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Tonethar

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Partition Problems

I was attempting to install linux so I created a linux partition using partition magic.  I had problems installing linux so I figured I'd just work on it later.  Unfortunately my computer wouldn't boot anymore because of what I did with partion magic.  Luckily I created rescue disks for partition magic.  Now I can run partition magic even though the computer wont boot.  I deleted the linux partitoin.  The computer still wont boot.  I'd appreciate any help you can give me, thanks.  
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nltech

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Hai,

      Possibly the Master Boot Record may be corrupt.If you are using Win 9x Series(95,98,Me) then you do the steps suggested by nltech (fdisk /mbr).If you are unable to boot then overwrite the OS by reinstalling it on the same partition.(Overwriting dosen't affect your files or programs installed).

     If you are using NT Series(NT,2000,XP,2003) then you can boot with the CD and start the recovery console and fix the MBR.

Hope this helps

Regards
Venish
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schwagerjt

The problem described sounds most likely to be a problem with the partition not being marked active.  This fix is easy enough.  You can even fix it by booting with a Windows 98 boot disk and running fdisk.  fdisk allows you to mark the partition active -- even if it doesn't understand the NTFS file system.

When using fixmbr from the console on a drive that has been freshly wiped, has anyone ever seen a message indicating that the master boot record is non-existent or non-standard?  I can understand non-existent on a freshly wiped drive, so I create one using fixmbr and reboot.  When I go back to the console, I get the same error message.  This time it has to be due to the mbr being non-standard.  Now WHY? would Windows create a non-standard mbr?  Any clue?