MBR Problem.

[Mushin]

OK I just did a clean install of windows on a dell system from a dell system disc. Every thing went without a hitch and then all drivers were installed and the computer was updated to SP3 and such.

Now here is where the problem is... The computer will only boot to windows if the Dell System CD is in the drive.
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Here is what I know:

1.) Both CD and DVD are SATA and both are connected SATA0 and SATA1 with 0 being the hard drive and 1 being the DVD

2.) The BIOS is Set to Boot to the Hard Drive First

3.) The computer comes up with the prompt: :"Boot From CD:"
no matter what CD is in the drive.

4.) If you put in a Widnows Disc you with get the frist prompt "Boot to cd:" which I believe is actually coming from the boot sector of the hard drive and then it will try to boot from the CD-ROM this is will display the Windows Disc prompt Press any key to boot from CD.

5.) If there is not a Windows Disc in the drive you will get No boot Device Deteceted, Insert system disk..
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What I have done....

I have booted to recovery console and run fixmbr, fixboot, and I have rewritten the boot.ini file and none of those fixed the problem even though they ran properly.

I am at a loss of things to try... I am sure that is something that my foggy head is missing but I can't seem to think of a different approach.

What suggestions do you guys have?

Thanks
Phil




2.)

 

[PC Ops]

I'm under the impression that Dell doesn't have a regular mbr so fixmbr won't do good. Anyone?

I'm curious, what happens if you disconnect the dvd drive and then boot? What you describe is new to me

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

I would go back and test to see if the hard drive has failed. It's entirely possible that it has, but it is still possible to do things like repair the mbr.

And PCops there is no difference between an MBR on a Dell or HP or anything else.

 

[dk99]

Hi Mushin just out of curiosity did you change the boot order in the bios for the hard drive to be the first boot device and also if this dell has the o.s. install mode in the bios make sure it is turned off.

 

[fixitdaz]

Can You boot in to windows recovery console and type
CD .. (Enter)
ATTRIB -H C:\\boot.ini (Enter)
ATTRIB -S C:\\boot.ini (Enter)
ATRIB -R C:\\boot.ini (Enter)
del boot.ini (Enter)
BOOTCFG /Rebuild (Enter)
CHKDSK /R /F (Enter)
FIXBOOT (Enter)

This is providing that the hdd tests ok

Good look let us no how you get on.

 

[PC Ops]

I would go back and test to see if the hard drive has failed. It's entirely possible that it has, but it is still possible to do things like repair the mbr.

And PCops there is no difference between an MBR on a Dell or HP or anything else.

Thank you for changing your comment, I don't like flaming. FYI: Dell has custom mbr. If the posted problem is related to that I don't know.

 

[Mushin]

Wow quite a few questions here so let me answer all of them since this is a new issue to me.


--------------------------------
Question 1:
"I'm curious, what happens if you disconnect the dvd drive and then boot?"

Answer 1: I had done this and immediately get the "No boot Device" I do not get the boot to CD-ROM

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Question 2: "I would go back and test to see if the hard drive has failed. It's entirely possible that it has, but it is still possible to do things like repair the mbr."

Answer 2: Prior to the initial service the computer passed DFT. I ran it again and it passed DFT a second time.. The computer was brought in for service because someone told the customer to reinstall their OS to make it run faster. The customer tired and failed to install the OS. I reformatted and installed from scratch.

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Question 3 Part 1: did you change the boot order in the bios for the hard drive to be the first boot device.

Answer Question 3 Part 1: Yes the Hard drive has always been the first boot device. I typicly use F12 on Dell machines to sellect the boot device on startup rather than changing the BIOS. I checked more than 3 times.

Question 3 Part 2: "Also if this dell has the o.s. install mode in the bios make sure it is turned off "

Answer Question 3 Part 2: There is no option in the BIOS for this.

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Question 4:

Can You boot in to windows recovery console and type
CD .. (Enter)
ATTRIB -H C:\\boot.ini (Enter)
ATTRIB -S C:\\boot.ini (Enter)
ATRIB -R C:\\boot.ini (Enter)
del boot.ini (Enter)
BOOTCFG /Rebuild (Enter)
CHKDSK /R /F (Enter)
FIXBOOT (Enter)

Question 4 Answer: And I thought that this was going to be the winner! I had done something similar but did not change any attributes on the boot.ini and I never deleted the boot.ini. I ran though this exactly as you have with the excpetion of the obvious typo and it did not work.

Any other ideas?

 

[Mushin]

Thank you for changing your comment, I don't like flaming. FYI: Dell has custom mbr. If the posted problem is related to that I don't know.

To follow up with this.... I know that they have some custom partitions that are hidden... but a custom mbr? I really am not sure about that? I think that the way they point to the Dell partitions is through something in the BIOS... would it bit the called a BootStrap...? Where the BIOS provides that function key options and depending on what you press that is what takes you to that Dell system partitions versus it being the Master Boot Record?

Regardless the drive only has 1 partition with no dell stuff.

 

[fixitdaz]

with the excpetion of the obvious typo and it did not work.

Point out the typo i must have mud on my specks

I would try another hdd i now you sed it passed your test
the other option is to flash bios to see if it is corrupted and not booting from correct device

 

[PC Ops]

I

To follow up with this.... I know that they have some custom partitions that are hidden... but a custom mbr? I really am not sure about that? I think that the way they point to the Dell partitions is through something in the BIOS... would it bit the called a BootStrap...? Where the BIOS provides that function key options and depending on what you press that is what takes you to that Dell system partitions versus it being the Master Boot Record?

Regardless the drive only has 1 partition with no dell stuff.

The part about that 'Thank you for....' was not for you Mushin
This week I read an article about Dell using custom mbr but I'll be d@mned if I remember where I've read that I'll see if it comes back to me. I'll be keeping track of this thread, I'm puzzled by your problem...

Cheers.

 

[The Silent Hobo]

ok, here's a stupid question from me, have you tried just running the fixmbr command by itself in the recovery console mode?

Repairs the master boot record of the boot disk. The fixmbr command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console

from the Microsoft site.

I know I've ran into that problem a few times on my computer, and my parent's computer also.

Josh

 

[Elemdee]

I

The part about that 'Thank you for....' was not for you Mushin
This week I read an article about Dell using custom mbr but I'll be d@mned if I remember where I've read that I'll see if it comes back to me. I'll be keeping track of this thread, I'm puzzled by your problem...

Cheers.

Dell having a custom mbr has been mentioned several times in TN, including down the page in this thread: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?p=129737

And this I dug up:

If this is a Dell (I don't know cause you have not told us) then you may be looking at a PBR error.

Some Dell computers have a Proprietary Boot Record (in place of the standard MBR). If this is corrupt you may get this problem.

Boot the computer again and look carefully at that "PCX" error and see if it is not a PBR error.

Then post here again as I have a few resources to fix it.

 

[fixitdaz]

This might shed some light on your situation

 

[Mushin]

I

The part about that 'Thank you for....' was not for you Mushin
This week I read an article about Dell using custom mbr but I'll be d@mned if I remember where I've read that I'll see if it comes back to me. I'll be keeping track of this thread, I'm puzzled by your problem...

Cheers.

No.. No.. I know it was not for me. I was trying tofurther the discussion a bit because I know that they do have custom partitions... My point is... is it the MBR or the BIOS the points the system there. Obviousy the MBR could but I think a lower level bios bootstrap type of thing would be more logical.

 

[Mushin]

ok, here's a stupid question from me, have you tried just running the fixmbr command by itself in the recovery console mode?

from the Microsoft site.

I know I've ran into that problem a few times on my computer, and my parent's computer also.

Josh

YepI covered that in my origianl post. I ran... Fix MBR

 

[anth]

If you know for sure that your boot option are set correctly, then I would dban the disk and reinstall, formatting does not always clean the disk completely. Derek boot and nook, you will start with a clean drive. Other options is if you have not tried this or has not been mentioned is to try another drive.

 

[The Silent Hobo]

YepI covered that in my origianl post. I ran... Fix MBR

that was my mistake, i misread that as just fixboot, my apologies.

couple questions i do have is, what kind of dell is it and do you know if it had a restore partition on it. this site:

http://jim-zimmerman.com/?p=368

has to do with repairing a dell boot record to access the restore partition on it if there is one

*edit*
I think this may help you out, apparently Dell has an MBR fixer CD that you can download and burn to CD to fix the dell MBR's.

http://support.dell.com/support/top...8D6863EBF509D7DE040A68F5B286451&isLegacy=true

 

[Mushin]

Dell having a custom mbr has been mentioned several times in TN, including down the page in this thread: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?p=129737

And this I dug up:

We may be on the right track. I looked very very carefully and found!!!!!

That very briefly it displays a message "Starting cmain() ..... No PXE stack"
this does come up after the initial boot from CD message that is not coming from the Dell Windows CD.

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

Make sure in the bios that the hdd is set to AHCI or compatability. Not knowing the model, I can't say which. And even if there was a custom MBR, replacing it with a repaired one with a recovery disc wouldn't have an effect on overall functionality.

 

[PC Ops]

Dell having a custom mbr has been mentioned several times in TN, including down the page in this thread: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?p=129737:

Yep, that plus another off TN article is what I read. Thanks Elemdee, you've saved my life here :flowers:
Btw, when I type Elemdee on my Android phone the spelling corrector/ dictionary changes it into slender, lol.