Repair XP

[gale]

I have two boot options - XP & Recovery Console. Cannot boot into XP. Went into RC and ran the following commands (1) CHKDSK/R (2) FIXBOOT (3) FIXMBR.....
when I try to boot into XP the screen will give me a messsage that there is a MBR error. I copied NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM into my C: from my installation disc. Still no good. Tried to repair the XP install and was told that all that was available was a new install....
I would lose existing data. Trying not to do that. Any help. Thanks.

 

[LyricallyIsane1]

Go into command prompt & run chkdsk. On the prompt type chkdsk /f.This will repair your hard drive's corrupt boot sector & possibly your Master boot record (MBR). If that doesn't work then download a hard drive cloner & clone everything on your drive. by that I mean the operating system & other files you have in your hard drive. It's best that you back your files & just clone your operating system so that you can start out with a clean operating systen. After you have cloned whats on the hard drive,Format & partition your hardive or which ever comes first. Make sure you partition your hard drive 1/3 of your HD capacity. Then reinstall or put back the clone in your drive. your hard drive should be working good by now. if not buy another hard drive,equivalent to or bigger than your current one & put in the clone. I hope this helps.

 

[gale]

Thanks for replying. I thought of doing this but if I clone the drive it will still contain an OS that has been corrupted. So if I reinstall same I will have the same problem. Yes or no? Thanks again.

 

[LyricallyIsane1]

Its not your operating system thats corrupted,it's your hard drives Master boot record. It's that magnetic track thats corrupted. If any of that does not help then you may have to buy another hard drive. Usually when the MBR has errors that the drive may fail. Thats where that operating system resides. Once your hard drive fail you will lose everything,including your operarting system. Now you have nothing. Then you're gonna have to start from scratch or buy another PC.

 

[Rick]

There's another command here that may be of some use. It's bootcfg.