Master Boot Record???/

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mel
  • Start date Start date
M

Mel

Hardware
HP Pavillion Ze4560US laptop
40 gig hd

If the machine is totally powered off it only boots to a black screen
and operating system not found.

If I reboot and go to CMOS settings, everything is recognized. System
shows boot from CD and then Hard Drive. If I save and exit from the
CMOS setting the machine will boot normally into windows.

This only happens from a complete power off. Once it is up and running
if I do a shutdown and restart it will start just fine.

My system clock is keeping perfect time so I don't suspect the CMOS
battery.

I wanted to use the recovery console to fix the MBR but I cannot get
it loaded from the XP Cd since I have Service Pak 2 installed.

Anyone have any ideas>

Could it be the Hard Drive on the way out?
 
Mel said:
Hardware
HP Pavillion Ze4560US laptop
40 gig hd

If the machine is totally powered off it only boots to a black screen
and operating system not found.

If I reboot and go to CMOS settings, everything is recognized. System
shows boot from CD and then Hard Drive. If I save and exit from the
CMOS setting the machine will boot normally into windows.

This only happens from a complete power off. Once it is up and running
if I do a shutdown and restart it will start just fine.

My system clock is keeping perfect time so I don't suspect the CMOS
battery.

I wanted to use the recovery console to fix the MBR but I cannot get
it loaded from the XP Cd since I have Service Pak 2 installed.

Anyone have any ideas>
Click to expand...

just for the heck of it
set the bios to boot first from harddrive
 
just for the heck of it
set the bios to boot first from harddrive
Click to expand...

Well I thought I would give it a try so I powered off completely and
figured that afer I get the No Operating system found error I would
then go to the BIOS setting, but for what ever reason it booted up
fine after a completre shutdown. Tested it 5 times. The Cmos still has
CD Rom first and hard drive second.

I hate unexplained things but then I always feel that it can happen
again at any time.
 
Mel said:
Hardware
HP Pavillion Ze4560US laptop
40 gig hd

If the machine is totally powered off it only boots to a black screen
and operating system not found.

If I reboot and go to CMOS settings, everything is recognized. System
shows boot from CD and then Hard Drive. If I save and exit from the
CMOS setting the machine will boot normally into windows.

This only happens from a complete power off. Once it is up and running
if I do a shutdown and restart it will start just fine.

My system clock is keeping perfect time so I don't suspect the CMOS
battery.

I wanted to use the recovery console to fix the MBR but I cannot get
it loaded from the XP Cd since I have Service Pak 2 installed.

Anyone have any ideas>

Could it be the Hard Drive on the way out?
Click to expand...

How about a HD not getting up to speed upon first being turned on?
This might be confirmed by extending your POST time via removing fast
boot or enabling the full test of RAM. This could be the first signs of
a failing HD.
 
Mel said:
Well I thought I would give it a try so I powered off completely and
figured that afer I get the No Operating system found error I would
then go to the BIOS setting, but for what ever reason it booted up
fine after a completre shutdown. Tested it 5 times. The Cmos still has
CD Rom first and hard drive second.

I hate unexplained things but then I always feel that it can happen
again at any time.
Click to expand...

You're right - it could re-occur and next time it might not boot up! I
strongly suggest that if you haven't already done so, you back up all your
valuable data to removable media and run the utility provided by the HDD
manufacturer to test the drive. If you have a S.M.A.R.T. option in the BIOS,
make sure its enabled. If its not to much effort for you or you have a
restore CD, you may even want to "zero fill" the drive with the
manufacturers utility (which will wipe it completely clean back to a state
similar to when it was new) and reinstall everything on the machine from
scratch.

FWIW I've used recovery console to do an MBR repair and I think the machine
had SP2 on it - what error did you get when you tried and have you searched
for this at the Microsoft Support Knowledgebase?

Paul
 
FWIW I've used recovery console to do an MBR repair and I think the machine
had SP2 on it - what error did you get when you tried and have you searched
for this at the Microsoft Support Knowledgebase?

Paul
Click to expand...

The eror said that my copy of windows was newer that the copy on the
cd. I suspect it was because of the service pak.
 
Back
Top