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I did try reinstalling the IDE controller as you say, but not from safe mode. I will give it a try and post a follow up.<br />
regarding system.1st, can I get it back somehow? (read recreate)<br />
<br />
Cheers,<br />
Wes<br />

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I did try reinstalling the IDE controller as you say, but not from safe mode. I will give it a try and post a follow up.
regarding system.1st, can I get it back somehow? (read recreate)

Cheers,
Wes


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Tom's answer fixed the problem FDISK /MBR did the trick!<br />
Wes<br />

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Tom's answer fixed the problem FDISK /MBR did the trick!
Wes


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Under system performance tab, I see that something called compatibility mode is being used. The message informs me that this mode is because there is a device driver in the config.sys or autoexec.bat that is bad, but Windows was caring enough to make things work anyway. <br />
Both config.sys and autoexec.bat are empty, I'm using defaults. How do troubleshoot this.<br />
It is noteworthy that I deleted a file by accident called system.1st from root. Any relationship?<br />

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Under system performance tab, I see that something called compatibility mode is being used. The message informs me that this mode is because there is a device driver in the config.sys or autoexec.bat that is bad, but Windows was caring enough to make things work anyway. 
Both config.sys and autoexec.bat are empty, I'm using defaults. How do troubleshoot this.
It is noteworthy that I deleted a file by accident called system.1st from root. Any relationship?


compatibility mode

Hardware includes cell phones and other digital living devices, tablets, computers, servers, peripherals and components, printers and scanners, gaming consoles, networking hardware such as routers, hubs, switches and modems, storage devices and security equipment such as firewalls and other appliances.