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HeyBub
Guest
Re: Some anomalies after reinstallation
M.I.5¾ wrote:
> "HeyBub" <heybub@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23VI1DR09IHA.5544@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Jim Ludwig wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>> I recently wiped my sisters computer clean (fdisk and slow format)
>>> and reinstalled WinXP Home fresh. She has a 3 yr old Dell
>>> Dimension. She was not able to find her Win XP or driver discs. I
>>> used my copy of win xp, but used her product key from the label on her
>>> computer
>>> and it activated fine. I am having two problems that are more
>>> annoyance than anything:
>>> First, when you reboot the computer, when still in the bios a screen
>>> comes up that says,
>>> "Please select operating system"
>>> Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
>>> Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
>>> and there is a count down waiting for me to pick one or the other.
>>> If I choose the first one, Windows boots normally. If I let the
>>> countdown finish, it automatically chooses the first one and
>>> finishes booting. If I choose the 2nd one, I get a message saying
>>> that it couldn't start because of a disk hardware configuration
>>> problem. Couldn't read from selected boot disk. Check boot path
>>> and hardware. Plus some stuff about checking the documentation.
>>> Any thoughts about this? I am wondering if she had a backup/restore
>>> partition on the hard drive from the factory and maybe that's why
>>> she couldn't find her discs. Even if that is the case, should my
>>> formatting and fdisk have wiped that clean?
>>
>> As you no doubt discovered by now, FDISK and Format do not rewrite
>> the Master Boot Record. For this, and other, reasons, the two are not
>> appropriate for XP installations.
>
> FDISK can rewrite the master boot record but its academic as the XP
> installation will write one as required.
Yes, FDISK CAN rewrite the MBR, but only if you specify the /MBR switch.
What I suspect is that the OP ran FDISK without the switch. Then the XP
installation finds the MBR and, instead of replacing it, added another entry
for (what it believed to be) a second OS for the drive.
Then, during the boot process, the system puts its list of OSes on the
screen: pick one. But one - the original - has been scratched by the FORMAT
process.
I may be wrong; I've been thinking a lot about ducks lately, particularly
mallards.
M.I.5¾ wrote:
> "HeyBub" <heybub@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23VI1DR09IHA.5544@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Jim Ludwig wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>> I recently wiped my sisters computer clean (fdisk and slow format)
>>> and reinstalled WinXP Home fresh. She has a 3 yr old Dell
>>> Dimension. She was not able to find her Win XP or driver discs. I
>>> used my copy of win xp, but used her product key from the label on her
>>> computer
>>> and it activated fine. I am having two problems that are more
>>> annoyance than anything:
>>> First, when you reboot the computer, when still in the bios a screen
>>> comes up that says,
>>> "Please select operating system"
>>> Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
>>> Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
>>> and there is a count down waiting for me to pick one or the other.
>>> If I choose the first one, Windows boots normally. If I let the
>>> countdown finish, it automatically chooses the first one and
>>> finishes booting. If I choose the 2nd one, I get a message saying
>>> that it couldn't start because of a disk hardware configuration
>>> problem. Couldn't read from selected boot disk. Check boot path
>>> and hardware. Plus some stuff about checking the documentation.
>>> Any thoughts about this? I am wondering if she had a backup/restore
>>> partition on the hard drive from the factory and maybe that's why
>>> she couldn't find her discs. Even if that is the case, should my
>>> formatting and fdisk have wiped that clean?
>>
>> As you no doubt discovered by now, FDISK and Format do not rewrite
>> the Master Boot Record. For this, and other, reasons, the two are not
>> appropriate for XP installations.
>
> FDISK can rewrite the master boot record but its academic as the XP
> installation will write one as required.
Yes, FDISK CAN rewrite the MBR, but only if you specify the /MBR switch.
What I suspect is that the OP ran FDISK without the switch. Then the XP
installation finds the MBR and, instead of replacing it, added another entry
for (what it believed to be) a second OS for the drive.
Then, during the boot process, the system puts its list of OSes on the
screen: pick one. But one - the original - has been scratched by the FORMAT
process.
I may be wrong; I've been thinking a lot about ducks lately, particularly
mallards.