Fixing windows xp boot sector

It suddenly occurred to me, before making the change, that my Windows Server machine sometimes has that problem if the backup drive is connected during bootup. So, at least it was simple and no major rebuild is necessary.

It will look like it is doing a fresh install except you will not be given the option to format. All software, settings, configurations, and users remain in place. You may or may not have to activate don't register and you will need to re run updates. Outside of that you should then be good to go. Have you tried a repair installation? Hell again and thank you all for the replies. To address some of them, one possible answer was to run chkdsk which we are doing now. Another was to reseat the hard drive connections.

Loose connections have causes stranger things. Regarding the inplace repair, it's been awhile so refresh me. I know with Vista and 7 it's a parallel install. One of the first things you should reach for when troubleshooting a Windows XP boot problem is a Windows startup disk.

This floppy disk can come in handy if the problem is being caused when either the startup record for the active partition or the files that the operating system uses to start Windows have become corrupted.

To create a Windows startup disk, insert a floppy disk into the drive of a similarly configured, working Windows XP system, launch My Computer, right-click the floppy disk icon, and select the Format command from the context menu. When you see the Format dialog box, leave all the default settings as they are and click the Start button.

Once the format operation is complete, close the Format dialog box to return to My Computer, double-click the drive C icon to access the root directory, and copy the following three files to the floppy disk:.

After you create the Windows startup disk, insert it into the floppy drive on the afflicted system and press [Ctrl][Alt][Delete] to reboot the computer. When you boot from the Windows startup disk, the computer will bypass the active partition and boot files on the hard disk and attempt to start Windows XP normally. You can also try to boot the operating system with the Last Known Good Configuration feature.

This feature will allow you to undo any changes that caused problems in the CurrentControlSet registry key, which defines hardware and driver settings. The Last Known Good Configuration feature replaces the contents of the CurrentControlSet registry key with a backup copy that was last used to successfully start up the operating system. When you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options menu.

Keep in mind that you get only one shot with the Last Known Good Configuration feature. In other words, if it fails to revive your Windows XP on the first attempt, the backup copy is also corrupt. System Restore runs in the background as a service and continually monitors system-critical components for changes. When it detects an impending change, System Restore immediately makes backup copies, called restore points, of these critical components before the change occurs.

In addition, System Restore is configured by default to create restore points every 24 hours. Now, select the Safe Mode item from the menu and press [Enter]. Then, follow along with the wizard to select a restore point and begin the restoration procedure. When a Windows XP boot problem is severe, you'll need to use a more drastic approach.

So if there's a problem rooted in the Boot. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD store. You should be very careful while operating in Command Prompt. The operations cannot be canceled. Thus, it may cause an irrevocable error if you are not familiar with commands. And here we will introduce you how to make it. Step 1.

Step 2. Right-click the system disk, and select Rebuild MBR. Step 4. When the operation finished, shut down the computer, remove the bootable device and boot your PC from the original disk. Boot disk: partition boot sector is damaged The Partition Boot Sector contains information, which the file system uses to access the volume.

The bad results of damaged boot sector There are many reasons that would cause boot sector damaged. Boot sector repair Here we provide you some effective ways to fix a damaged boot sector.