# broken mbr?? gparted help?



## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

ok my pc got a virus either in a hidden partition on the hard drive and possible in the bios, I think. So, When i tried to boot it would take me into a black screen with just my cursor. I got my XP disk and popped it in and it said hard drive not detected;after which i got my Linux CD and it wouldn't load after installation. At this point i was annoyed so i burned DBAN to a disk and nuked the HDD and cleared CMOS. After this on xp it still said HDD not detected, so i just installed linux.

I then tried finding my WMP300n driver for linux and found out they don't have any.I also read there are multiple ways to install it tho, but they were a bit complex and seemed like a pain in the a**. I noticed how big of a noob I was with Linux so I tried to install xp and it said HDD not detected.

OS:
XP pro sp1
ubbuntu

SATA raptor

I had XP sp2 on before, but my father lost my disk.
I'm guessing that it is because sp1 doesn't have the drivers on the disk and i need to slip stream the disk.That is just my logical guess.
So, i slipstreamed a disk and the problem still occurred.
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SKIP TO HERE IF YOU DON'T CARE FOR THE STORY.
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Since non of that worked i believe it has to do with my mbr record.So a friend told me to repair my mbr with gparted; so i downloaded Gparted live and burned the iso on to a cd. The cd loaded and i hit enter a few times and it loaded to a "/dev/sda - gparted" window, which had:
/dev/sda1 ext3 134.02G (free) 4.22G (used) boot(flag)
/dev/sda2 extended 5.71G
unallocated unallocated 5.71G

the unallocated part used to linux so i right clicked it and selected delete, because i was planning on deleting everything and installing windows.


I want to know how to fix my mbr, format the HDD to the correct format and install windows. I have little knowledge on how to use gparted though.


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

ok, i went downstairs to get some pizza and when i came back the screen was froze; so i turned it off and reloaded gparted and the unallocated turned back into linux-swap.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

So, I am not quite sure what you want to do here. It seems as though you have two parts to your question. One is that you want to fix your mbr. The second is that you want to format your hdd and then install windows. Just so that we have an understanding here, if you do the second part you won't have to worry about your mbr because you will have a formatted hdd that should be ready to install windows.

If what you want to do is move forward with formatting your hdd then I can help you with that but I just want you to be sure that you want to do that? Just post back with your answer and I will be more than willing to help you.

Cheers!


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

I used dban to clean format my HDD.I installed linux to check if everything was working. Then i tried to install windows and it said HDD not detected. Which i know it isnt a hardware issue, for i have linux on the HDD. So i tried a bunch of stuff and windows still doesnt find the HDD. A kid I play warcraft 3 with said my mbr probably needs to be repaired and that i should use gparted to do it.

"The second is that you want to format your hdd and then install windows."

That is ultimately my goal, but don't know how to get windows on there.

how should i format it though? Should put it in my other pc and right click the drive letter and select format? or use Dban to wipe it again?

thank you for your time


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

you mention that you are using a SATA raptor drive. 

This is probably not supported by your XP install disk so you will need to find a way to give that info when you see the "Press F6 if you need to install any third-party or RAID drivers "

you can usually create a floppy disk with the drivers from your Motherboard CD or you'll have to download from the manufacturers site

it's not the SATA drive that is not supported but the SATA interface on your motherboard


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

"you can usually create a floppy disk with the drivers from your Motherboard CD or you'll have to download from the manufacturers site"

What if i dont have a floppy drive?
i believe i have a OLD external one some where; will that one work?


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

when you say external do you mean usb based for a laptop and is your PC a laptop ?

if yes then it should work, I have done that a few times but you must have usb legacy devices enabled in BIOS. It may well also work for a desktop, I have just never tried .. always had a floppy drive available to plug in temporarily


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## K-B (Oct 24, 2005)

Maybe this article would help you:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml


On a side note, to overwrite the MBR with the Windows XP default (and remove GRUB in the process), boot from the XP disc. When you see the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press R to open the Recovery Console. Once at the command prompt, type in:


```
fixmbr
```
That will restore the MBR. BUT, I don't have any experience with SATA drives so I don't know if it will work without loading the SATA drivers first.


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

I need to find the external floppy drive but i believe it uses one of those hardcore massive printer cables a lot of pins(thats just from memory though).

For some reason i wanted to see if vista would work, because i heard it has like 20k drivers on it already. So i borrowed it from a friend and it didn't find the drive, but it prompted me to search for drivers VIA floppy, cd/dvd, usb drive.
BTW, this computer I've been speaking of, is a desktop built by me.

Do i need to use DBAN to quick format my HDD again or can I install windows XP/vista on top of linux?

What drivers do I load?
mobo raid controll drivers?
raptor drivers?

I think those drivers only come in XP/ previous Window bassed OSes
http://www.driverstock.com/ASUS-A8N-SLI-Premium-driver-download/6-9-10198/index.html
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=601&lang=en

I believe the drivers are found there ^, but no vista drivers.
I was planning on trying to install vista first then downgrade to xp.
It seemed easier to me that way.



K-B said:


> On a side note, to overwrite the MBR with the Windows XP default (and remove GRUB in the process), boot from the XP disc. When you see the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press R to open the Recovery Console.


It was odd I don't remember what version of XP i used but when i hit R, it said no hard drive detected.

*EDIT: A few weeks back when i tried the slip streamed XP disc i used the raptor drivers both of them, which were loaded on to the disk; so i didn't hit F6. It didn't work, but im not sure if those were the drivers i was suppose to slip stream? *


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

1. you need to use the mobo raid driver at the F6 prompt .. 

2. you said that you "borrowed" a Vista install CD .. we cannot help anyone trying to install pirated software and I will be surprised if you get your friends Vista to run on your PC .. since Vista requires an immediate validation .. one key one install .. even changing a small item on the mobo will result in a validation check.


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

Done_Fishin said:


> 2. you said that you "borrowed" a Vista install CD .. we cannot help anyone trying to install pirated software and I will be surprised if you get your friends Vista to run on your PC .. since Vista requires an immediate validation .. one key one install .. even changing a small item on the mobo will result in a validation check.


Its not pirated he paid the legit price for the retail version. Since it is not OEM it can be installed multiple times but the UA says for single pc. Im not using it as my primary OS. Im trying to get my legit copy of XP upgrade on my pc(purchased from COSCO). I have a legit copy of windows 2k which i use to upgrade XP. I believe this is a misunderstanding, im not trying to be illegal here, if that was the vibe i was presenting. On top of that windows has to be activated VIA phone or internet which isn't ultimately my goal. I apologize for being general by saying "borrowing vista from a friend".

BTW, I have a imported copy of vista, but i dont trust it. Nor do i use it.

The reason for even trying vista is because it allows you to use a cd/flopy/usb drive to install drivers.

Anyways, I have 4 black SATA ports and 4 red SATA ports on my motherboard. When i first got this HDD i plugged the raptor in the black ports and windows wouldn't pick it up so i tried the red one. When in the red port i hit CTRL-S to load the Phoenix raid utility. In there i set the drive as a JBOD and it worked. Now I tried the drive in the black port and it picked it up, but vista said it must be a NFTS format. So i just blacked/formatted it with DBAN.

Windows is not on it yet, but im trying. When it is plugged in the black ports the pc locks up a lot. EX: trying to load windows; entering the BIOS; errors when trying to use DBAN; etc.
Dban works in red ports though.
weird?


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

I regret to inform you but one Vista install CD one installation unless you buy a license for multiple installs, which I very much doubt your friend has done. If you would like to have this verified just ask Microsoft and I am sure they will be very interested o hear your interpretation of their licensing laws.
The same licensing laws apply to ALL Windows installations. 

Only FREEDOS or Linux allow you to install as many copies as you wish providing that the original installation CD was not purchased.

your friend purchased Vista so he is allowed to install on ONE computer, he is not allowed to lend it to anyone else for them to use on their computers.

Use of someone else's installation CD to install a software that has not been paid for by that person is called PIRATING. If you install Vista with his CD's you are using pirated software because it was not bought for you to use on your computer.

with regards your XP installation and use of SATA drives you will need to supply the correct motherboard drivers at the F6 prompt. I do not believe that Vista will allow you to supply F6 required drivers for an XP install since it will at that time be looking to make a VISTA installation.

try slipstreaming service pack 2 or 3 with your Original XP installation Disk which should have SATA drivers built in.


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

ya, i slip streamed it and it picked it up, formatted nfts and started to copy windows files.
Errored on clock.avi so i hit skip.(using red ports)

Don't know why the black sata ports were weird and why my HDD only shows up in the bios under the black ports.

Ill call microsoft tomorrow to confirm and hear their views on the piracy matter; just for my curiosity.

EDIT: VISTA didn't pick it up even with the drivers, but i hear vista requirs the drive to already NFTS.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

What motherboard are you using?? I cannot think of any reason for red & black sockets unless some are SATA I and the others are SATA II ports .. maybe the ports can't handle the speed or you need to "clip" the speed to work on the other ports. Check your Motherboard handbook


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## shroomba (Dec 27, 2008)

i use a a8n sli premium, ill look in the manual later, because it is somewhere in my closet.
Xp installed WOOT!

but a usb problem persists, even after clean format.
Ill start a new thread for that though thy for your help guys.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=539&l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&l4=0



> Storage
> 
> Southbridge
> 2 xUltraDMA 133/100/
> ...


and that's the reason for the red & black sockets


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