pbr failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cashbackre
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Cashbackre

I don't know what happened, but I switched my winxp sp2 dell pc today
and it gave me this msg "pbr failure..." I see a completely blank
screen, pressing F1 basically states "no bootable device found" I am
at a loss as to what to do, have removed all the wireless attachments,
mouse, and keyboard no difference, I have logged in as admin and I can
still see the sata drive as well as cd-rom as drive 1... but selecting
the sata drive containing the c drive (where the operating system is
located) does nothing, I am at a loss as to what to do, I don't have
access to the windowxsp installation/repair cd-rom, so I am unable to
use the fixboot command
 
"Cashbackre" <cashback103@dodgeit.com> wrote in message
news:31123551-5260-41e3-994f-a19bd09d01e9@f13g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> I don't know what happened, but I switched my winxp sp2 dell pc today
> and it gave me this msg "pbr failure..." I see a completely blank
> screen, pressing F1 basically states "no bootable device found" I am
> at a loss as to what to do, have removed all the wireless attachments,
> mouse, and keyboard no difference, I have logged in as admin and I can
> still see the sata drive as well as cd-rom as drive 1... but selecting
> the sata drive containing the c drive (where the operating system is
> located) does nothing, I am at a loss as to what to do, I don't have
> access to the windowxsp installation/repair cd-rom, so I am unable to
> use the fixboot command


I'm guessing you mean MBR failure?

At any rate , when you bootup to get to the recovery console...
you probably need to hit F8 to load the SATA drivers
 
On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:27:47 -0600, "philo" <philo@privacy.net> wrote:

>
>"Cashbackre" <cashback103@dodgeit.com> wrote in message
>news:31123551-5260-41e3-994f-a19bd09d01e9@f13g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>> I don't know what happened, but I switched my winxp sp2 dell pc today
>> and it gave me this msg "pbr failure..." I see a completely blank
>> screen, pressing F1 basically states "no bootable device found" I am
>> at a loss as to what to do, have removed all the wireless attachments,
>> mouse, and keyboard no difference, I have logged in as admin and I can
>> still see the sata drive as well as cd-rom as drive 1... but selecting
>> the sata drive containing the c drive (where the operating system is
>> located) does nothing, I am at a loss as to what to do, I don't have
>> access to the windowxsp installation/repair cd-rom, so I am unable to
>> use the fixboot command
>
>
>I'm guessing you mean MBR failure?
>
>At any rate , when you bootup to get to the recovery console...
>you probably need to hit F8 to load the SATA drivers
>

No - I get quick flash about PBR being found on my system - Dell .
Jim
 
"Cashbackre" <cashback103@dodgeit.com> wrote in message
news:31123551-5260-41e3-994f-a19bd09d01e9@f13g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>I don't know what happened, but I switched my winxp sp2 dell pc today
> and it gave me this msg "pbr failure..."

ISTM that PBR stands for "partition boot record".

This would indicate that the partition is damaged, possibly the disk itself.

> I see a completely blank
> screen, pressing F1 basically states "no bootable device found"

This indicates an issue with the hard disk.

> I am
> at a loss as to what to do, have removed all the wireless attachments,
> mouse, and keyboard no difference, I have logged in as admin


So you *can* start XP? That's the only way you could log in as "admin".

If that isn't what you mean, please clarify.

Or do you mean you can get into the BIOS? If so, that isn't related to XP
or any OS and doesn't even require a hard disk.


>and I can
> still see the sata drive as well as cd-rom as drive 1... but selecting
> the sata drive containing the c drive (where the operating system is
> located) does nothing,

Again, it's unclear where you are. If you're in the BIOS, it *is* possible
for the BIOS to detect the hard disk, but for the damage to the drive to be
past that and render the disk unbootable.


> I am at a loss as to what to do, I don't have
> access to the windowxsp installation/repair cd-rom, so I am unable to
> use the fixboot command

This can mean hard disk failure, or partition failure. You should contact
Dell for the precise meaning of the error message and their recommended
approach.

And you're going to need the CD, because it's very likely you will have to
reinstall to a new hard disk.

Fixboot likely won't help you at all if the partition tables are damaged.
You may need to mount the drive in another system and use recovery software
instead.

Do you have backups?

HTH
-pk
 

> >
> >I'm guessing you mean MBR failure?
> >
> >At any rate , when you bootup to get to the recovery console...
> >you probably need to hit F8 to load the SATA drivers
> >
>
> No - I get quick flash about PBR being found on my system - Dell .
> Jim

I guess that must stand for Partition Boot Record...

If you can load the SATA drivers and see the drive from the recovery
console...
you could try either or both of the following:
fixboot
fixmbr
 
The partition boot record is actually part of the active partition itself.
Therefore, any recommendation or hint that the master boot record may be at
fault is not valid. The master boot record contains the locations of the
partitions on that hard drive, and, the one that is active.

If the partition boot record is damaged or invalid, it will be unable to
point at the proper location of the boot files for booting. If the disk is
not damaged in that location of the partition boot record, it may be
fixable. If the boot files location cannot be read due to a faulty disk, a
disk utility is needed to remap that area out before a fix is attempted. If
the file allocation table within the partition table is damaged, you may
have trouble or be unable to recover your personal data without expensive
recovery services.

If you have no recovery system available, you may need to acquire the
original media and product key.
--
Dave
Profound is we're here due to a chance arrangement
of chemicals in the ocean billions of years ago.
More profound is we made it to the top of the food
chain per our reasoning abilities.
Most profound is the denial of why we may
be on the way out.
"Cashbackre" <cashback103@dodgeit.com> wrote in message
news:31123551-5260-41e3-994f-a19bd09d01e9@f13g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>I don't know what happened, but I switched my winxp sp2 dell pc today
> and it gave me this msg "pbr failure..." I see a completely blank
> screen, pressing F1 basically states "no bootable device found" I am
> at a loss as to what to do, have removed all the wireless attachments,
> mouse, and keyboard no difference, I have logged in as admin and I can
> still see the sata drive as well as cd-rom as drive 1... but selecting
> the sata drive containing the c drive (where the operating system is
> located) does nothing, I am at a loss as to what to do, I don't have
> access to the windowxsp installation/repair cd-rom, so I am unable to
> use the fixboot command
 
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