Any way to delete a boot record?

[SithSolo1]

I just rebuilt my rig and I'm using a new SATA HD. Now I also have my old harddrive(IDE) installed because it has a large storage partition on it that I still have data on. Anyway my bios doesn't allow me to choose which HD to boot from so I figured if I could just get into windows and format the OS partition on the old drive it'd boot to the SATA drive all the time no problem, right? Wrong, when ever I have the old drive in there it tries to boot and then can't find what it needs and asks me to reboot. So, how do I fix this?

 

[stars]

Have you tried using fixboot in the recovery console?

 

[SithSolo1]

no, I've never used the recovery console before

 

[stars]

This link should help you use it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

 

[pcgeek11]

Link:

http://linuxgazette.net/issue63/okopnik.html

Linux-based solution

If you can still somehow fire up Linux - say, via Tom's Root-Boot floppy - you can simply invoke "dd", like so:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

Yep, that's it. That MBR is gone. Obviously, you have to be root to do this.


DOS-based solution

Boot with a DOS floppy that has "debug" on it; run "debug". At the '-' prompt, "block-fill" a 512-byte chunk of memory with zeroes:

f 9000:0 200 0

Start assembly mode with the 'a' command, and enter the following code:

mov dx,9000
mov es,dx
xor bx,bx
mov cx,0001
mov dx,0080
mov ax,0301
int 13
int 20

Press <Enter> to exit assembly mode, take a deep breath - and press "g" to execute, then "q" to quit "debug". Your HD is now in a virgin state, and ready for partitioning and installation.

Anybody that walks up with a DOS floppy can do this to your system in about a minute.

pcgeek11

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
Anyway my bios doesn't allow me to choose which HD to boot from ......

I didn't think that was possible! What motherboard is that?

 

[SithSolo1]

Originally posted by: Navid

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
Anyway my bios doesn't allow me to choose which HD to boot from ......

I didn't think that was possible! What motherboard is that?

I was being an idiot. You can't do it in the bios but during post there is an option for a boot menu. 😱

 

[travisray2004]

Useful hints. 🙂 thanks

 

[travisray2004]

Of course, i always tried fdisk /mbr to fix my boot record 🙂

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: travisray2004
Of course, i always tried fdisk /mbr to fix my boot record 🙂

That and the Recovery Console options (FIXBOOT and FIXMBR) are the easiest ways, assuming you have a WinXP CD around.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1

Originally posted by: Navid

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
Anyway my bios doesn't allow me to choose which HD to boot from ......

I didn't think that was possible! What motherboard is that?

I was being an idiot. You can't do it in the bios but during post there is an option for a boot menu. 😱

What motherboard?

 

[SithSolo1]

MSI Neo4 FI

Already broke it though, OC'd too high and knocked out the onboard audio. I just ordered a DFI Ultra-D to replace it.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
MSI Neo4 FI

Already broke it though, OC'd too high and knocked out the onboard audio. I just ordered a DFI Ultra-D to replace it.

I don't see how that motherboard would not have a boot priority list!
I will check it out when I get home when I have more time and post if I find it.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: A5

Originally posted by: travisray2004
Of course, i always tried fdisk /mbr to fix my boot record 🙂

That and the Recovery Console options (FIXBOOT and FIXMBR) are the easiest ways, assuming you have a WinXP CD around.

Does XP even support the fdisk command? I thought FDISK was a DOS/DOS-Mode command...

 

[Navid]

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/m.../mnu/spt_mnu_detail.php?UID=651&kind=1
This is the manual for K8N Neo4-FI.

If you look on page 50, you can see the section "Boot Sequence".
The last heading is for specifying the hard drive boot priority.

I don't know why you thought you could not choose which hard drive to boot.

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: A5

Originally posted by: travisray2004
Of course, i always tried fdisk /mbr to fix my boot record 🙂

That and the Recovery Console options (FIXBOOT and FIXMBR) are the easiest ways, assuming you have a WinXP CD around.

Original question was " Any way to delete a boot record? " wasn't it? FDISK only writes generic code into the first 512...

pcgeek