this partition (what tool) which had already been deleted?

I have found out in some forum entry that the CD-ROM boot option might have gone down the drain with it, too

Don't understand the connection here?

Windows boot disks or install disks often have trouble booting when non-windows code is in the mbr but the Knoppix and UBD should have worked.

Have you tried these disks on another computer to see if they are good. and to see if your CD drive may be bad? I think you will have better luck with the SuperGrubDisk than with windows boot/isntall disks.

Do you get the Operating System not Found with the windows disk or ???

[gogalthorp]

You may have a Windows upgrade disk If I recall they don't work unless they see a windows boot installed.

[HoBu]

Aah thank you, Jonathan183!!

I managed to boot from USB with Super Grub, but still having some problems.
I'm getting:

Booting "Super Grub Disk"
usbshift
Error 12: Invalid device requested
Press any key to continue...

Well I'm still working on it as I'm not familiar with Linux commands...

[HoBu]

You may have a Windows upgrade disk If I recall they don't work unless they see a windows boot installed.

Yep that's right, I've only got an OEM version for my laptop, and all of my original disks are in another country (as I am travelling at the moment)...