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Thread ID: 66562 2006-02-27 06:31:00 Fixboot broke windows 98, now tries to load non-existant XP Agent_24 (57) Press F1
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434183 2006-02-27 06:31:00 A friend of mine just overwrote his windows 98 bootsector with a windows XP one, using the FIXBOOT command within windows XP recovery console from the CD....

Now the computer asks for hal.dll and refuses to boot windows 98.

Is there anyway to get the 98 bootsector back or will he have to format and re-install? 		Agent_24 (57)
434184 2006-02-27 06:36:00 :lol:
Well, from a win98 boot disk he could always try fdisk /mbr. 		Terry Porritt (14)
434185 2006-02-27 06:52:00 That didn't appear to work, fdisk /mbr didn't return any errors but the same problem still remains.

Is it possible it's the partition table that has been modified improperly?


You still need to understand that FDISK /MBR may seldom be a cure for your own MBR problems! Why? Because it's almost always the Partition Table data itself that has been changed (such as the indicator showing which partition is Active; i.e., bootable).

If this is the case, how would one go about fixing this?? 		Agent_24 (57)
434186 2006-02-27 06:58:00 That's why I said try, it's the boot sector that is corrupted, so either a re-install, or possibly a repair tool:
http://www.partition-recovery-software.com/

I haven't tried this, it's shareware, but it may be fully functional trialware. 		Terry Porritt (14)
434187 2006-02-27 07:17:00 I've been looking for the dos based tools I used to use. The original ones like Save the Boot were for FAT16 and were rewritten as SRCTOOLS, but I cant find those quite either, except for here:

geocities.yahoo.com.br

The 3 tools to save and restore FAT, BOOT, and MBR are in the collection of useful dos programs for download.

The problem is that the boot would have to be saved first before it can be restored :) , and that is not much use in the present situation :( 		Terry Porritt (14)
434188 2006-02-27 09:45:00 A friend of mine just overwrote his windows 98 bootsector with a windows XP one, using the FIXBOOT command within windows XP recovery console from the CD . . . .

Now the computer asks for hal . dll and refuses to boot windows 98 .

errrrrrrrr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WHY lol . . . . . . . . why why why did he do that ? . 		drcspy (146)
434189 2006-02-27 18:25:00 He already had the windows 98 on drive C, and then tried to install windows XP onto the second hard drive, drive D .

The install didn't work so he quit, but then (while everything still worked) he was getting an OS selection screen at boot .

Found boot . ini which included the line for windows XP . instead of deleting the line, he deleted boot . ini compeletely . :waughh:

Then because it would not boot, he tried FIXBOOT from the XP recovery console to fix his boot problems . . . . :horrified 		Agent_24 (57)
434190 2006-02-27 18:30:00 I think fdisk will need to be used to make a new primary partition and boot sector, then format and install, unless there is a repair tool that will do the job, or if Graham L can come up with a solution :) Terry Porritt (14)
434191 2006-02-27 18:38:00 hm..........intrigueing.........shoulda just fdisked d drive to remove the xp attempt.......oh well.......suggest he does a 'repair install' on his 98 install..heres how:

as with all versions of windows you can do a 'clean' install which will wipe his system and install a clean verison of windows or you can do a 'repair' install if you know how.........

to do this stuff in a boot disk for win98....if you havent got one download this:
www.sitesled.com

then double clik it and it'll write to floppy and voila you'll have a boot disk.........then

start the system with the boot floppy have your win98 cd handy.....also you'll need to have written down his system liscense key you can download this:

www.sitesled.com
little program to find it for you

when you start up you'll get a little menu choose 'start with cd support'

then when the system has loaded the cddrivers you need to change the directory to c: so just type in c: at the command prompt and then tap enter

then type in

cd windows

then tap enter

then type in

ren win.com win.old

then tap enter

then type in d:

then tap enter that should take you 'into ' the cd ...........then type in

cd win98

then tap enter

then type in

setup

then tap enter

then you'll be starting the 98 setup ......it'll run scandisk then you have to tap X and the rest of the setup will continue.........at some stage it'll give you the option of installing to 'windows.000' or .............custom install .......choose custom install then clik 'next' then in the 'custom install' box type in

windows

then clik next...........NOW you are on the way to doin a 'repair' or 'over the top' install of 98 and he wont lose ANY data or programs off the system it'll just overwrite the system files with good copies from the cd.............

PHEW !!!

i've written this out too many times so I'm gonna copy and save it for future use !!!!!!!

LUCK........if you follow those instructions EXACTLY you'll be fine....... 		drcspy (146)
434192 2006-02-27 21:53:00 Agent_24, a word to the wise: when someone wants to screw around with the boot sector of a disk, tell 'em to use some disk imaging software to backup beforehand, such as Ghost or TruImage. kingdragonfly (309)
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