Boot issue

[psalm19]

I used System Commander to move free disk space from the d partition to the c
partition. All seemed to go well except upon reboot the system goes through
post and then just hangs...no errors just hangs...odd I know.

I can get it to boot back into the OS if I boot from the System Commander CD
and select "install generic MBR" from the available options. The system is
then able to find the MBR and all is well. I contacted System Commander
support and they didn't offer any useful help. I also ran "fix mbr" from the
Win2003 CD which didn't fix the issue either.

Got any ideas on how I can permanetly fix this issue without needing to
reinstall?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Boot issue


"psalm19" <psalm19@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AADB7A80-651B-4C11-86C2-6251EC742166@microsoft.com...
>I used System Commander to move free disk space from the d partition to the
>c
> partition. All seemed to go well except upon reboot the system goes
> through
> post and then just hangs...no errors just hangs...odd I know.
>
> I can get it to boot back into the OS if I boot from the System Commander
> CD
> and select "install generic MBR" from the available options. The system is
> then able to find the MBR and all is well. I contacted System Commander
> support and they didn't offer any useful help. I also ran "fix mbr" from
> the
> Win2003 CD which didn't fix the issue either.
>
> Got any ideas on how I can permanetly fix this issue without needing to
> reinstall?

You cannot "move" free space from the second to the first partition. What
you actually did was to do two things:
a) You moved a number of files/folders from the start of the second
partition to a vacant area on the same partition.
b) You rewrote the partition tables for the two partitions.

Step a) is a low-risk step. However, lots of things can go wrong with Step
b). Whether the damage can be fixed remains to be seen. I would do this as a
first and non-destructive step:
- Boot into Windows, using your System Commander CD.
- Format a floppy disk with Explorer.
- Copy the following hidden files from C:\ to A:\ -
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
* boot.ini
- Set the BIOS so that it uses your FDD as its first boot device.
- Reboot the server from the boot diskette you just made.

If this machine does not have a floppy disk drive then you must create the
boot diskette on a machine that does have such a drive, then burn a bootable
CD based on this diskette so that you can boot up your server with the
bootable CD.

The next step depends on what happens with this boot diskette.

 

[psalm19]

Re: Boot issue

Thanks for the help. I created a floppy per your instructions and attempted
to boot from the floppy and all I get is a flashing cursor in the top left
corner of the screen.

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>
> "psalm19" <psalm19@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:AADB7A80-651B-4C11-86C2-6251EC742166@microsoft.com...
> >I used System Commander to move free disk space from the d partition to the
> >c
> > partition. All seemed to go well except upon reboot the system goes
> > through
> > post and then just hangs...no errors just hangs...odd I know.
> >
> > I can get it to boot back into the OS if I boot from the System Commander
> > CD
> > and select "install generic MBR" from the available options. The system is
> > then able to find the MBR and all is well. I contacted System Commander
> > support and they didn't offer any useful help. I also ran "fix mbr" from
> > the
> > Win2003 CD which didn't fix the issue either.
> >
> > Got any ideas on how I can permanetly fix this issue without needing to
> > reinstall?
>
> You cannot "move" free space from the second to the first partition. What
> you actually did was to do two things:
> a) You moved a number of files/folders from the start of the second
> partition to a vacant area on the same partition.
> b) You rewrote the partition tables for the two partitions.
>
> Step a) is a low-risk step. However, lots of things can go wrong with Step
> b). Whether the damage can be fixed remains to be seen. I would do this as a
> first and non-destructive step:
> - Boot into Windows, using your System Commander CD.
> - Format a floppy disk with Explorer.
> - Copy the following hidden files from C:\ to A:\ -
> * ntldr
> * ntdetect.com
> * boot.ini
> - Set the BIOS so that it uses your FDD as its first boot device.
> - Reboot the server from the boot diskette you just made.
>
> If this machine does not have a floppy disk drive then you must create the
> boot diskette on a machine that does have such a drive, then burn a bootable
> CD based on this diskette so that you can boot up your server with the
> bootable CD.
>
> The next step depends on what happens with this boot diskette.
>
>
>

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Boot issue

The symptoms you describe suggest that you're booting off the hard disk, not
off the floppy disk. To prove that your machine is booting off a floppy
disk, create a DOS boot diskette from www.bootdisk.com and boot the machine
with it.


"psalm19" <psalm19@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4AAF9043-49D1-42F7-B9B4-A3CF28F1A4AF@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for the help. I created a floppy per your instructions and
> attempted
> to boot from the floppy and all I get is a flashing cursor in the top left
> corner of the screen.
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>
>>
>> "psalm19" <psalm19@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:AADB7A80-651B-4C11-86C2-6251EC742166@microsoft.com...
>> >I used System Commander to move free disk space from the d partition to
>> >the
>> >c
>> > partition. All seemed to go well except upon reboot the system goes
>> > through
>> > post and then just hangs...no errors just hangs...odd I know.
>> >
>> > I can get it to boot back into the OS if I boot from the System
>> > Commander
>> > CD
>> > and select "install generic MBR" from the available options. The system
>> > is
>> > then able to find the MBR and all is well. I contacted System Commander
>> > support and they didn't offer any useful help. I also ran "fix mbr"
>> > from
>> > the
>> > Win2003 CD which didn't fix the issue either.
>> >
>> > Got any ideas on how I can permanetly fix this issue without needing to
>> > reinstall?
>>
>> You cannot "move" free space from the second to the first partition. What
>> you actually did was to do two things:
>> a) You moved a number of files/folders from the start of the second
>> partition to a vacant area on the same partition.
>> b) You rewrote the partition tables for the two partitions.
>>
>> Step a) is a low-risk step. However, lots of things can go wrong with
>> Step
>> b). Whether the damage can be fixed remains to be seen. I would do this
>> as a
>> first and non-destructive step:
>> - Boot into Windows, using your System Commander CD.
>> - Format a floppy disk with Explorer.
>> - Copy the following hidden files from C:\ to A:\ -
>> * ntldr
>> * ntdetect.com
>> * boot.ini
>> - Set the BIOS so that it uses your FDD as its first boot device.
>> - Reboot the server from the boot diskette you just made.
>>
>> If this machine does not have a floppy disk drive then you must create
>> the
>> boot diskette on a machine that does have such a drive, then burn a
>> bootable
>> CD based on this diskette so that you can boot up your server with the
>> bootable CD.
>>
>> The next step depends on what happens with this boot diskette.
>>
>>
>>