Power cut during WinXP repair

[magicdog]

I've got a nightmare on my hands - I was doing a repair of WinXP Pro from the CDROM and had a power cut.

I restarted the PC and it tried to resume the repair but couldn't see the C: partition.

I have tried a Win98SE boot floppy and ran Fdisk which showed a 3 partitions (correctly) including the C: partition in NTFS file format but I can't view the contents.

Is there a way round this hell?

Would something like NTFSdosPRO be able to restore the partition or MBR?

TIA

[andyms18a]

boot with the win xpcd and use the recovery concal to fix the mbr see this link http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314058

[magicdog]

Thanks for the help andyms18a.

Have you successfully done this?

[andyms18a]

yes about 100 times as i work for a big pc repair center only had one fail but hdd was damaged on that one fizzey drinks and laptop computers dont mix well

[magicdog]

I've tried to start from the WinXP CDROM and I chose the repair(R) option.
The PC only gets as far as the C:\> prompt and stops.

What now?

TIA

[andyms18a]

at the c:\prompt type fixmbr and hit enter if it gives you an error mesage right it down and post it hear

[magicdog]

Message is as follows:

**CAUTION**

This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record.

FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed.

This could cause all the partitions on the current hard disk to become inaccessible.

If you are not having problems accessing your drive, do not continue.

Are you sure you want to write a new MBR?



I have some very important data on the inaccessible partition (all other partitions are backed up).
Is this likely to work or am I facing a major headache?

I appreciate your help!

[andyms18a]

yes it should work as the error masage is telling you the mbr is damaged but if you want to be safe remove the hdd and put it as a slave drive to another winxp or 2k computer and copy your data accros be for you fix the mbr as it can go wrong if the drive is damaged

[magicdog]

It's a Seagate drive and I've already run their OnTrack diagnostics which came back with no errors after the complete test procedure.

I will try and copy the info but most PCs I plug it into can't see the partition.

[magicdog]

Oops - I forgot something...

I assume from what you're saying that if the HDD checks out OK, the MBR should be repaired without data loss?

TIA

[magicdog]

I've assumed the last bit in case you thought I might be putting you on the spot.

I've done the FIXMBR and all seems OK - the problem I have now is the repair re-starts (from the beginning) but freezes 2 minutes before completion.

Is it totalled or is there something else I can do?

[andyms18a]

now the mbr is fixed try and plug the drive in to another ntfs computer and see if you can copy the data you nead . next put the drive back in your computer and remove all pci cards ie soundcard modem network and any other add on cards you have unplug any printers and scaners and camers boot to the bios and disabble usb and any on board devices and the floppy drive
then boot with the xpcd and try a repair aggen. you say you was doing a repair and had a power cut so you had a problam be for the powercut and it may be that wich is keeping windows from finishing the repair

[magicdog]

I tried removing all the cards and disabling the USB ETC. from the BIOS but it freezes earlier now!

Is it possible to stop the repair from activating so I can start without the repair feature auto starting and just boot to the C: drive Windows installation?

Thanks again.

[andyms18a]

go to the bios and set first boot to hdd and see if it boots to windows all so what problam did you have befor the repair install ?

[mike breck]

Since you've already done a FIXMBR, I would also try a CHKDSK /R and FIXBOOT C: at the Recovery Console.

You've disabled any anti-virus settings in the BIOS?

Can you swap out your Ram or try a new stick.

[magicdog]

Greetings to my nightmare mike.

Guess what - I ran CHKDSK /R and FIXBOOT C: and it fired first time.
I'm not sure which one did it but I'm very grateful to you both for the help.

[mike breck]

Glad to hear your nightmare's over.



:)

[andyms18a]

glad to help magicdog it gows to show 2 heads are better than one as i forgot checkdisk and fix boot nice call mike

[magicdog]

No problem - we got there.

Thanks again!

[magicdog]

Can this procedure be done with Win2000?

TIA

[glc]

Yep, same procedure.

[magicdog]

Thanks for the prompt reply GLC.