The system: my wife's work Inspiron 7400, Win2K Pro, one hard drive: a 30 GB Travelstar 40GN (4200 rpm). There is only one partition for the Win2K installation.

The problem: upon boot, we get a "Disk Error" message (press any key to restart). The message comes up after the BIOS successfully (seemingly) executes. The BIOS page indicates that the hard drive is detected.

Problem 2: the computer was set up in CA (we're in NY), all her companies programs with special configuration information and all her data is on this machine. The computer has not been backed up ... shame shame shame. This will be reconciled when we get it back!!

Troubleshooting performed so far:

(1) The machine will boot to a bootable floppy, and subsequently I can access c:. In addition, I can see all her files. This led me to believe something is up with the MBR or boot sector.

(2) From the Win 2K recovery console (reached using a set of Win2K setup floppies I created from another machine), I ran (a) fixmbr, (b) fixboot, and (c) chkdsk /r. All ran successfully. The "disk error" error message is now gone upon reboot, but it still doesn't boot Win 2K ... after the BIOS startup page, it goes blank and then automatically reboots ... again, and again, and again ...

(3) I downloaded the drive fitness test from Hitachi and ran it, errors were found with some sectors, but it didn't tell me any more info than that. I didn't fix the sectors.

(4) I downloaded and ran OnTrack Data Advisor, which was recommended troubleshooting tip from Hitachi. It also found errors in the surface scan, but only 10 records at about record number 244471-244480, consecutively. Hopefully these sectors are far enough out that they are just a useless data file.

So my guess is the MBR or boot sector was corrupted and I fixed it with fixmbr/fixboot, and now my guess is the MBR or boot sector isn't finding the Win 2K installation or partition correctly.

Where should I go from here?

Thanks!!

Oh, I forgot to mention: the Win2K partition seems to be FAT32 (at least that's what Data Advisor indicates) rather than NTFS.

First:

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums.

The first thing I would do is get the hard drive into a different PC and copy all of the data off of the drive. Once the data is secured, you can try to repair the bad sectors or you could boot with the Win2K CD and attempt to repair the installation.

Thanks for the welcome.

I would like to copy the data off the drive, but I don't think I have the means to do so. It's a laptop drive, so I can't get it into a desktop. I suppose there might be an adapter out there that adapts a 2.5" notebook drive connector to a standard desktop IDE connector? Also, the laptop (and any other laptop I have access to) only has one hard drive slot, so I can't boot somewhere else and access the drive.

There are kits to allow access of a laptop drive to a desktop.

You have three choices:

1) Do what I advised

2) Attempt to fix the drive w/o getting the data off. It may work or you may loose the data.

3) Re-format and you will loose the data.


The choice is yours. How valuable is the data? It would seem to me the data is the most important thing.

I just found a relatively local place with the adaptors, so I should be able to get it on another machine and copy the data as you advised.

However, if thereafter I reformat the drive and copy the data back, how do I get it to boot back up? I assume a simple copy from one drive to another, then back again will not get all the system files I need to have everything work. In addition, I cannot reinstall the OS on the reformatted drive and then copy data, because there are programs on the drive that we would have to send the computer back to CA to have reinstalled/reconfigured.

I will be copying all data to another drive to be safe. But, there must be a way that I can get the drive to boot again since all the data is there. Like I said, I think the MBR, boot sector, and/or partition tables are messed up ... if I can fix those, everything should work.

I agree that getting a copy of the partition onto another drive as either an absolute byte-by-byte clone or by creating an image file (using imaging software such as Drive Image) is the first priority if the data is important.

GetDataBack from http://www.runtime.org/ is a very good, if somewhat tedious utility if you don't pay for it. It will also create a literal clone that you can then use in place of the actual hard drive itself to troubleshoot or as a backup. If the drive is detected in the BIOS and the data has not been overwritten then GDB will almost certainly retrieve it.

As for editing the partition tables and boot sectors - yes all that can be done but first a diagnosis is required. Since this is a FAT partition it could just be a corrupted FAT or a few bad sectors in the metadata areas at the start of the drive.

My guess is that running a repair installation of Win2K would be quite likely to fix the "looping reboot problem" that you describe. Running Power Quest's (now Symantec's) PartInfo might help with the diagnostics. It comes with Partition Magic or can be FTP downloaded from ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/ along with a number of other useful utilities. Run it and post the results of the Preview or SaveAs here if you want. A hex editor would be needed to examine the FATs more carefully but one can only go one step at a time.

I will try them demo of GetDataBack. I believe that will at least analyze my drive, but I will have to buy it to fix it (which I probably won't want to do because there are different versions for FAT and NTFS, and I would normally use NTFS, but this problem is with FAT32).

I will also try the Symantec utilities. First, which version of PartInfo do I want? There is a "partinfo.zip", a "PartIn9x.zip", and a "PartInNT.zip". I assume I would not want PartIn9x, but then again it is FAT.

Second, is there a description/README anywhere for all those utilities at the link you provided?

Thanks for the help!

When you download the versions of GetDataBack they come with good help files; files which are well worth spending a bit of time reading.

You need the GDB for FAT version for examining a FAT partition, whereas with the PartInfo utilities you want the version for the OS that you are running the utility from; the format of the problem drive/partition is largely irrelevant since one is examining structures outside the file directories. Thus you need the 98 version if you were running it from Win9X and the NT version if running from Win2K/XP, etc. I think there is also a dos version. Anyway they are not big downloads and if one doesnt work just keep trying.

GDB should allow you to see what is recoverable or not and you can save one file at a time for free. The paid for version allows you to copy and paste them in batches.

Hope this helps.

PS The Symantec Utilities that come bundled with Partition Magic are largely self-explanatory though there is a lot of good information if you purchase Partition Magic itself (one of my must have programs). See how you get on and post back with any specific queries.

PS
...from the PM pdf files...PartitionInfo generates a report showing the contents of your hard disk partition table. This information is helpful in resolving various partitioning problems. PartitionInfo is available in English only.
You can run PartitionInfo under Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP. If you are using DOS or Windows 3.x, run PARTINFO.EXE (see page 129).
Every time you run PartitionMagic, it creates a snapshot file PQ_DEBUG.TXT that includes information about all the disks and partitions on your machine. The file is saved in the %system root%\Temp directory (for Windows NT/2000/XP) or the Windows\System folder (for Windows 95/98/Me). PartitionMagic also saves up to five previous debug reports, renaming them PQ_DEBUG.001, PQ_DEBUG.002, and so forth, with PQ_DEBUG.005 being the oldest retained file. The debug files may be beneficial for PowerQuest Technical Support if you call PowerQuest for help resolving problems with PartitionMagic.

That helps a lot. Thanks, and I'll post results tomorrow.

Got some results ...

Here's the PartInfo results. The problem drive is physical drive 2, and shows up as G: in the test machine:

PowerQuest PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
Date Generated: 08/19/04 20:29:35
Copyright (c)1994-2002, PowerQuest Corporation
Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.

PowerQuest, makers of PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and DriveCopy(tm), can be reached at:
Voice: 801-437-8900
Fax: 801-226-8941
Web site: http://www.powerquest.com/support/
E-mail: magic@powerquest.com

General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 536,264,704
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 207,810,560
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,310,236,672
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 162,291,712



================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 10337 Cylinders, 240 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 239 63 63 148,115,457
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 9795 239 63 63 148115457
0 1 00 1023 0 1 0F 1023 239 63 148,115,520 8,179,920
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 00 9796 0 1 0F 10336 239 63 148115520 8179920
SYSTEM_SAV 148,115,520 0 00 1023 1 1 0B 1023 239 63 148,115,583 8,179,857
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
148115520 0 00 9796 1 1 0B 10336 239 63 148115583 8179857

================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 3876 Cylinders, 240 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
NO NAME 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 1023 239 63 63 58,605,057
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 3875 239 63 63 58605057



================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 1: 76,316.1 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 72,322.0 0 0 63 148,115,457
ExtendedX Pri 3,994.1 0 1 148,115,520 8,179,920
EPBR Log 3,994.1 None -- 148,115,520 8,179,920
D:SYSTEM_SAV FAT32 Log 3,994.1 148,115,520 0 148,115,583 8,179,857


================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 2: 28,615.8 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
G:NO NAME FAT32X Pri,Boot 28,615.8 0 0 63 58,605,057


================================================== ================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: NTFS)
================================================== ================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 240 (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 148115456
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 9257216
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x589CCCD19CCCAB38
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

================================================== ================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive D: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 148,115,583, Type: FAT32)
================================================== ================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 58 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 33
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 240 (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors: 148115583 (0x8D4107F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 8179857 (0x7CD091)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 7975
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 3 (0x3)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x34AB0AEF
26. Volume Name: SYSTEM_SAV
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

================================================== ================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive G: (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
================================================== ================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 58 90
2. OEM Name: MSDOS5.0
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 32
5. Reserved Sectors: 32
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 240 (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 58605057 (0x37E3E01)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 14301
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 2 (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x806154D2
26. Volume Name: NO NAME
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

Next, I ran GetDataBack (FAT) on the drive. I'm not too sure what to do with the results yet ...

The end result was a "recovery tree", which basically listed all my files. What I don't get is to what to do with it. I don't see anything that would recover a master boot record or boot sector, only regular files that are on the drive. Maybe I don't quite understand yet what I can do with this tool to fix the drive.

Get Databack CANT fix the drive, only get the data off onto another hard drive or onto a CD.

You will need to either run the utilities from the hard drive manufacturer or re-format the drive. If the MBR is corrupt and that is all that is wrong with the drive. Repairing the Windows installation should be ok. If there are bad sectors on the drive, I would think the drive is beginning to fail and will need to be replaced if not now sometime in the future. How many times do you want to go through this process?

All the values look quite normal and the fact that partinfo was able to extract the information probably means that the PBS (partition boot sector) is OK too. If it wasn't, then the values taken from the PBS wouldnt match those of the partition table in the MBR (master boot record). The MBR is almost certainly OK since fixmbr has been run on it, the partition table looks correct and it has a normal signature. The partition type and media descriptor are correct and it is not a hidden partition.

The PBS could I suppose be corrupted such that it is not hooking into ntldr and its backup could be used; a hex editor would be required to do this but I doubt if this is necessary and one must be very careful to get it right.

The FAT could also be corrupt but one would have thought this would have been reported by chkdsk.

Just to outline some geometry of the physical drive in layman's terms and in case some reference points are needed in the future:-

Sectors 00 to 63 inclusive (64 sectors) are before the PBS, which is itself at the start of the logical partition.
Sectors 64 to 95 inclusive (32 sectors) are "reserved" before the first FAT.
Sectors 96 to 14396 inclusive (14301 sectors) are used by FAT1.
Sectors 14397 to 28697 inclusive (14301 sectors) are used by FAT2 (a replica of FAT1).
The root directory thus starts at sector 28698 (the 28699th sector of the drive).
There is a backup of the PBS (partition sector 0) kept at partition sector 6 of the logical partition; this translates to the PBS being at sector 64 (the 65th sector) of the physical drive with its backup copy kept at sector 70 (the 71st sector) of the physical drive.

It is possible that just a few bad sectors could be screwing things up but I would still go for a repair installation of the OS as the first thing to correct a WinNT looping-boot - (as I call it). You could also try running scandisk from a boot floppy in place of WinNT's chkdsk from within the OS.

As for GDB. In step 2, having selected the problem partition, you can create an image from the tools menu. This is a literal clone and can be stored for safety or experimented-with instead of using the original. If you have this image safe you can use the paid for version of GDB to copy it back or you can use any capable hex editor to also do this.

After scanning and getting to a directory tree you can save the settings from the file menu in case you wish to return to that point without waiting for a re-scan. With the trial version all you can to is to right click on the files and choose open with - and then use that application to save the files one at a time. Remember that you can open most file types with notepad or wordpad and then save the file back to the hdd.

Thanks for checking that data out. Great info.

I'm a little perplexed at how to actually achieve a "repair installation". I don't have a emergency repair disk, and when I go to "repair" from the windows setup disks, I only get the choice of running the recovery console or fixing from an emergency repair disk.

If I can't "repair" the installation, is there any way to correctly get the windows installation on the bad disk to run on a clean disk? For instance, can I somehow copy all the files from the bad disk to another disk (I assume an image won't work: if the problem is in the PBS or partition table, I don't want to copy the problem), reformat the original, copy back, and then be able to boot?

Thanks again.

There is a description of repairing xp at http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm and it is basically the same process for Win2K.

Boot from the installation CD, choose new installation, dont go into the recovery console repair. Then when it reaches the point of installation options it should detect the current istallation(s) and give you the option of repairing it. You would say yes of course.

PS Two things:

(1) Just to show you how confusing these geometry value are, I realise I posted a basic error.

Sectors 00 to 63 inclusive (64 sectors) are before the PBS, which is itself at the start of the logical partition was what I quoted but this should read Sectors 00 to 62 inclusive (63 sectors) are before the PBS, which is itself at the start of the logical partition - with everything else being adjusted for this single sector. Its all caused by the first sector being called sector 0 - so before editing anything one needs to triple check stuff.

(2) If you only have a restore CD from Dell then I'm not sure if you can use it to run a repair install or whether you would have to get your hands on a retail version of the OS.

I'll try the repair install tonight. I see how confusing it can get, so getting the hex/disk editor out is certainly the last resort. I suppose if I did get to that point and I wrote down what I changed, I could always change it back!

Is there any way to capture (i.e., set a break point with a debugger) the boot sequence starting with the executable code in the MBR?

Another question. For some reason my installation CD won't boot (I believe because MIS didn't want to give my wife the original so they gave her a copy ... I believe it's still covered under their license). Can I run Setup (to do the repair install) from the recovery console? Is that where I want to run it from?

As far as I know, you can't just get to a command prompt using the Win2K boot disks, unless you go to recovery conolse ...

From:
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/other/motherboard/win2k.htm

4) Boot the new system from the Win2000 CD (from the Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM, run Winnt32.exe from the \I386 directory); (great if you have a slipstreamed Windows 2000 installation CD w/ SP2; see HERE for details), or 4 boot floppies. (If the hard drive is accessible, you can run Winnt32.exe on the hard drive, or Setup.exe on the CD from Explorer). Have your CDKEY ready.

7) Setup will find the existing Win2K installation (usually C:\winnt) and ask if you wish to install over it or repair it. At this second prompt, select Repair.

Note: If the Setup program does not detect a previous installation but just continues to the partitioning screen, there is a problem. An in-place upgrade may not be possible

Awesome! I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the help!!! I'll post results this weekend if I get a computer to connect (mysteriously I'm having a boot problem with MY laptop and the desktop internet is being messed up by adware or something), else wait til Monday.

First, I was able to create a bootable Win2K CD thanks to your (Paul's) links. Thanks for that!!

I was unable to perform an in-place installation, primarily due to the fact that Windows setup could never find an existing installation.

Here's what I did:
- created a full image of the drive, using Acronis True Image (using my desktop, with the laptop drive as a slave drive)
- erased/low-level formatted the laptop (problem) drive with manufacturer utility.
- restored the image back to the problem drive.
- reran disk tests and the disk is now free of errors.

Upon reboot, I received a new error message (I regard this as progress): "NTLDR is missing".

Here's what I did from here:
- booted to Windows setup and recovery console
- copied NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM from the CD to c:\
- verified boot.ini is what everyone says it should be

Upon reboot, I still got the "NTLDR is messing" message.

Next, I tried the following steps recommended in this (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=318728) article from Microsoft:

If Setup Cannot Locate Windows 2000
If you do not have a Windows 2000 Emergency Repair Disk, and if Setup cannot locate the Windows 2000 installation, follow these steps:
(1) Start Windows 2000 Setup.
(2) On the Setup will install Windows 2000 on partition page, select Leave the current file system intact (no changes), and then press ENTER.
(3) Press ESC to install Windows 2000 to a new folder.
(4) In the Select the folder in which the files should be copied box, type \tempwin, and then press ENTER.

Setup installs a new copy of Windows 2000.
(5) Log on to the new copy of Windows 2000.
(6) Click Start, and then click Run.
(7) In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
(8) At the command prompt, type drive:, where drive is the boot drive of the computer, and then press ENTER. For example, type c:, and then press ENTER.
(9) Type attrib -h -r -s Boot.ini, and then press ENTER.
(10) Type edit Boot.ini, and then press ENTER.

Edit.com opens a Boot.ini file that is similar to the following file:[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\TEMPWI N
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\TEMPWIN="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect


(11) Replace all instances of TEMPWIN with WINNT. The Boot.ini file that appears is similar to the following file:[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect


(12) Press ALT+F, and then press S.
(13) Press ALT+F, and then press X.
(14) Type attrib +h +r +s Boot.ini, and then press ENTER.
(15) Type exit to quit the command prompt.
(16) Restart the computer.
(17) At the Please select the operating system to start screen, use the ARROW keys to select Microsoft Windows 2000, and then press ENTER.
(18) Start Windows Explorer, locate the following folders, and then delete them:
Tempwin
All Users.Tempwin




This seemed like a great idea and I thought it would certainly work, but I only made it through step (4). Upon reboot, I still got the "NTLDR is missing" message, so I could not start the new installation.

I know NTLDR is where it is supposed to be, and boot.ini seems like it's what it is supposed to be. Therefore, I was thinking that there is still something wrong with either the MBR or boot sector ... it's not looking for NTLDR is the right place.

More suggestions are welcome!!!

Although the "ntldr is missing" message can be due to a missing or corrupted file it most commonly arises because the pointers to the system partition are wrong. Also since you have replaced the file it is even more unlikely that it is corrupted or missing. The sort of things that commonly cause this message are a hidden partition or a new partition that can cause the references in boot.ini to go astray.

A rarer cause is when the windows system folder is not the same in boot.ini as it is in the C drive. For Win2K this is usually named the winnt directory so you need to be sure that this directory does exist in the C drive - or that you have a "windows" directory with the same name as the one in boot.ini. Perhaps you could post a list of everything in the C drive to get an idea of what files are there; having unhidden any hidden one's first of course.

Assuming that the "windows" folder is winnt and that you only have one visible primary partition marked as the active partition, then the boot.ini file in ref(11) is correct, viz:-


timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

The PartInfo details "NO NAME 0 0 [b]80 0 1 1 0C 1023 239 63 63 58,605,057" certainly indicated that the partition is marked as active (the bold 80) and there is a visible FAT32 partition (the bold OC); a hidden FAT partition would have had the value 1C.

The method you outlined of installing a parallel installation should have fixed any MBR or PBS problems just as a repair installation (in place upgrade if you prefer) would have done. Just why the new installation fails with that message at that point is obscure and in spite of the all clear having been given to your drive by diagnostic utilities.

Now that you have a copy of the partition by all means try running scandisk from a Win98 boot floppy or grab a hex editor to at least examine the basic structures. Suggest you start with the free tiny hexer from http://www.mirkes.de/en/freeware/tinyhex.php or diskprobe which is on the Win2K CD in a cab in the Support/Tools directory if you want to start down that track.

One other thing to try (if only for diagnostic reasons) is to make your own boot floppy, which would bypass the boot-loaders on the hard drive. To do this you must first format a floppy (FROM A GOOD WIN2K OR WINXP) since this will install a WinNT boot sector onto the floppy. Then copy ntldr and ntdetect.com and boot.ini (as per all the above) onto the floppy. Then boot to that floppy and see if it "gets you in". If it does it would indicate that the PBS is bad on the HDD.

BTW - You can create a boot floppy for W2K using WXP but not vice versa.

Thanks once again Paul. I tried Tiny Hexer today to look at the MBR and was surprised to find that the MBR contained purely text. I am thinking that my method of extracting those sectors was flawed (findpart getsect 2 0 0 1 100 mbr.bin; which is supposed to dump the first 100 sectors of the disk). I did this from a command prompt from within Win XP with the problem drive as the slave on the primary IDE channel. I am thinking that this said "dump 100 sectors starting from LOGICAL sector 0" rather than "from ABSOLUTE sector 0".

This is the text from a dump of the MBR on my Win2K computer at work using the same method:

OS: Windows 5.0.2195 Service Pack 3 MB: 38162 Disk number: 1Cylinders: 4865 Heads: 255 Sectors: 63 Cylinder : 0 Head: 0 Sector: 1 LBA sector: 0 08-23-2004 17:43:06 No of sectors: 100

I don't think this is actually the MBR because there isn't any executable code here.

In any event, I'll try scandisk, and creating the boot floppy. I'll have to do some looking to see how to create a boot floppy from Win XP (my working machine) ... it seems Win 2K and XP always wants to create a complete set of 4-6 boot floppies.

The MBR, nor any part of the HDD, can contain text - they can only hold binary data. What you are almost certainly seeing is Hex with each byte having a value between 00 and FF (or 0 to 255 in decimal or 00000000 to 11111111 in binary). Attached is a screenshot of an MBR. Offset location on the drive (also in hex in this example) on left, hex in the middle and the text equivalents of the hex on the right.

What you have posted is information about the system or dump in a manner which parallels the information reported by partinfo. If it created a file of 100 sectors it should be exactly 51200 bytes in size; being a binary file that is a copy of the first 100 sectors. The only proper way to read such data is with a hex editor. Opening such files with a text editor such as Notepad may reveal the text equivalents but not the hex itself and can corrupt the file if saved back to disk.

The "boot floppy" that I have described is not a diagnostic boot floppy in the normal sense. It is a replacement of the boot files and sector on the hard drive. WinNT OSes can be booted from other media since they dont require a drive letter just a description of which partition and drive the boot partition is to be found at. The three boot files are required on it but they wont function if the floppy's boot sector is a DOS boot sector. The way to transfer a Win2K/XP boot sector to the floppy is for one of those OSes to format the floppy. Booting to this floppy will then bypass those files and the mbr and the boot sector on the hdd and startup the OS unless there are problems further UP the chain - such as corrupted FATs; corruption which scandisk should detect.

What I meant when I said "text", was that the first 512 bytes, as viewed in a hex editor, looks like text. The following is the third column in the hex editor of the first ~384 bytes:

OS: Windows 5.0.2195 Service Pack 3 MB: 38162 Disk number: 1Cylinders: 4865 Heads: 255 Sectors: 63 Cylinder : 0 Head: 0 Sector: 1 LBA sector: 0 08-23-2004 17:43:06 No of sectors: 100

This is not executable code. What I believe is happening is findpart and getsect is attaching it's own first 512 bytes with info of the sector dump, and the actual MBR starts at offset 0x200.

I tried your second diagnostic suggestion, Paul. I created a Win 2K bootdisk and booted up the system. Unfortunately, I think this has revealed a more dire situation, although I have made some progress. Upon booting using the bootdisk, I first received a message indicating NTOSKRNL.exe was missing or corrupt. Turns out, the file is missing (possibly due to original physical disk problem?). So, I copied a new file (from my temp installation directory), and Windows actually started to boot!! This indicates that there is something wrong with my boot sector, right?

But, I got what I think might be a real show-stopper from there: system32\config\system missing or corrupt. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I believe this is a major registry file. I don't have a backup. There doesn't appear to be a repair directory with an old version. system.sav looks very old. When I do a dir from the recovery console, there is no system (no extension) file. GetDataBack indicates the "system" file is 0 bytes (along with the "software" file). I'm not sure how I recover from this!!!!

Sorry to have misunderstood you or implied you didn't know what you were seeing. I presume you were using Svend's "diskpart getsect" windows utility. I don't use such tools, preferring to be in control of everything with an editor. (WinHex is just superb and TinyHexer is pretty cool too for a freebie).

As I understand it the command line (now written into your "new MBR") should have created a bin file of 51712 bytes in size; a copy of the first 100 sectors plus one header sector containing information.

So yes it looks like the whole 101 sectors have been written to the start of the drive - whether by accident or design. As long as there are at least 38 reserved sectors on the partition then the start of FAT1 will not have been touched in this process and one way or another you should be able to copy back the 100 sectors 2 to 101 of the bin file into sectors 0 to 99 of the hard drive. If you know what the FATs look like you could check around sector 38 of the partition or sector 101 of the whole drive (starting with sector 0 in both cases) to see that it is intact. You could also compare the start of FAT1 with FAT2 to see if they are identical.

However, as you say, there seems to be some file corruption on the drive itself. I mean file corruption rather than bad sectors as such - possibly caused by a virus or who knows what. If you get your 100 sectors sorted out and still cant boot to windows or run either a parallel installation or better still an in place upgrade - then using data recovery software is going to be the only way to get your data back. I would be trying this with a retail version of Win2K and dont see why it shouldnt be successful if your mbr and pbs are OK once again.

You can use tinyhexer to write to the drive, though this is not turned on by default. Check its help files to find out how to enable this if you want to use it in this way.

PS
There should be a copy/backup of the system file (the one with no extension) called system.alt in the same directory if that is of any help.

No problem ... just wanted to get the point across about what I meant when I saw "text"!

I tried copying system.alt to system and upon reboot, I still got the corrupted system message. At least there is hope that there is some retained information in system.alt. I am going to try to recover it using the Registry Repair Utility from MS (830570 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;830570)).

It looks like I am going to have to dig into the boot sector to see what the problem is with booting off the hard drive. Somehow, the code is branching to a reference to "NTLDR is missing". The question is why ...

Well good luck whatever. It's a shame you cant run a repair or parallel installation. Have you considered trying fixmbr and fixboot once again from the recovery console as well as snother attempt at installing the OS.

The ntoskrnl.exe message (just like the ndldr and hal.dll messges about missing or corrupt files) is nearly always an incorrect boot.ini or incorrect references on it.

It must still be possible that there could be a few bad sectors in the early part of the drive or of a bad HDD controller.

Very similar problem on XP as termiflyer's on W2K:
cannot boot to Win XP, error message at boot:
"NTLDR is missing". If anyone can say something plus
after the previous posts, that would be great.

Parameters:
HDD: MAXTOR /6E030L0 /30GB (30752 MB) /Primary Master /Active
FAT 32 /59582 Cyls /16 Hds /63 Sects /Landing zone 59581
Motherboard: SA7
OS: Windows XP Professional Ed. Eng. SP1 + SP2
c:\WINDOWS (only OS, no dual boot)

First to first it was a "GRUB Geom Error" message which locked up booting,
then in Windows Recovery Console I made a FIXBOOT and FIXMBR. Since there
the welcome message is this missing NTLDR text.
New NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM were copied from Windows XP (bootable) CD
under the Recovery Console, but no change.
Other PCs can see the HDD, and I managed to backup my critical data also.
However I did NOT want to make a full format+reinstall,
becouse I fear that this won't solve this bootsector/MBR problem.

Possible causes:
1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
Can't be, because this HDD was bootable before, it is the Primary,
Active partition, Windows XP Recovery Console can log on to it
using the administrator password I gave before.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
Same settings as before problem occured. These are the
default settings for Maxtor 6E030L0 according to Maxtor's online help.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
These files were copied newly under Windows Recovery Console, and
there seems to be no problem with them.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
The same as before problem, seems OK to me.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
This was not the case, not any installing did take place.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
Nope, the same one as before. There wasn't any problem with this drive before.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
Possibly this one is the case.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
Don't think so because the system does not even reach the point to
load Windows. And I do not know any effect that may have done harm to
Windows itself before this problem occured.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.
Nay, everything is fine.
10. Virus problem.
Perhaps this could be excluded: my virus protection and firewall is up to
date, without fast Internet access (56K modem) or long times connected to
the net.

In principio the whole problem was occured in an other PC. There was one HDD with
two partitions: one for Windows Xp (prof. ed. eng), and one (extended) for Suse Linux.
I installed both Os's long before, so I did not remember how difficult is to remove
that Linux, not to mention tha booting application (I think it was Grub, at least it
must be, because of the later occured "GRUB" message at booting).
So I've decided to remove the entire Extended Linux partition with Partition Magic 8.0
(from PowerQuest). It was done succesfully, and I have merged the Linux partition into
the primary partition, making the only one that remained active and bootable.

But at the first boot it stopped with the message "GRUB" and nothing more.
Than I connected my second HDD (the 6E030L0) as 2nd master, to help the system stand up.
First I installed PowerQuest's BootMagic software, and that helped the booting go on.
So I left the system in this state. Later I've unconnected the mobilrack and connected
the 6E030L0 HDD to my other PC, as 1. master. It worked fine, booted up without problem.
So I decided to remove the BootMagic application, thinking that it does not make any
sense if this system WAS ok before installing it, and it does not have a dual boot.
However, as usually, I was mistaken. Brutally mistaken.

After uninstalling BootMagic, the boot process has stopped with the SAME message as in my
other PC, 5 kilometers away! It said "GRUB"and little later: "Geom Error".
I was totally surprised, because Linux and GRUB never EVER appeared on this hdd, or
in this PC. After a little workaround, I understood that maybe FIXBOOT or FIXMBR could
fix the problem. They didn't. After them the new message "NTLDR is missing"was appeared.
Despite the copying of ntldr and ntdetect.com from the cd, the message was the same.
So I think that the booting sector (or something that pointed to there) was moved to an
other address, and the system now looks for the files somewhere else. Or the MBR is
corrupted, don't know, I'm not an expert.

Things I have also done:
reseted the CMOS jumper properly - no help.
updated BIOS - no help.
ChkDisk was done. No error was found.
used the MBRwork software - but I did not try to reset the MBR or the EMBR to zeroes,
because in this case my partition will suffer, and as I told I do not want to
make a full format and reinstall, until I really have no other possibility.

It is a fact that everything seem to be OK on the hdd, even I can reach files under an
other PC's Win XP, or under floppy-booted DOS.

Additional infos:

The C:\Root:
Documents and Settings
Program Files
Recycled
Windows
Zac [my dir]
boot.ini
ntdetect.com
ntldr
pdoxusrs.net

The boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1"

The following post contains the partition info of the disk as Partition Magic 8.0
seen it. In this case the problematic drive is E:, as it is slaved in an other PC.
Following this are the TinyHex tables of partitions.

Could you please help me?

General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 132,562,944
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 104,484,864
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 322,478,080
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 78,913,536



================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 1292 Cylinders, 240 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 239 63 63 19,534,977
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1291 239 63 63 19534977

================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 3972 Cylinders, 240 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
MAXTOR 30 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 1023 239 63 63 60,056,577
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 3971 239 63 63 60056577



================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 1: 9,538.6 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 9,538.6 0 0 63 19,534,977


================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 2: 29,324.5 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
E:MAXTOR 30 FAT32X Pri,Boot 29,324.5 0 0 63 60,056,577

================================================== ================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive E: (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
================================================== ================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 58 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 32
5. Reserved Sectors: 34
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 60050907 (0x3944DDB)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 14655
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 2 (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x41B88AB7
26. Volume Name: MAXTOR 30
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55



TinyHex tables:

Physicaldrive1:

33 C0 8E D0 BC 00 7C FB 50 07 50 1F FC BE 1B 7C
BF 1B 06 50 57 B9 E5 01 F3 A4 CB BE BE 07 B1 04
38 2C 7C 09 75 15 83 C6 10 E2 F5 CD 18 8B 14 8B
EE 83 C6 10 49 74 16 38 2C 74 F6 BE 10 07 4E AC
3C 00 74 FA BB 07 00 B4 0E CD 10 EB F2 89 46 25
96 8A 46 04 B4 06 3C 0E 74 11 B4 0B 3C 0C 74 05
3A C4 75 2B 40 C6 46 25 06 75 24 BB AA 55 50 B4
41 CD 13 58 72 16 81 FB 55 AA 75 10 F6 C1 01 74
0B 8A E0 88 56 24 C7 06 A1 06 EB 1E 88 66 04 BF
0A 00 B8 01 02 8B DC 33 C9 83 FF 05 7F 03 8B 4E
25 03 4E 02 CD 13 72 29 BE 46 07 81 3E FE 7D 55
AA 74 5A 83 EF 05 7F DA 85 F6 75 83 BE 27 07 EB
8A 98 91 52 99 03 46 08 13 56 0A E8 12 00 5A EB
D5 4F 74 E4 33 C0 CD 13 EB B8 00 00 00 00 00 00
56 33 F6 56 56 52 50 06 53 51 BE 10 00 56 8B F4
50 52 B8 00 42 8A 56 24 CD 13 5A 58 8D 64 10 72
0A 40 75 01 42 80 C7 02 E2 F7 F8 5E C3 EB 74 49
6E 76 61 6C 69 64 20 70 61 72 74 69 74 69 6F 6E
20 74 61 62 6C 65 00 45 72 72 6F 72 20 6C 6F 61
64 69 6E 67 20 6F 70 65 72 61 74 69 6E 67 20 73
79 73 74 65 6D 00 4D 69 73 73 69 6E 67 20 6F 70
65 72 61 74 69 6E 67 20 73 79 73 74 65 6D 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 8B FC 1E 57 8B F5 CB 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 2C 44 63 72 0E 73 0E 00 00 80 01
01 00 0C EF FF FF 3F 00 00 00 01 64 94 03 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA

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Physicaldrive1, Partition1:

EB 58 90 4D 53 57 49 4E 34 2E 31 00 02 20 22 00
02 00 00 00 00 F8 00 00 3F 00 FF 00 3F 00 00 00
DB 4D 94 03 3F 39 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00
01 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
80 00 29 B7 8A B8 41 4D 41 58 54 4F 52 20 33 30
20 20 46 41 54 33 32 20 20 20 33 C9 8E D1 BC F4
7B 8E C1 8E D9 BD 00 7C 88 4E 02 8A 56 40 B4 08
CD 13 73 05 B9 FF FF 8A F1 66 0F B6 C6 40 66 0F
B6 D1 80 E2 3F F7 E2 86 CD C0 ED 06 41 66 0F B7
C9 66 F7 E1 66 89 46 F8 83 7E 16 00 75 38 83 7E
2A 00 77 32 66 8B 46 1C 66 83 C0 0C BB 00 80 B9
01 00 E8 2B 00 E9 48 03 A0 FA 7D B4 7D 8B F0 AC
84 C0 74 17 3C FF 74 09 B4 0E BB 07 00 CD 10 EB
EE A0 FB 7D EB E5 A0 F9 7D EB E0 98 CD 16 CD 19
66 60 66 3B 46 F8 0F 82 4A 00 66 6A 00 66 50 06
53 66 68 10 00 01 00 80 7E 02 00 0F 85 20 00 B4
41 BB AA 55 8A 56 40 CD 13 0F 82 1C 00 81 FB 55
AA 0F 85 14 00 F6 C1 01 0F 84 0D 00 FE 46 02 B4
42 8A 56 40 8B F4 CD 13 B0 F9 66 58 66 58 66 58
66 58 EB 2A 66 33 D2 66 0F B7 4E 18 66 F7 F1 FE
C2 8A CA 66 8B D0 66 C1 EA 10 F7 76 1A 86 D6 8A
56 40 8A E8 C0 E4 06 0A CC B8 01 02 CD 13 66 61
0F 82 54 FF 81 C3 00 02 66 40 49 0F 85 71 FF C3
4E 54 4C 44 52 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0D 0A 4E 54
4C 44 52 20 69 73 20 6D 69 73 73 69 6E 67 FF 0D
0A 44 69 73 6B 20 65 72 72 6F 72 FF 0D 0A 50 72
65 73 73 20 61 6E 79 20 6B 65 79 20 74 6F 20 72
65 73 74 61 72 74 0D 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AC BF CC 00 00 55 AA

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Please take note that it is much preferred that one starts one's own thread than to piggy-back onto another one.

However, quickly scanning through your posts it would apper that the disk geometry is ok, the mbr is ok and has got rid of any traces of boot magic and grub. Not 100% sure about the boot sector though fixboot should have sorted out any problem there. Boot.ini also looks OK. It seems like you can reach the partition boot sector but that for whatever reason the boot processes cannot hook into ntldr.

Try formatting a floppy FROM WINDOWS XP so that it doesn't get an msdos boot sector and then copy boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com to the floppy. Then see if you can boot up windows with that floppy. If that fails I would try a repair installation (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm).

Thanks for the tip, and sorry for the piggybacking.
I will give a try for the floppy.

the booting was fine with this floppy, and
- without hoping that it would help - I
ahve copied the new ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini
to the rootdirectory. Next boot from hdd resulted
the same message, and stopped. What I know now is that
Windows is not fully corrupted. But how should
I restore the proper pointers in the boot process?

You are getting as far as a "NTLDR is missing" message so you are being directed to a partition boot sector. The three boot files and a normal boot sector on the floppy are allowing you to start normally so once the correct partiton is "hit" the boot process continues normally.

It thus almost certainly has to be the partition boot sector on the hard drive. I would, in the first instance, go back and boot up to the recovery console. Then run fixboot or even fixboot C: fixboot D: etc for each HDD partiton. Then reboot and see if the situation has changed.

I don't know for sure, sounds much like the "mup.sys" driver failure...

Invalid [path]entries recorded within the registry for some reason?

Really just guessing.

nombr - I don't know why you think this is a registry problem when booting is normal if initiated from the floppy diskette?

What mup.sys problem are you referring to? The only time I have seen mup.sys come on the scene at all in the booting context is when it appears as the last apparent entry in a list of command lines after choosing to boot to safe mode. There is often a considerabe pause at this point in time as the command following mup.sys is dealt with. I don't see the relevance to this thread but would love to know what you are specifically referring to.

Well, I don't think either that it would be a registry problem.

I have done the fixboot/fixmbr for C: (one partition on the HDD), and done fixmbr on D: (an other partition on ... somewhere. see later) Nothing changed. However, I did not do the fixboot D:, because I don't even know what is this D:.
The logical drive letters I can reach from the recovery console are:

A: fdd
b: none
c: partition on the problematic drive
d: a problematic partition. Can not be DIR-ed, don't know what's this. PartitionMagic did not indicate more than one partition on the problematic hdd.
e: CD drive
f: 2nd hdd, fine
g: 3rd (mobile) hdd

So the system can see every physical drives, and reads them as weel, save D:.

Should I do a fixboot to this D:?

I would think that D was the logical partition created prior to the linux installation and is no longer in existence.

But - I have finally spotted an inconsistency.
You describe the WinXP partition as being FAT and the hex shows that the partitin boot sector is also a FAT boot sector BUT the partition table describes the partition as being NTFS.

The 07 in
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 239 63 63 19,534,977
is the code for NTFS
and should be 0B for FAT32 or 0C for FAT32X

The simplest way to experiment would be to edit the partition table directly using ptedit (should be in your PM folder) but can also be got from HERE (ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/PtEdit.zip), unzipped and added to a boot floppy. You could do this from within windows using pdedit32 but if it screws up you are still going to need the dos version on the floppy to edit it back the way that it was. Just try running it and changing the 07 to 0B and/or to 0C. If you want to be extra sure make a bacup of your mbr on the floppy before you edit anything.

Ok, the problem is not as easy as it seems to (for a half moment, I did hope that it is...)
I did not emphasized that the first data I've posted on the partitions
by PartitionMagic was obtained in an other PC (PC "B"), where the problematic
hdd was slaved as E:.
Later I have added a list of available drive letters in windows:
it was obtaind in PC "A", which is the normal residence of this annoying hdd.
Therefor what You have pointed about the 07/0B difference is not
relevant: 07 belongs to an other hdd, namely Disk 1 (or C: in PC B, Maxtor 10GB) of
PC B, which is truly NTFS. If I'm using your observation correctly, than Disk 2 of PC B
(this is the corrupted hdd, E: in PC B, C: in PC A, Maxtor 30GB) is
signed as 0C, which should be the correct code for FAT32X. And the filesystem IS FAT32X on this drive.
(For the completeness of this hard situation, I should mention that
the whole problem had rised in PC "C".)

Anyway, many thanks for the persistent search and help.

To clarify things, I post the new partition info by PartitionMagic.
But first, something completely different!
A new logical partition had appeared in my system, that was not here before,
or it was, but I did not know it. Anyway, the unknown D: partition, that I have listed
as a "problematic partition" in the drive list is possibly this one. This is an unformatted 7.8 MB part of a 120GB hdd.
I would post a pic on the drives (in PC A) seen in PM, but I don't know how to.

So, the new partition table (mainly showing Disk 1)
(What does this line mean?: "Info: MBR Partition Table not in sequential order.")

================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 3972 Cylinders, 240 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
MAXTOR 30 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 1023 239 63 63 60,056,577
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 3971 239 63 63 60056577

[...]

================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 1: 29,324.5 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
C:MAXTOR 30 FAT32X Pri,Boot 29,324.5 0 0 63 60,056,577


================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 2: 117,240.0 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
F: FAT12 Pri 7.8 0 1 63 16,002
ExtendedX Pri 117,232.1 0 0 16,065 240,091,425
Info: MBR Partition Table not in sequential order.
EPBR Log 117,232.1 None -- 16,065 240,091,425
D: NTFS Log 117,232.1 16,065 0 16,128 240,091,362

[...]

================================================== ================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
================================================== ================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 58 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 32
5. Reserved Sectors: 34
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 60050907 (0x3944DDB)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 14655
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 2 (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x01
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x41B88AB7
26. Volume Name: MAXTOR 30
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

You are making this very difficult (again) by only posting parts of the text file generated by PartitionInfo. Please post all the text; in particular you have omitted the disk geometry for disk 2 on this occasion.

As for posting the results from one computer when asking for help about another one; that defies logic. No wonder you have me scratching my head.

The four partition tables in the mbr do not have to follow the physical positions of the the same partitions on the drive. The first partition table might refer to the second third or fourth partition on the HDD itself. It's the figures and the mathematics that is most important - though to the uninitiated this can be very confusing and also produce some seemingly incomprehensible values in any boot.ini files.

OK. I have had a sit down and further think and examination of what you have posted so far.

There is something "odd" going on since, pretty unusually, the CHS values for the 30gig drive's Disk Geometry is 1292 Cylinders, 240 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track. The strange value is 240 heads as this is nearly always reported as 255 heads. Heads can be enumerated this way as one method of disk geometry translation (eg http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/sizeGB738-c.html )

That could be understood except that the partition boot sector for the only partition on that disk is reported as having 255 heads. The hexadecimal value for 240 is F0 and that for 255 is FF. If you examine the hex for the boot sector at offset 1A you will see that the value is FF whereas if this matched the Disk Geometry from the Partition Tables it should be F0.

Viz - Physicaldrive1, Partition1:

EB 58 90 4D 53 57 49 4E 34 2E 31 00 02 20 22 00
02 00 00 00 00 F8 00 00 3F 00 FF 00 3F 00 00 00

You could try editing the partition table with pdedit (or equivalent) so that the values for disk1 was changed from:
30 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 1023 239 63 63 60056577
to
30 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 1023 254 63 63 60056577
so that they matched the boot sector (and yes its 254 and not 255).

.. or you could try editing the boot sector so that the FF value became F0 so it matches the partition table.

As it is they appear to be "out of sync" and I don't have a definitive answer on how best to resolve this other than trial and error.

It might be less confusing if you only had this drive attached while we try and troubleshoot it further and since you can access it normally by booting to it from the floppy you prepared earlier.

Ok, thank you, I will try this one.

By the way, any time I've posted info on these hdd-s, I've always indicated which is the one in focus (with the problem) - correctly. In my last post I did intentionally leave out disk 2 as it is irrelevant in our investigation.
Sorry for the ambiguous posts, but I have to work with this disk, and I could not allow myself a holiday, that's why I always put it in different PCs.

Thanks again for your endurance!

I have booted to DOS from floppy, and tried to edit the partition table with ptedit as
You have suggested, changing number of heads from 239 to 254.
No success, with the following message:
"The ending head value for table entry 1 must be less than 240"
and it is really strange, because the Boot Record states that there are 255 Heads, while the Partition Table still shows 239.

PTEDIT:

Drive 1 (29324 MB) 3972 cylinders, 240 heads, 63 sectors per track

Starting Ending Sectors
Type Boot Cyl Head Sect Cyl Head Sect Before Sectors
1 OC 80 0 1 1 1023 239 63 63 60056577
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


FAT32 Boot record at Sector 63

1. Jump EB5890 (hex)
2. OEM Name MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector 512
4. Sectors per Cluster 32
5. Reserved Sectors 34
6. Number of FATs 2
7. Reserved 0000 (hex)
8. Reserved 0000 (hex)
9. Media Descriptor F8 (hex)
10. Sectors per FAT 0
11. Sectors per Track 63
12. Number of Heads 255
13. Hidden Sectors 63
14. Big Total Sectors 60050907

15. Big Sectors Per FAT 14655
16. Extended Flags 0000 (hex)
17. FS Version 0000 (hex)
18. First Cluster of Root 2
19. FS Info Sector 1
20. Backup Boot Sector 6
21. Reserved 000000000000000000000000 (hex)
22. Drive ID 80 (hex)
23. Reserved for NT 00 (hex)
24. Extended Boot Sig 29 (hex)
25. Serial Number 41B88AB7 (hex)
26. Volume Name MAXTOR 30
27. File System ID FAT32
28. Signature AA55 (hex)

What to do now... no idea.
Is there anything that I should post to help understand the situation?
Or is it a game over?

it is really strange, because the Boot Record states that there are 255 Heads
That is the inconsistency that I pointed out. The value FF in the table gets translated into "12. Number of Heads 255"

So you could try editing FF to F0 as previously suggested.

The only other thing I can think of is to either make an image file of the partition and then restore the image - (preferably on a repartitioned hard drive) or to copy the partition onto a drive on which the geometry is read as 255 and not 240 heads.

If is a bit weird. Utilities such as Drive Image and Partition Magic will normally rewrite a new and appropriate boot sector when a partition is moved by copying or restoring.

BTW - There is another discrepancy between the partition boot record and the mbr partition table and that is:

Total sectors by LBA in the partition table = 60056577 + 63 = 60056640
which doesnt match the values in the boot sector.

Viz: total sectors recorded in the partition boot sector
13. Hidden Sectors 63
14. Big Total Sectors 60050907
And adding these together gives a value of 60050970

So there is a discrepancy of 60056640 - 60050970 = 5670 sectors

This is probably the same misinformation as that causing the 15 heads difference between the same two areas.

It could possibly shed some light on things if you have a look and see how the drive is reported in the BIOS; LBA or CHS etc and any actual values seen there.

I have not given this up, but at present do not have the time and the bravery to risk
some serious brakedown on my machine, so for some time I can not try the methods you've suggested.

At the time things get calmed I will post a message on how these solutions have worked.
Thank you for your patience and kind help!

Finally I have had the time to reinstall everything on my Pc, and I should announce in joy that now the system works fine. Although, I still don't know what was the exact problem, I hope that I won't encounter it a second time.

Thank you again Paul, for your kind help!