Help! Master Boot Record problem?

[morfinx]

My 40GB primary HD (EIDE) is failing, so I got a 160GB (SATA) to replace it. I wanted to keep all of my settings so I don't want to do a refresh install.

I used a free partition cloning software (drvclonerxp) to clone the boot partition to my new HD. I then went into WinXP recovery console, and did "fixboot" and "fixmbr" on the new partition. Long story short, 8 hrs later, I can now boot into the new partition, but only by booting into the old HD first, whose boot.ini I edited to direct the boot path to the new HD. If I try to boot directly from the new HD, then nothing happens, system just hangs and the boot menu never comes up. I thought it could be the MBR, so I went into recovery console and did "fixmbr" again, still no go. What can I do to fix this?

P.S. in Disk Management, it shows my old HD as the "System" partition, and my new HD as the "Boot" partition.

 

[Blain]

If your Windows is loaded on a 40GB HD it's got some age on it...
Bite the bullet and do a fresh install. :laugh:

 

[ShellGuy]

or ou can do a image with a program like Acronis Trueimage and have no real issues what so ever....



Will G.

 

[mc866]

Acronis Trueimage FTW, you can actually get version 7 for free.


http://www.acronis.com/mag/vnu-ati7

 

[morfinx]

Upon further research on the XP boot sequence, it appears that NTLDR is where it's hanging. This is evidenced by the fact if I set the 2nd partition on the new HD active, and try to boot, it gives me "NTLDR missing". I found this MS knowledge base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/314503

If you can start the computer from the boot disk without receiving an error message, the damage is limited to the master boot record, the boot sector, or the NTLDR file.

That's indeed what happens. The thing is, I've repaired the boot sector (fixboot) and the MBR (fixmbr), as well as replaced NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM from the WinXP SP2 CD. I'm really baffled at this.

I don't want to go the acronis route yet, since that will erase all my work for the last 8 hrs But I will try it if all else fails.

P.S. could it be a problem if my primary is SATA and storage HD is EIDE?

 

[morfinx]

Update: I've created a bootloader CD. I then disconnected the old HD from the system. I can now boot from the boot CD into my new HD. Kind of a workaround I suppose, until I can figure out why the bootloader isn't working on the new HD.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated

 

[pcgeek11]

I think that the problem was caused because Windows XP has the DiskID numbers mixed up due to the software and method you used to clone the drive before you cloned your old one onto it. Now that is stored in the registry of the cloned drive also.

Try this:

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

See what it does.

pcgeek11

 

[morfinx]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11
I think that the problem was caused because Windows XP has the DiskID numbers mixed up due to the software and method you used to clone the drive before you cloned your old one onto it. Now that is stored in the registry of the cloned drive also.

Try this:

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

See what it does.

pcgeek11

Thanks for the tip. But I forgot to mention I've already done that.

I've spent over 20 hrs on this, and I got really tired of it. So I just reinstalled XP. I should do that anyways probably, since I'm also switching mobo and all.

The weird thing is, I opened up disk manangement after the install, and it says my boot partition is my 1st partition, but my system partition is my 2nd partition? I look on the 2nd partition, and sure enough, NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM are both there. Why in the world would XP install the bootloader onto the 2nd partition when I specified to install onto the first partition?

 

[Bozo Galora]

when installing XP was your bios set to SATA boot
Was first SATA partition set active?
is the IDE drive still connected jumpered as master? Or is it gone now?

Edit - need a screenie of disk manager

 

[morfinx]

Sorry about the confusion. At this point I've given up on trying to save my settings and did a fresh install of XP, with ONLY the SATA drive attached. I have it in two partitions, one 60GB, one 100GB (well 90GB but you know what I mean). I told XP setup to install on the first partition (C. The odd thing is, although it installed Windows XP on the 1st partition, it put the boot loader (ntldr & ntdetect.com & boot.ini) on the 2nd partition. Going into disk managment, it shows C: as a logical drive and also the boot drive. It shows D: as a primary drive and the system drive. I don't understand why it did such a thing.

 

[Bozo Galora]

well thats your prob
cant boot from logical
you need Partition Magic or something to make C primary/active and D extended-logical and the reinstall XP again

what did you use to format SATA?

 

[morfinx]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
well thats your prob
cant boot from logical
you need Partition Magic or something to make C primary and D extended-logical and the reinstall XP again

what did you use to format SATA?

Hehe I know I can't boot from logical, I'm just trying to finding why XP Setup did what it did. Basically partition 2 was NTFS with some data on it already. I used XP Setup and deleted partition 1, and then told it to install XP on it.

 

[Bozo Galora]

I have never used XP setup to "delete" a partition
how do you install XP on a partition that isnt there?

 

[morfinx]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
I have never used XP setup to "delete" a partition
how do you install XP on a partition that isnt there?

It formats it for you first.

I don't have a whole lot of important stuff on the second partition, I think I'll just wipe everything and start all over again. Sigh, all this work to avoid doing that, and still I cannot escape my fate

 

[Bozo Galora]

Not to drag this out, but you have to make a partition before you format it
I think you meant "wipe the partition"
You can use disk manager to delete a partition, then the drive expands the remaining partition

 

[morfinx]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
Not to drag this out, but you have to make a partition before you format it
I think you meant "wipe the partition"
You can use disk manager to delete a partition, then the drive expands the remaining partition

XP Setup contains a partition utility. I just deleted all of the partitions, and repartitioned the HD. It's formatting the primary partition right now to get ready to install XP. Then it's on to endless updates and patches *dread*

EDIT: I just reread my last post and realized what you are asking. That time I deleted the partition and then recreated a partition of the same size, then XP setup formatted it.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Oh OK - thats better
FWIW seagate disk wizard on floppy with quick format option takea about 2 seconds

 

[morfinx]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
Oh OK - thats better
FWIW seagate disk wizard on floppy with quick format option takea about 2 seconds

XP Setup also has a quick format option, that's what I used last time. I'm not taking any chances this time, doing a full format

 

[Bozo Galora]

Heh heh

I always make 4.5 GB partitions for my O/S (including multiboots), and only put basic apps like winrar nero etc there. Prevents this kinda stuff.
Using True Image 10.0 it takes about 2 min to transfer to DVD (since part is actually never full), and another 2 min to transfer back after a quick format of that partition. I make one DVD every week or so.

I prefer backups to cloning.

 

[morfinx]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
Heh heh

I always make 4.5 GB partitions for my O/S (including multiboots), and only put basic apps like winrar nero etc there. Prevents this kinda stuff.
Using True Image 10.0 it takes about 2 min to transfer to DVD (since part is actually never full), and another 2 min to transfer back after a quick format of that partition. I make one DVD every week or so.

I prefer backups to cloning.

I made the OS partition 60GB in anticipation of Vista. Got a HDCP video card and a HDCP monitor, so I'm ready to rock