Hello Ilanrez
It sounds like you have a problem with your master boot record. What
you need to do is to follow these steps:
1) Insert your Windows XP CD into the computer.
2) Boot from the CD instead of your hard drive.
3) Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4) Log into your Windows installation.
5) Enter your administrator password.
6) Fix the Master Boot record by typing:
fixmbr
7) Remove your CD from the drive and reboot.
Fingers crossed and your computer will now boot into Windows with all
the new partitions.
If this has not solved the problem please ask for clarification and we
can work on this together. If this is the case can you please write
down all the error messages that you receive on the screen so that I
can work out exactly where you are in the process.
Good luck! |
Request for Answer Clarification by
ilanrez-ga
on
05 Jun 2004 12:36 PDT
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I already tried what you suggested and it
doesn't seem to solve the problem. One thing I forgot to mention is,
that when I was preparing to define a new partition, by mistake it
made the partition NTFS while my HD is Fat32. So after he finished
dividing the partitions I think it tried to boot with NTFS boot
commands. Is there any way to restore the boot files for FAT32 without
re-installing windows?
About re-installing, I tried that up to the point that it asks if I
want to reinstall or repeair windows, I tried choosing reinstall and
it gave me only one choise - to format my FAT32 partition as NTFS. I
then refused and went out of the install guide. But if I did choose to
reinstall windows would it have erased all the data on my HD? I
appologize for the long reply.
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Clarification of Answer by
palitoy-ga
on
05 Jun 2004 13:21 PDT
If you choose to reinstall Windows it will not erase your data UNLESS
you choose to reformat the hard drive. Have you tried to repair
Windows?
You will only lose the data if you reformat the drive so avoid doing
this at all costs.
I do not understand your question "Is there any way to restore the
boot files for FAT32 without re-installing windows?". If you have
told Partition Magic to format the drive to NTFS it will do exactly
that and all your data will be lost. Any hard drive can be formatted
to NTFS format or Fat32 but telling it to be formatted will lose all
your information.
What error messages are you now receiving? I am beginning to fear the
worst from your previous comments...
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Clarification of Answer by
palitoy-ga
on
05 Jun 2004 13:51 PDT
An additional thought... can you remember exactly what Partition Magic
did when it restarted your PC? This would definitely give some more
clues.
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Request for Answer Clarification by
ilanrez-ga
on
06 Jun 2004 10:39 PDT
Here's more or less what happened. I have a FAT32 40gb HD. I tried to
make a new 10gb partition using PM, only I didn't notice that it made
the new 10gb partition as NTFS. So after the new partition was made
the computer rebooted and froze - just the curser blinking on the
screen. I then entered with the PM rescue disks and saw that the new
partition was NTFS. I converted the new partition back to FAT32 and
merged back the partitions together. I ran an error check from the
rescue disks and it showed no errors on the hard drive, But the
computer still didn't boot. This led me to think that the computer
thinks he has an NTFS partition and it erased the FAT32 boot files for
NTFS boot files. (I am not sure if there is a difference between FAT32
and NTFS boot files). I then booted with the windows xp CD to try and
repair the system. First I tried to do CHKDSK but it gave a message
(roughly translated from portuguese) "The volume seems to contain one
or more Irreversible problems" I then tried FIXMBR and it gave a
message "This computer seems to have an invalid main initial
register.........Verify to continue?" So I verified and it gave a
message that the boot files were fixed succesfully. I then tried to
boot again with no success. I went back to boot with the rescue disks
of Partition magic and now it showed my whole hard drive as NTFS (!)
with critical errors.
Now I went back to booting from the windows xp CD, and instead of
repairing I chose to intall windows, but it said the this partition is
unknown or damaged and should be formatted. And it gave me 2 options,
to format it as NTFS or NTFS FAST, which I then canceled because I
think it will erase my HD. Is there any way to restore the boot files?
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Request for Answer Clarification by
ilanrez-ga
on
06 Jun 2004 10:48 PDT
I thought of something. Could I maybe create a new partition, install
windows on it, and then try to copy the data from the old partition to
the new one? And then delete and merge the old partition with the new
one? Would I be able to access the information from the old partition
after I created a new partition freshly installed witht windows xp?
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Clarification of Answer by
palitoy-ga
on
06 Jun 2004 10:53 PDT
Judging by your last comments it appears that the hard disk has become
corrupted during the Partition Magic process and it is very likely
that your data is corrupted. To recover the data is unfortunately
very difficult but can be done with the correct software (but is
beyond the scope of this question).
If the FAT32 drive was accidently labelled as NTFS in Partition Magic
(PM), PM will have formatted the drive and lost all your data.
To the best of my knowledge there is no easy way to restore the boot files.
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Request for Answer Clarification by
ilanrez-ga
on
06 Jun 2004 12:00 PDT
What about my comment on making a new partition, installing windows on
it, and then trying to recover the information from the old partition.
Would that work?
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Clarification of Answer by
palitoy-ga
on
06 Jun 2004 12:22 PDT
Sorry, I missed that idea... yes, that may work as long as the data is
still accessible (which it may not be as the boot sectors appear to be
corrupted). If you try to create a new partition now it may
over-write the data you wish to recover.
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Request for Answer Clarification by
ilanrez-ga
on
06 Jun 2004 13:02 PDT
Well, it didn't let me make a new partition so I had to format the
drive. Anyway, I will try to find a good recovery program and hope for
the best. Thanks for your help.
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Clarification of Answer by
palitoy-ga
on
07 Jun 2004 01:25 PDT
Sorry I could not provide a more positive solution but I wish you well
in recovering your data, I know how annoying it is to lose things. If
you have the time please let me know how you get on by posting a
clarification request or comment here.
Good luck!
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