# Need help fixing mbr on my netbook!



## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Hi all,

Been searching all over google and can't even find a solution, so I ended up here.

Right, so I have a samsung n130 netbook with windows xp preinstalled..

I decided to installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix so it can dual boot with my xp.

Now I want to uninstall it, but I dont know how to get rid of the grub launcher. I searched on the net and I found out that if i had a windows xp cd, i can run commands to fix it, however i do not have a cd drive..

i even tried typing commands in linux with no luck..

also i was using a flash boot disk with winxp but cant manage to boot up with it.. i then managed to boot up using win 98 but when i type commands like fdisk /mbr it says bad command etc.. , i tried many ways but still cant fix the problem 

anyone have any solution>?

thanks in advance!


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## Gait (Dec 4, 2008)

Kevlar would this help you ??

http://www.ambience.sk/fdisk-master-boot-record-windows-linux-lilo-fixmbr.php


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

one thing that might help you is to create a bootable CD using the image from a bootable win98/Millenium Emergency boot disk.

Just remember that in Nero you will have to change the image settings to point to the floppy drive and diskette inside and also change the number at the bottom of the page ( where it says 1) I think it's bootsectors to 4. Sorry I am in Knoppix at the moment and I am not near my XP PC.

If you're looking for sources of bootdisk images you'll probably have luck at www.bootdisk.com.

if you have a floppy drive available on a WinXP PC you can create your floppy drive there and also create the image using Nero for your boot cd.


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Gait said:


> Kevlar would this help you ??
> 
> http://www.ambience.sk/fdisk-master-boot-record-windows-linux-lilo-fixmbr.php


Thanks, i will try that one when i get home..

also, the other day, i typed in this linux command and it removed the grub loader however now it wont even boot back into xp..

it loads with a blank screen with: . (a period) and crashes..

anyone know how i can fix this?

thanks


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Can you remember what command you used??

What you are describing is similar to when BIOS tells the PC to boot from the hard disk but something isn't correct and it cannot find the O/S it has been told to look for .. so it just sits there looking at you!

I'd say you need a Boot Disk at the moment and run fixmbr or fdisk /mbr.

Try booting from your Live CD and see if you can "boot from the first hard drive"


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> Can you remember what command you used??
> 
> What you are describing is similar to when BIOS tells the PC to boot from the hard disk but something isn't correct and it cannot find the O/S it has been told to look for .. so it just sits there looking at you!
> 
> ...


 dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

along those lines.. but i think i used 446 instead of 512

i have the recovery cd that came with it, but no cd/dvd drive =(

im looking for a program where i can download and put on a flash disk, then boot up from there so i can run the command fixmbr or fdisk /mbr.. any ideas?


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

*CD2USB* is a great program that can be run in windows to create a bootable Flash Drive & run Ubuntu from an external Flash Drive. However there are NO programs (that I have ever heard of) that will allow you to boot XP from USB. XP requires and insists upon having a fixed hard drive for certain files, probably as a deterrent for pirating installations.

If you have any files that you needed to save from your XP install you could use Ubuntu on a CD2USB to grab those files, especially since Ubuntu 9.10 supports reading NTFS and also is now supposed to supports writing to NTFS partitions. 

The only thing that you can do is either get an external CD/DVD writer/player for use with your netbook on a USB port. A cheaper alternative would be to borrow a CD/DVD player and use a USB Adapter and power supply so that you could boot teh XP from USB. However it may well be that the HDD is SATA and as such you'd have to get drivers for that (when prompted to hit F6 if you need to supply drivers) and possibly integrate those drivers into a copy of the XP CD. Otherwise your install may fail at the point where it drops all references to the way BIOS is configured and starts to work off of the windows drivers it has prepared. No SATA drive will mean that it won't see your SATA drive unless it's cleverly configured in the unreachable depths of the BIOS.

There are many workarounds like removing the HDD from the laptop and placing it on another system that has a CD ROM available but that is where the drives are easily removable which is not the case here .. netbooks are NOT user friendly in that respect .. I'll even go as far as saying they are not even Tech friendly in the event that any repair is required. Even a memory upgrade is a nightmare requiring everything be disassembled to gain access to the slot that is free behind the motherboard.

Since you have the restore CD, ifd you have NOTHING that you want to recover then you can use a USB external CVD/CD drive to obliterate all traces of your previous installation, by booting from that restore CD.

If you have files you want to recover you would be better off booting from a live Linux CD, mount your partitions and copying the files to a flash drive before using the restore CD.


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> *CD2USB* is a great program that can be run in windows to create a bootable Flash Drive & run Ubuntu from an external Flash Drive. However there are NO programs (that I have ever heard of) that will allow you to boot XP from USB. XP requires and insists upon having a fixed hard drive for certain files, probably as a deterrent for pirating installations.
> 
> If you have any files that you needed to save from your XP install you could use Ubuntu on a CD2USB to grab those files, especially since Ubuntu 9.10 supports reading NTFS and also is now supposed to supports writing to NTFS partitions.
> 
> ...


Thanks very much for your support, I appreciate it.

I guess your right, the best way is to use an external cd drive..


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

At the moment, unfortunately, I cannot think of a better alternative unless you are skilled at dis-assembly and reassembly or have a large computer workshop at your disposal. With the tools I have at hand it would be a simple task since I have most of the items at hand, even a few spare PC's and HDDs that I could practice with.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

this is the sort of item that you will find very handy, includes power supply and covers use for both IDE and SATA drives 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119152


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

I wonder if theres anyway to create a windows mbr using linux?


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

None that I know of .. Linux also has an fdisk program but it WILL NOT allow you to play with the mbr the same way that Microsoft fdisk does.

if you don't need any files or info from your XP installation, the restore CD will have you back up and running quickly. Alternatively you could use a bootable CD as I think I said a lot earlier, that boots you into Win98 emergency disk. But you still need that CD/DVD drive to do that unless you can find an easy way to get your flash to boot into Microsoft DOS and then run fdisk /mbr plus from within fdisk ensure that the XP Partition is active to boot.


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> None that I know of .. Linux also has an fdisk program but it WILL NOT allow you to play with the mbr the same way that Microsoft fdisk does.
> 
> if you don't need any files or info from your XP installation, the restore CD will have you back up and running quickly. Alternatively you could use a bootable CD as I think I said a lot earlier, that boots you into Win98 emergency disk. But you still need that CD/DVD drive to do that unless you can find an easy way to get your flash to boot into Microsoft DOS and then run fdisk /mbr plus from within fdisk ensure that the XP Partition is active to boot.


Right now, I can only get back to XP if I reinstall Ubunto Netbook Remix via usb flash drive because it will install the grub loader.

I also have a seperate usb flash drive with Ubunto Netbook Remix in. If I boot from that, I can access grub loader from there and boot up linux ok, however when I choose to boot up XP, it freezes.

I tried going for a recovery by pressing f6 (about 7gb on my hard disk are the recovery files) but it still does not fix the mbr problem im having.

I somehow managed to use this HP storage tool, which would enable me to boot into windows 98 msdos prompt. I typed commands like fdisk /mbr
fix /mbr but it wont let me. "Bad command bla bla"


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Thanks everyone for your support!
I managed to solve this problem without having to use a cd!

I came across this webpage: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654

was very helpful!

If anyone encounters these problems in the near future where u dont have a cd/dvd drive, you can follow the steps here:

Use another computer that has a CD/DVD drive and insert the WIN XP CD.. copy the i386 folder to a flash drive..

then plug the flash drive into your netbook.

then follow the steps from the above microsoft webpage:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive. In the case of 'Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type d:\amd64\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive. 
A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation, click Yes.
Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer, "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" appears on the startup menu.

A window came up saying that i dont have this dll file, I clicked ok and then it asked if i want to download this 7mb recovery file from microsoft. I clicked ok and it downloaded the 7mb file and it asked me to restart my computer
When I restarted XP, I choose XP recovery and then it asked me which installation. After I pressed 1, it asked for the administration password.

Type the following command after you get a command prompt: "fixmbr" without the quotes..

type yes and restart your computer!

SOLVED!!

=)


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

That's great .. it's very similar to another method that involved moving the hard disk to another PC and then once its bootable and holds smartdrv plus command.com along with the /i386 folder you transfer it back to the PC you want to install XP to. However on Netbooks that really is not within everyone's scope. 

Congrats on finding that fix and for sharing your find .. I'll certainly be bookmarking that page in my favourites as yet another workaround to this problem.

Edit: are you sure that's the right link ?? the page I just read quickly was bout using & installing the recovery console! Admittedly I don't have much time to really look at the page but I scrolled through two or three times looking for the magic "flash or external" words without seeing anything. :4-dontkno


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> That's great .. it's very similar to another method that involved moving the hard disk to another PC and then once its bootable and holds smartdrv plus command.com along with the /i386 folder you transfer it back to the PC you want to install XP to. However on Netbooks that really is not within everyone's scope.
> 
> Congrats on finding that fix and for sharing your find .. I'll certainly be bookmarking that page in my favourites as yet another workaround to this problem.
> 
> Edit: are you sure that's the right link ?? the page I just read quickly was bout using & installing the recovery console! Admittedly I don't have much time to really look at the page but I scrolled through two or three times looking for the magic "flash or external" words without seeing anything. :4-dontkno


The page I provided was the right link. It doesn't tell you anything about the flash, external or mbr. I figured that one out myself, but this one asks you to insert an XP CD in instead. So if you had a CD/DVD drive, it would be alot easier.

For the mbr bit, I did some research before. I only wanted to get into the recovery mode where I can type the commands in.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

very nicely done and the result was what you wanted so kudo's to you for finding the correct way with the tools you have at hand. Keep that up and you'll have us coming to you for solutions :laugh:

:wave:


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> very nicely done and the result was what you wanted so kudo's to you for finding the correct way with the tools you have at hand. Keep that up and you'll have us coming to you for solutions :laugh:
> 
> :wave:


haha thanks.. 
thanks for trying to help though =)


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

All I could do was give ideas and suggestions !! 
YOU did the real work!!

It's always helpful to know that you have someone at hand to help should things go belly up, gives that extra feeling of confidence !


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## Kevlar21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Done_Fishin said:


> All I could do was give ideas and suggestions !!
> YOU did the real work!!
> 
> It's always helpful to know that you have someone at hand to help should things go belly up, gives that extra feeling of confidence !


thanks, i've always trying to solve my own problems.. its a way to learn new things also


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

You are so right!!! I love helping people who try to help themselves .. you can only lead peopel so far "by the nose" but they need to have the ability to jump out and do something different should the circumstances warrant it. 

Good luck :wave:


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## Maroman68 (Apr 14, 2011)

Kevlar21 said:


> Thanks, i will try that one when i get home..
> 
> also, the other day, i typed in this linux command and it removed the grub loader however now it wont even boot back into xp..
> 
> ...


yes i had a similar problem in a newer OS however the concept should be the same reinstall grub (I know you don't relish the thought) then start the boot process into xp once grub has selected xp press f8 to get into your BIOS recovery select advanced options then select repair your computer ( or just repair your computer if this is shown without having to select advanced options) from there you can use the BootRec or fixmbr to rewrite the mbr after that you can uninstall linux by deleting the partition(s) its installed in from xp if thats what wou wish to do


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