Is there a law against murdering your computer?

[Marshmallowman]

Since you have managed to resolve your windows partion problems, I think I'll have a shot at mine.

I have winxp installed on the first partition of my HDD, it was in good condition worked with no problems.
(hda) primary onboard master (single drive)

The only other drive is a 160G SATA with no OS's just data and programs.

I install linux mandrake 10.0 without formating the parttions(9.2 already installed I just installed over top). Win XP still working no problems.

So I decide to do a clean install of mdk 10, first one was a practice run I reformat parttion 2 and 3 (linux swap and rieser fs) everything installs fine, mandrake plays unreal ut2k4 and my video capture work..I feel chuffed.

I try booting in winxp and I get a black screen

My thinking is that the parttion table has changed and winxp had lost the plot.

I try fixboot /mbr and fix bootsector and then even boolcfg recovery stuff, everytime I try to boot into winxp its either black screen or missing ntldr.

I have tried a repair install, but the same thing happens, all the files copy over happily but I get a black screen on reboot.

I can see all the files in the C drive and they all seem intact, in fact I copied a few into linux to try out winex ( gta3,gtaVC Half life, TA all work well under winex )

I did allow windows to complete redo its bootloader ( I have a good custom mdk 10 bootdisk so reinstalling lilo is no problem)

My boot.ini is the same as the one shown above,

I would like to save this install as it seems intact it's just seems to be in limbo.state right now.

[tonny]

Helevitia: thanks
btw, I though you wanted to salvage your current OS.

Marshmallowman:
If your WinXP partition is the first on the HDD then it doesn't matter how the other partitions are changed.
You problem is not related to boot.ini because if it compains that it cannot find NTLDR, it didn't get to reading boot.ini yet (NTLDR does).
You should check to see which partition/disk LILO is trying to boot from. The code in the boot sector of NTFS partitions (and FAT32 partitions formatted under Win2k/XP) always tries to load NTLDR even if that partition never had Windows on it.

Allthough less probable, your NTLDR may really be missing or may be corrupt. It should be in the root directory of the partition and should have 233,632 bytes in size. Neither FIXBOOT, FIXMBR nor BOOTCFG check NTLDR or copy it in case it is missing, you will have to do it.
You can find NTLDR on the WinXP CD in the \i386 folder (the NTLDR version that comes with Win2k is not compatible with WinXP, only vice versa). It is not compressed like most other files in the WinXP kit so you can copy it as it is.
There's no harm in overwriting the current NTLDR with the one on the WinXP CD so you can do it just to be sure it is not damaged.



P.S. don't you ppl kill your computers yet. There is a "logical" explanation for everything

[The PIT]

Originally posted by tonny
P.S. don't you ppl kill your computers yet. There is a "logical" explanation for everything

Oh no not that quote again. Sometimes things defy logic.

[tonny]

Originally posted by The PIT
Oh no not that quote again. Sometimes things defy logic.

hence the quotes

[Maggi]

Hi Guys,

everybody that's still using Ghost, should have a very close look at this project, seriously.

http://www.sysresccd.org/

[Marshmallowman]

tonny, I have already done that. I even copied the the ntldr and ntdect from the cd.

But the best I get is is a black screen.

I have copied the C: drive to a spare partttion and have formatted useing FAT32 (was ntfs) and will try a reinstall again tonight...When I tried last night the windows installer would simple refuse to run, gets to detecting hardware and then black screens. either it don't like linux formatted fat32 partitions or it can't deal with a 40G fat 32 partition?.

Windows sux.

[DGhost]

i've found thermite grenades work particularly well for destroying equipment :P

[The PIT]

Some students at work are having the same problems. So it's either a corrupt hard drive or a virus thats been having a chew.
However since the installer wouldn't run it looks like either faulty mem or hardware thats gone duff.

[Marshmallowman]

Tried the a sp2 winxp and the installer started up, but the same problem on reboot it black screened.

So fdisked everything out with a win 98 fdisk (where's the fecking xp cosole / recovery fdisk !!!)

Lo and behold winxp boots, install linux then it black screens again..

So fdisk back to nothing, setup my linux partiton's at the begining of the drive and do a quick token linux mdk install

Now I install winxp as the last parttion (winxp is relegated to the arse end).
of the drive...it boots YAY, it boots a windows installed on the "G:" drive and no C: drive....FFS WTF

but both win and linux do boot.(i think thats progress

Reinstall winxp(#6) on the same partition(reformated) but make sure it IS C: and stays as C:
So now it is booting as c: and all the linux parttions are in place but I am getting a flamethrower ready if winxp black screen when I install the lilo bootloder.