Can't boot after partition resize with Partition Magic

[Hamhound]

I should have left well enough alone.
New XP home system was working fine with a WD 120GB S-ATA as the boot drive and a Maxtor 60GB as the Primary IDE Master. I somehow ended up with a single full 120GB partition and wanted to resize it to allow for another partition or two with the balance unallocated
Using the omnipotent Partition Magic for the 1st time, I started the resize to 20GB and it warned me that the partition was not 'active'. So, I tried to make it active but the partition menu would not allow it (greyed out). So, I assummed it was active or I would not have been able to boot in the first place. The resize took a few minutes and computer rebooted after a restart.

Then the fun started one I shutdown and started again. BIOS sends me to a screen telling me Windows cannot start and offers SafeMode, Last Known Good etc. None work. Trying Safe mode leads to a B&W screen full of lines like: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows\System32\DriversXXXX.dll, etc.
I cannot make BIOS see this drive but trying various recovery techniques, they all show the problem HDD and the resized partition. One shows the MBR as Type 7, Bootable (true) Begin CHS 011, etc etc.

So, anyone want to tell me an idea or is it easier to tell me to try to reinstall XP. Not even sure how to reinstall it without fumbling around but can try if all else fails.

Like I said, I should have left it alone.

Thanks in advance..
Al

[jimmyrules712]

well it sounds like a mess i wouldnt necessarily blame PMagic on, but however you got into it, i dont think i can really tell how to fix it without being on the computer looking at it.

In my opinion, if your info on the HDs isn't important, I would reinstall the OS, If you sucsefully created separate partitions, you only have to reformat one for the OS.

However maybe this is fixable, if youd rather fix i guess wait for other people's opinions.

[glc]

You did make the PM emergency recovery floppies, right?

[Hamhound]

Yes, I did make the floppies but have put them in to see what they do! I assume ther are boot floppies and will try them later todcay when I come home from work.
I will lose no useful data if i start over as the Data is on the other drive. I will still need to figure out just how to start over unless it is obvious by simply putting in the XP disk and following the instructions. More later tonite and thanks. Al

[glc]

The floppies will let you undo your changes.

[Hamhound]

That would be really nice, it it can be done by 'somebody like me'! I was pretty proud to have built my first PC ever, with two drives including a S-ATA, and had it all work perfectly first time out. Now, I have besmirched my fledgling reputation!
More later...

[glc]

Partition Magic is a very powerful program. It can be a technician's best friend, but also his worst enemy if used improperly. Been there, done that.

[Hamhound]

I guess I am not a technician!
I used the PM diskettes and got into their menus. Nothing at looked like a simple 'go back' or similar. Checking the disk, though, did reveal an error 1516: partition improperly dismounted. Went online and got two suggestions.
1. Run a chkdsk /f. Fine, but nothing told me how to get to the c: prompt to do it! So, I popped in the XP install disk and selected repair console and seem to have gotten the C propmpt. But no matter how I typed, I couldn't get it to recognize and run this chkdsk /f. Help said I had choice of /p, or /r. I ran them in that order and it reported a bunch of info on sizes and numbers of clusters and bytes, etc, but did no hint of an error.
2. Said to run PM with the /IFC switch. Said to use the PM diskettes again and end up typing pqmagic /ifc and ENTER. This did nothing but run the same PM from the diskettes.

Finally, I played without changes in the menus and in Resize, it showed current size and asked for new sizes. It also gave Information: This partition crosses the 1024 cyliner boundary and may not be bootable.

Interesting and I have no idea what the heck to do with that nugget!

Care to take another shot?

Lastly, can I make this drive a slave, put in a drive with a good OS and boot from the new master? Probabaly Yes. Can I then go in and retrieve what little data that I may want to save before doing a complete start over on the problem disk? In other words, I may not be able to boot, but can I see its files and explore it?

Thanks again.Al

[glc]

Lastly, can I make this drive a slave, put in a drive with a good OS and boot from the new master? Probabaly Yes. Can I then go in and retrieve what little data that I may want to save before doing a complete start over on the problem disk? In other words, I may not be able to boot, but can I see its files and explore it?

That's what I'd do if you can't use the floppies to put the partitions back the way they were. Slave the drive into a working system. If it's too screwed up to see the files, then it's time for PC Inspector or some other data recovery program. Get your data off, then you can play with PM all you want and not worry about making it worse.

[Hamhound]

Thanks, GLC. What I can try, but have not tried, is to change the resized partition back to the original size using the diskettes. I was looking for some 'undo' function but perhaps I must decide what to undo and try it. If it does not work, no big deal.
Since I have a slave drive already in this machine, why not make it master, install XP on that one in an unallocated space and then try to explore the otherr drive? Then, no need to move the hardware from case to case. Anyway, your comments have been appreciated.

Best, Al