damaged MBR

M

Martok

New Member
Hello,
On my Acer One I had dual boot : Linux / winXP
I decided I had enough of Linux a wanted to merge the partitions. I so used partition master.
Fatal mistake... I didn't fix the mbr so now the grub is missing and the PC unbootable. I read around forums and it seems every1 is suggesting to use the win DVD disk to open the restore console, but as the Acer one is a netbook it has no disk drive... the original win is still there in a special partition somewhere ...
How will I come out of this mess? Poswible to boot from USB?
Help! Thanks
 
you will need to reinstall your Linux, boot to windows, merge partitions again, but before you shutdown, download easyBCD and reinstall the windows MBR.
 
wolfeking said:
you will need to reinstall your Linux, boot to windows, merge partitions again, but before you shutdown, download easyBCD and reinstall the windows MBR.
Click to expand...

He can probably do all this from a liveCD. Use Gparted for partition management if needed, and then download easyBCD and run it.
 
It didn't work... Like I said, the mess started when i used partition master in WinXP to eliminate the linux partition. Now I tried to use gparted from Either ubuntu or easypeasy live but it does not allow me to modify the main partition in order to create one for linux. The other partition is the Acer recovery partition. And i cant install linux in either one of those... To make it short, there is not at all the option in gparted to modify the partition... only to erase it. I have no datas i need to save on my Win, but if i erase the partition i will not be able to re-install WinXP.
So here is the question: do you know a way to fix mbr also back to grub, just in any linux live version?
Or is WinXP bootable and/or installable from usb?
 
did you make a liveCD and boot onto it by changing the boot options in your bios, then you can make it into a new partition and all and find a program to delete the other partitions, could basically format the hdd and then install ubuntu onto it.
 
Yeah being it a netbook i booted from usb and used ubuntu live. Point is that it wont allow the resize the partition. Deleting the partition is exactly what i try to avoid because if there is no more any WinXP installed, i will not have the "Acer recovery" option, and without that one i wont be able to re-install Windows... My goal is to restore MBR so that i can have windows on its own partition... It seems to be some error on the partition though, and that is the key to all of the problem. I need to restore grub or any boot loader from a ubuntu live version, or to erase the partition and find a way to install Windows from usb...
 
Get supergrubdisk and run through that. It literally walks you through everything, whether you want to reinstall grub, the MBR for windows, or both.
 
I tried to use universal USB installer to boot SGD from pendrive, but i get the following message on boot: SYSLINUX 3.86 2010-04-01 EBIOS COPYRIGHT etc etc... [...] No DEFAULT or UI configuration directive found!
Boot:_

if i use unetbootin it stays stuck at the copyright thing.... i feel we are getting closer guys! give me a hand! :)
 
Is there a restore option when booting? Usually there is a hidden repair partition.

Otherwise, on another computer with a USB:

  1. Download the following zip and extract it UsbRecoverySata.zip
  2. Run hpusbfw.exe, Select your USB, pick FAT32 for the file system and the enter any volume label press start and it will begin to format your drive
  4. Open a CMD window start -> Search -> CMD, Drag bootsect.exe over onto the cmd window and it should print the path to bootsect.exe append it with the switch /nt52 and the letter of your flash drive e.g

    bootsect.exe /nt52 H:

  5. Copy all the files from the folder "Copy the files inside me too your flash drive" to your flash drive
  6. Then double click on TinyHexer.exe
  7. Go to file > disk > open drive and select your flash drive
  8. Once its opened go to edit > find/replace check the "find text" and "ignore case" boxes type NTLDR into the text box then press find.
  9. Press the replace button check "is text" box and enter CMLDR into the text box then press replace all
  10. Now go to file > save as and save it too your flash drive under the file name USBLDR

    Now on the broken pc reboot your computer tab f12 and select boot from usb storage it should load up the windows xp recovery console
  11. Then enter the recovery console and type: fixmbr
  12. Remove USB and type exit

Reboot - hope it works for you.
 
I solved it mounting Rescatux on pendrive with unetbootin before reading your suggestion. It restored the win MBR and everything is peachy.
Thanks every1 for your ideas! Without your input i'd never have thought of rescatux! Anyway i think there should be a sticky post about these various solutions to restore a damaged MBR.
Thanks!
 
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