WinXP mbr fix

[easyrb]

My laptop goes thru boot up and welcome screen, then goes black. Last good is the same and safe mode goes thru listings then stops. So I quess the mbr is corrupted, I have the original recovery disk but would like to try to rescue without complete wipe out. I have read to use fixmbr, I don't have the startup disk, can I make one or down load one to attempt the fix or am just stuck with the redo? I tried my norton which just told me that there was no virus.

 

[Nodsu]

If you see the startup menu, then the MBR and the boot sector are fine. Your problem is somewhere else.

 

[easyrb]

Reload in order?

Am I to assume then I'll probably have just go ahead with the full recovery and wipe the disk? Because the recovery disk does not give any other choice no recovery console, only erase and reload from scratch.

 

[Nodsu]

First you should make sure that the problem is not with hardware. Test your system RAM with memtest86(+) and the hard drive with the manufacturer-provided utility. There's no point in doing anything with a system with bad RAM - you would only risk corrupting more data.

Some machines that come with a recovery partition also have the CD images of pure Windows in there. So you could access that partition from linux and make yourself a Windows CD. Or, you could just borrow or download a Windows CD. Make sure you get exactly the matching kind. OEM Professional or OEM Home most likely.

Or, of course, you could just wipe the thing and do a full restore. Or, copy off any valuable data using some CD linux before the restore..

 

[easyrb]

when I try to boot from normal or last good there is nothing on the screen after the windows timing/welcome screen. If i do a safe load the screen scrolls thru drivers and stops at the same place everytime. either way there is no going on. the manufacturer did not include the start up or oem disk just the preload and number. They say SOL, on the disk, you have to purchase what they should have provided, since it was already paid for.