System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fixmbr

December 9, 2007

All I get is a blinking cursor. Here's what happened:

Just finished a fresh single-partition NTFS-format and Windows 2000 SP4

install on a Maxtor 80gb IDE drive, fully Windows-Updated it, and loaded up a

suite of programs. During the numerous reboots required, it always booted

fine and everything was running smoothly.

From the C: drive Properties/Tools menu in Explorer, ran Error checking

(with no switches); it reported no problems. Then ran Defragment in analyze

mode. It reported bad fragmentation, so I booted into Safe Mode (for access

to as much of the disk as possible), deleted as many temp files as I could

find (Temp Internet files, \Docs & Settings\Administrator\Local

settings\Temp, \WINNT\Temp), and ran Defragment.

It defragged fine, very clean-looking result, then ran Error checking again

with no switches, it reported no problems. Next step was to create a

Emergency Repair Disk, but unfortunately I rebooted first.

Now the disk won't boot: I get a blinking cursor in the upper-left corner,

which quickly drops down to a second line, and remains blinking; no progress

from there.

My inclination is to run the Recovery Console from the boot disks, and my

question is which command should I run from there: Fixboot or FixMBR?

I don't want to make unnecessary changes to either one. MS-KB and elsewhere

seem to indicate that FixMBR is more for virus damage to the MBR.

I can run the drive as a slave from another disk (with the same OS install):

Error checking still reports no problems, Defrag analyze mode reports the

same clean result, all files (including the C:\root) look intact and read

fine from Explorer, and an Avira virus scan detects nothing.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fixmbr

"reported bad fragmentation"

This doesn't sound right. How big is the boot partition?

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"zeke7" wrote:

> All I get is a blinking cursor. Here's what happened:

>

> Just finished a fresh single-partition NTFS-format and Windows 2000 SP4

> install on a Maxtor 80gb IDE drive, fully Windows-Updated it, and loaded

> up a

> suite of programs. During the numerous reboots required, it always booted

> fine and everything was running smoothly.

>

> From the C: drive Properties/Tools menu in Explorer, ran Error checking

> (with no switches); it reported no problems. Then ran Defragment in

> analyze

> mode. It reported bad fragmentation, so I booted into Safe Mode (for

> access

> to as much of the disk as possible), deleted as many temp files as I could

> find (Temp Internet files, \Docs & Settings\Administrator\Local

> settings\Temp, \WINNT\Temp), and ran Defragment.

>

> It defragged fine, very clean-looking result, then ran Error checking

> again

> with no switches, it reported no problems. Next step was to create a

> Emergency Repair Disk, but unfortunately I rebooted first.

>

> Now the disk won't boot: I get a blinking cursor in the upper-left corner,

> which quickly drops down to a second line, and remains blinking; no

> progress

> from there.

>

> My inclination is to run the Recovery Console from the boot disks, and my

> question is which command should I run from there: Fixboot or FixMBR?

>

> I don't want to make unnecessary changes to either one. MS-KB and

> elsewhere

> seem to indicate that FixMBR is more for virus damage to the MBR.

>

> I can run the drive as a slave from another disk (with the same OS

> install):

> Error checking still reports no problems, Defrag analyze mode reports the

> same clean result, all files (including the C:\root) look intact and read

> fine from Explorer, and an Avira virus scan detects nothing.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

By 'bad' I mean there was a lot of red in the initial Defrag Analysis

display. It was all cleaned up and changed to blue after completing defrag.

The disk was formatted while running as a slave drive from Explorer in

another installation of Windows 2000 SP4. Since the Explorer format menu

provides no partition option, it's presumably a single partition of the full

80 gb (ie, 74.5 gb). That's the drive's capacity as reported by Explorer

Properties. Used the default Format menu settings: NTFS, 4096-byte

allocation, no quick format.

The C:\ root system files appear intact. I'm unsure whether to run Fixboot,

FixMBR, or both.

"Dave Patrick" wrote:

> "reported bad fragmentation"

>

> This doesn't sound right. How big is the boot partition?

>

> --

>

> Regards,

>

> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> Microsoft Certified Professional

> Microsoft MVP [Windows]

> http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> "zeke7" wrote:

> > All I get is a blinking cursor. Here's what happened:

> >

> > Just finished a fresh single-partition NTFS-format and Windows 2000 SP4

> > install on a Maxtor 80gb IDE drive, fully Windows-Updated it, and loaded

> > up a

> > suite of programs. During the numerous reboots required, it always booted

> > fine and everything was running smoothly.

> >

> > From the C: drive Properties/Tools menu in Explorer, ran Error checking

> > (with no switches); it reported no problems. Then ran Defragment in

> > analyze

> > mode. It reported bad fragmentation, so I booted into Safe Mode (for

> > access

> > to as much of the disk as possible), deleted as many temp files as I could

> > find (Temp Internet files, \Docs & Settings\Administrator\Local

> > settings\Temp, \WINNT\Temp), and ran Defragment.

> >

> > It defragged fine, very clean-looking result, then ran Error checking

> > again

> > with no switches, it reported no problems. Next step was to create a

> > Emergency Repair Disk, but unfortunately I rebooted first.

> >

> > Now the disk won't boot: I get a blinking cursor in the upper-left corner,

> > which quickly drops down to a second line, and remains blinking; no

> > progress

> > from there.

> >

> > My inclination is to run the Recovery Console from the boot disks, and my

> > question is which command should I run from there: Fixboot or FixMBR?

> >

> > I don't want to make unnecessary changes to either one. MS-KB and

> > elsewhere

> > seem to indicate that FixMBR is more for virus damage to the MBR.

> >

> > I can run the drive as a slave from another disk (with the same OS

> > install):

> > Error checking still reports no problems, Defrag analyze mode reports the

> > same clean result, all files (including the C:\root) look intact and read

> > fine from Explorer, and an Avira virus scan detects nothing.

>

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

You can use the Disk Management snap-in to manage disks in Windows

Start|Run|diskmgmt.msc

Better to let Windows setup create and format the partition for you. If this

80 gB partition or the system partition is part of a disk larger than ~136

gB in size then you now know the problem.

Also be aware that Microsoft use the term boot partition for the partition

where the operating system is installed, while the system partition is the

first primary active partition (where the boot sector and files required to

start the operating system reside) The system and boot partition can be

one-and-the-same.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"zeke7" wrote:

> By 'bad' I mean there was a lot of red in the initial Defrag Analysis

> display. It was all cleaned up and changed to blue after completing

> defrag.

>

> The disk was formatted while running as a slave drive from Explorer in

> another installation of Windows 2000 SP4. Since the Explorer format menu

> provides no partition option, it's presumably a single partition of the

> full

> 80 gb (ie, 74.5 gb). That's the drive's capacity as reported by Explorer

> Properties. Used the default Format menu settings: NTFS, 4096-byte

> allocation, no quick format.

>

> The C:\ root system files appear intact. I'm unsure whether to run

> Fixboot,

> FixMBR, or both.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

On Dec 9, 4:34 pm, "Dave Patrick" <DSPatr...@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:

> You can use the Disk Management snap-in to manage disks in Windows

>

> Start|Run|diskmgmt.msc

>

> Better to let Windows setup create and format the partition for you. If this

> 80 gB partition or the system partition is part of a disk larger than ~136

> gB in size then you now know the problem.

>

> Also be aware that Microsoft use the term boot partition for the partition

> where the operating system is installed, while the system partition is the

> first primary active partition (where the boot sector and files required to

> start the operating system reside) The system and boot partition can be

> one-and-the-same.

>

> --

>

> Regards,

>

> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> Microsoft Certified Professional

> Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> "zeke7" wrote:

> > By 'bad' I mean there was a lot of red in the initial Defrag Analysis

> > display. It was all cleaned up and changed to blue after completing

> > defrag.

>

> > The disk was formatted while running as a slave drive from Explorer in

> > another installation of Windows 2000 SP4. Since the Explorer format menu

> > provides no partition option, it's presumably a single partition of the

> > full

> > 80 gb (ie, 74.5 gb). That's the drive's capacity as reported by Explorer

> > Properties. Used the default Format menu settings: NTFS, 4096-byte

> > allocation, no quick format.

>

> > The C:\ root system files appear intact. I'm unsure whether to run

> > Fixboot,

> > FixMBR, or both.

Thanks for that partition info. Any advice on how to get this disk

booting again? AS noted, all files appear intact.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Not really. Not without some details. Where is system partition and disk

capacity?

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"zeke7" wrote:

> Thanks for that partition info. Any advice on how to get this disk

> booting again? AS noted, all files appear intact.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

On Dec 9, 5:07 pm, "Dave Patrick" <DSPatr...@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:

> Not really. Not without some details. Where is system partition and disk

> capacity?

>

> --

>

> Regards,

>

> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> Microsoft Certified Professional

> Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> "zeke7" wrote:

> > Thanks for that partition info. Any advice on how to get this disk

> > booting again? AS noted, all files appear intact.

Dave: Disk Management reports the following, same size as what

Explorer's Properties did:

Volume: Maxtor 80 (G:)

Layout: Partition

Type: Basic

File System: NTFS

Status: Healthy

Capacity: 74.55 GB

Free Space: 66.74 GB

% Free: 89%

Fault Tolerance: no

Overhead: 0%

No other volumes/disks for this drive are reported by the DM snap-in.

The graphical view display the entire drive with a dark-blue 'title

bar', indicating a Primary Partition. Its label says:

Disk 0

Basic

74.55 GB

Online

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

On Dec 9, 6:15 pm, zeke7 <zekeba...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Dec 9, 5:07 pm, "Dave Patrick" <DSPatr...@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:

>

> > Not really. Not without some details. Where is system partition and disk

> > capacity?

>

> > --

>

> > Regards,

>

> > Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> > Microsoft Certified Professional

> > Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> > "zeke7" wrote:

> > > Thanks for that partition info. Any advice on how to get this disk

> > > booting again? AS noted, all files appear intact.

>

> Dave: Disk Management reports the following, same size as what

> Explorer's Properties did:

>

> Volume: Maxtor 80 (G:)

> Layout: Partition

> Type: Basic

> File System: NTFS

> Status: Healthy

> Capacity: 74.55 GB

> Free Space: 66.74 GB

> % Free: 89%

> Fault Tolerance: no

> Overhead: 0%

>

> No other volumes/disks for this drive are reported by the DM snap-in.

> The graphical view display the entire drive with a dark-blue 'title

> bar', indicating a Primary Partition. Its label says:

> Disk 0

> Basic

> 74.55 GB

> Online

Some more data, from right-clicking Properties on the graphical view

disk label:

Disk: Disk 0

Type: Basic

Status: Online

Capacity: 76338 MB

Unallocated Space: 0MB

Device Type IDE (Port:0, Target ID: 0, LUN:0)

Hardware Vendor: MAXTOR 6L080L4

Adapter Name: Primary IDE Channel

Volumes contained on this disk:

Maxtor 80 (G:) Capacity: 76338 MB

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Where is the system partition? What size is the disk it resides on?

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"zeke7" wrote:

> Dave: Disk Management reports the following, same size as what

> Explorer's Properties did:

>

> Volume: Maxtor 80 (G:)

> Layout: Partition

> Type: Basic

> File System: NTFS

> Status: Healthy

> Capacity: 74.55 GB

> Free Space: 66.74 GB

> % Free: 89%

> Fault Tolerance: no

> Overhead: 0%

>

> No other volumes/disks for this drive are reported by the DM snap-in.

> The graphical view display the entire drive with a dark-blue 'title

> bar', indicating a Primary Partition. Its label says:

> Disk 0

> Basic

> 74.55 GB

> Online

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

On Dec 9, 6:23 pm, zeke7 <zekeba...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Dec 9, 6:15 pm,zeke7<zekeba...@gmail.com> wrote:

>

> > On Dec 9, 5:07 pm, "Dave Patrick" <DSPatr...@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:

>

> > > Not really. Not without some details. Where is system partition and disk

> > > capacity?

>

> > > --

>

> > > Regards,

>

> > > Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> > > Microsoft Certified Professional

> > > Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> > > "zeke7" wrote:

> > > > Thanks for that partition info. Any advice on how to get this disk

> > > > booting again? AS noted, all files appear intact.

>

> > Dave: Disk Management reports the following, same size as what

> > Explorer's Properties did:

>

> > Volume: Maxtor 80 (G:)

> > Layout: Partition

> > Type: Basic

> > File System: NTFS

> > Status: Healthy

> > Capacity: 74.55 GB

> > Free Space: 66.74 GB

> > % Free: 89%

> > Fault Tolerance: no

> > Overhead: 0%

>

> > No other volumes/disks for this drive are reported by the DM snap-in.

> > The graphical view display the entire drive with a dark-blue 'title

> > bar', indicating a Primary Partition. Its label says:

> > Disk 0

> > Basic

> > 74.55 GB

> > Online

>

> Some more data, from right-clicking Properties on the graphical view

> disk label:

> Disk: Disk 0

> Type: Basic

> Status: Online

> Capacity: 76338 MB

> Unallocated Space: 0MB

> Device Type IDE (Port:0, Target ID: 0, LUN:0)

> Hardware Vendor: MAXTOR 6L080L4

> Adapter Name: Primary IDE Channel

> Volumes contained on this disk:

> Maxtor 80 (G:) Capacity: 76338 MB

Disk capacity is as reported at the top of my post: physically it's an

80 GB drive.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

On Dec 9, 6:25 pm, "Dave Patrick" <DSPatr...@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:

> Where is the system partition? What size is the disk it resides on?

>

> --

>

> Regards,

>

> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> Microsoft Certified Professional

> Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> "zeke7" wrote:

> > Dave: Disk Management reports the following, same size as what

> > Explorer's Properties did:

>

> > Volume: Maxtor 80 (G:)

> > Layout: Partition

> > Type: Basic

> > File System: NTFS

> > Status: Healthy

> > Capacity: 74.55 GB

> > Free Space: 66.74 GB

> > % Free: 89%

> > Fault Tolerance: no

> > Overhead: 0%

>

> > No other volumes/disks for this drive are reported by the DM snap-in.

> > The graphical view display the entire drive with a dark-blue 'title

> > bar', indicating a Primary Partition. Its label says:

> > Disk 0

> > Basic

> > 74.55 GB

> > Online

As noted, I used Explorer's Format menu to format this disk, thus

don't know where the system partition is. How can I find this

information?

The size of the disk on which the partition resides is 80 gb.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Disk Management has this information. You mentioned the boot partition drive

letter is "G" so I suspect the system partition is on another disk. If this

disk size is greater than ~137 gB then you have problems.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"zeke7" wrote:

> As noted, I used Explorer's Format menu to format this disk, thus

> don't know where the system partition is. How can I find this

> information?

>

> The size of the disk on which the partition resides is 80 gb.

December 10, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

On Dec 9, 7:18 pm, "Dave Patrick" <DSPatr...@nospam.gmail.com> wrote:

> Disk Management has this information. You mentioned the boot partition drive

> letter is "G" so I suspect the system partition is on another disk. If this

> disk size is greater than ~137 gB then you have problems.

>

> --

>

> Regards,

>

> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

> Microsoft Certified Professional

> Microsoft MVP [Windows]http://www.microsoft.com/protect

>

> "zeke7" wrote:

> > As noted, I used Explorer's Format menu to format this disk, thus

> > don't know where the system partition is. How can I find this

> > information?

>

> > The size of the disk on which the partition resides is 80 gb.

I fed you all the info I could find in Disk Mgmt, didn't know what

else you were looking for.

It's listed as drive G: because I'm accessing the 80gb disk while

running another install of W2k from a separate hard disk (since the

80gb won't boot).

No, this non-booting is a different disk from what we discussed in my

other post about crashing/the 137gb limit.

Since last posting here, I ran a HD Tune utility test on the 80gb

drive, it reports a bad (ie, 'failed') seek error rate. That may well

explain the bad fragmentation reported after the software installs.

Looks like this disk is failing and I chose poorly.

I was trying to avoid the 137gb issue by going to this smaller disk

for my OS. But based on the advice received in my other post, I feel

confident now using the 200 gb drive for the OS with the EnableBigLBA

fix running.

December 11, 2007

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

Re: System won't boot after defragging: should I run Fixboot or Fi

The system partition is the first primary active partition (where the boot

sector and files required to start the operating system reside) Generally

where boot.ini, ntdetect,com and ntldr reside.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"zeke7" wrote:

> I fed you all the info I could find in Disk Mgmt, didn't know what

> else you were looking for.

>

> It's listed as drive G: because I'm accessing the 80gb disk while

> running another install of W2k from a separate hard disk (since the

> 80gb won't boot).

>

> No, this non-booting is a different disk from what we discussed in my

> other post about crashing/the 137gb limit.

>

> Since last posting here, I ran a HD Tune utility test on the 80gb

> drive, it reports a bad (ie, 'failed') seek error rate. That may well

> explain the bad fragmentation reported after the software installs.

> Looks like this disk is failing and I chose poorly.

>

> I was trying to avoid the 137gb issue by going to this smaller disk

> for my OS. But based on the advice received in my other post, I feel

> confident now using the 200 gb drive for the OS with the EnableBigLBA

> fix running.

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