Boot Sector gone bad

[dilip281]

i am unable to install any os, because no os setup program is able to write an entry into the mbr. the error is something like "unable to access boot loader. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

i suspect that my boot sector has been corrupted. i have tried to install os on diff. partitions and create a boot entry on those partitions, but its not working. i am able to access the partitions i have created though.

is there a solution or a workaround to my problem?

also, as i do not have a working floppy drive, do not involve floppies in the solution.

[bharathbala2003]

well am not too sure if this will work.. if u have the bootable cd boot thro it after changin the boot sequence in bios.. then run fdisk command and del the partitions and create em. then format the partions using the format command and then install the OS.. if u still face the prob ud better call ur dealer..

[icecoolz]

Fdisk will solve the issue like bharathbala said. If it doesnt do a low level format from the BIOS

[swatkat]

Go to BIOS by pressing DELETE button while PC is swithced ON, and then make the "First Boot Device" as "IDE-0" or "HDD" that is HardDisk.

[dilip281]

thankz for the help, guys. i have already tried your solution. i am able to create, delete and access the partitions in my disc. the problem comes when the os setup tries to put an entry in the boot sector.

the setup of any os goes fine. while installing the os, it doesnt give any errors that it was unable to write into the mbr. i find that out after i take out the os cd and restart the system.

also icecoolz, could you explain how to do a lowlevel format from the bios. from the info i found from google, i cannot do a lowlevel format to most modern hdds (i am assuming it refers to hdd made from 2000 onwards).

[ShekharPalash]

try to do this...
requires a bootable Windows XP [Home/Pro/MCE] CD...

Boot from the CD and press "R" to access Wndows Recovery Console...
It will scan any preinstalled Windows Installation if u hv already... then login to the installation by pressing the nuber assigned to it along with ur admin password.

Now it will open command in %SystemRoot%
Press HELP
It'll give u list all all Recovery Console Commands...

Use FIXMBR ro rewrite ur MBR... it'll restore ur MBR and make all ur partitions visible...

If any problem with the BootLoader [Boot.INI]
Use FIXBOOT or BOOTCFG commands...
Check with references for BOOTCFG...

I think FIXMBR will solve ur problem...

Post back if it doesn't work!!

[dilip281]

its in the bios settings where my problem existed. as soon as i loaded my fail-safe settings in it, everything went back to normal, and it started loading the windows bootloader. i guess some conflict must have existed somewhere in my bios settings that i could not see.

thankz anyway, for your suggestions.