Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place! |
Notices |
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
Are you new to LinuxQuestions.org? Visit the following links:
Site Howto |
Site FAQ |
Sitemap |
Register Now
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
|
 |
01-09-2005, 05:47 AM
|
#1
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: italy
Posts: 25
Rep:
|
MBR & boot invalid sector...
at least happened..after many and many fine installations,last night I tried sid . Reboot and I get a tragic " Hard disk boot sector invalid Press H to retry hard disk any other key for floppy"
I have tried several times by win2000 rescue consolle
CHKDISK
FIXMBR
FIXBOOT
no effect ..I'm only able to boot libranet by floppy ,which I wisely reinstalled creating a floppy
I tried to reinstall grube on /dev/hda with no effect..
Am I forced to format??
really hope not..thanks for help
ciaoo
|
|
|
01-09-2005, 11:30 AM
|
#2
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Iowa
Distribution: LFS 5.0, building 6.3, win98se, multiboot
Posts: 288
Rep:
|
Let me make sure I understand you correctly.
You have used both the xp fixmbr util and grub to write to the mbr and still get invalid boot sector error. I will assume that you are doing this correctly, and that nothing (like a bios setting) has changed the boot order to some hd other than hda first.
I would strongly recommend backing up all data on your hd _now_. It sounds like something may be wrong with the mbr sector on the hd. If this is the case the only solution is to replace the hd, iirc. Hope I'm wrong. You might try dumping the mbr with dd and looking at the signiture bytes at the end of the sector with a hex editor.
|
|
|
01-11-2005, 12:43 PM
|
#3
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: italy
Posts: 25
Original Poster
Rep:
|
i'm afraid too..i only was able to install mandrake10.1 using lilo.
Infact when I tried to install debian ,I got a fatal error at step "install grub on MBR".
At reboot,I only got a long list of 99 99 99 99 99 99....and i remember is not a good sign
Thanks for your help
ciaoo ema
|
|
|
01-11-2005, 01:31 PM
|
#4
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Iowa
Distribution: LFS 5.0, building 6.3, win98se, multiboot
Posts: 288
Rep:
|
One more suggestion. After you backup whatever data you can, download and run the harddisk manufacturer's disk test suite. I would run all the tests it provides, including llf (write zero's to drive). This will of course wipe the drive clean, backup your data first. I'm pretty certain that this can't fix a bad mbr though. Good luck.
|
|
|
01-11-2005, 02:18 PM
|
#5
|
Senior Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Herzliyya, Israel
Distribution: SuSE 10.1; Testing Distros
Posts: 1,832
Rep:
|
If you installed Debian and it borked your bootsector use NON debian based LiveCD to restore bootsector. Writing new lilo or grub may also help. In short, use rescue CD with options to reinstall bootsector or load your existing Linux. Slackware 10. for example uses second CD as rescue where you can forceload your exising system. Actually, FreeBSD multiboot loader deals with these problems no sweat
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:29 AM.
|
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
|
Latest Threads
LQ News
|
|