FIXBOOT and FIXMBR

Discussion in 'Software' started by dlb, Mar 17, 2008.

  1. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    I have a hard drive that isn't booting, and the CD drive isn't reading any CD's either, it's an older sony laptop. I have removed the HD and using a USB adapter, I have hooked it up to another PC. I can see the data on the drive and I ran chkdsk on it. I put it back into the Sony and it still doesn't boot; just a black screen with blinking cursor. Is there any way to repair the MBR or boot sector with the drive hooked up as a secondary/slave drive? I've tried to run FIXBOOT from the command prompt but it says "unrecognized command". Any ideas?

    BTW- I ran a drive fitness test and the HD passes 100%....
     
  2. biddy187

    biddy187 Private E-2

    Hi dlb ! Have you tried changing the cd rom to master Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console?
    Then after the installation list Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes)
    If not i have a copy of bootmaster i found it a while ago i have not tried it before but give it a wirl!

    http://dl.filekicker.com/send/file/198985-NYIK/bootmaster.zip

    Good Luck !!
     
  3. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    ....from the first post.... read more carefully next time ;)
     
  4. biddy187

    biddy187 Private E-2

    I did read that so its kaput! you can run bootmaster from a flash card of some sort has the bios got boot from usb card reader in the list?
     
  5. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    Nope. The laptop is too old. It doesn't have an option to boot from USB :(
    I have already moved on, however, I hooked up a used CD drive, and was able to boot to a CD and do a repair install of XP Home. But I'm having other issues now and have started a new thread..... thanks.

    EDIT- I downloaded bootmaster anyway and I'm checking it out now..... looks like it just might come in very handy someday! ;) Thanks for the link!
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2008
  6. subzero215

    subzero215 Private E-2

    I've found with vista recovery you need to enter bootrec.exe /fixmbr and/or bootrec.exe /fixboot

    You can enter just bootrec.exe and it will list the commands for bootrec.exe
     
  7. studiot

    studiot MajorGeek

    Don't forget that

    FIXMBR refers to the whole drive. The Master Boot Record is separate from tha partitions, and lists them.

    FIXBOOT refers to the first (boot) sector of a specific (hopefully bootable) partition which contains the boot code for the OS residing on that partition.

    And yes these commands are inappropriate to Vista you should use bootrec.
     
  8. Drizzles

    Drizzles First Sergeant

    Not even .exe just bootrec /fixmbr
    bootrec /fixboot
    bootrec /rebuildbcd

     

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