Deleted boot partition help

cpu-dude

mfield wrote: »

OK, I have as you say above except it's C: and E:


Now when I reboot I get

No boot device available -
strike F1 to retry boot, F3 for setup utility


Also, there is still no option to repair in the Windows setup screen

When you put in the XP CD, let it boot from it - the very first screen you get is this:



Press Enter to install Windows XP and then select to install it on the C: Drive (your current Windows). Like below:



Now you get this screen by selecting to install XP over your current active partition, the C: drive. Just press R to repair it.

mfield

You're not going to believe this but when I select to overwrite the current windows partition, the only options I am given are -

Do a quick format
Do a full format
Leave the current file system intact

No repair option

cpu-dude

mfield wrote: »

You're not going to believe this but when I select to overwrite the current windows partition, the only options I am given are -

Do a quick format
Do a full format
Leave the current file system intact

No repair option

What about the other partition? Like I said, it's possible it was formatted and it's also possible that the installation doesn't detect Windows on the drive (usually it goes by there being a C:\WINDOWS folder).

If the other partition is the same, I suggest running the installation but select "Leave the current system intact" - it should still repair Windows without deleting any data.

mfield

cpu-dude wrote: »

What about the other partition? Like I said, it's possible it was formatted and it's also possible that the installation doesn't detect Windows on the drive (usually it goes by there being a C:\WINDOWS folder).

If the other partition is the same, I suggest running the installation but select "Leave the current system intact" - it should still repair Windows without deleting any data.

It's asking me where it should copy the Windows XP files and allowing me to change the directory name, the default being \WINDOWS.

Will I let it run? I haven't taken a backup, might be a good idea to do that first?!

Gavin Cotter

Cpu dude you got him to delete his dell utility partition.


-: Partition1 [FAT] 55MB (47MB free) dell utility partition
Partition2 [NTFS] 72638MB (55714MB free) windows xp
C: Partition4 [Unknown] 8MB (7MB free) this doesn't matter
F: Partition3 [FAT32] 3585MB (1919MB free) factory restore image ("DSR")
Unpartitioned space 8MB


Don't install windows just stop what your doing now as you will delete your windows installation.

I'm writing a reply out for you now, so don't bother doing anything.

cpu-dude

Gavin Cotter wrote: »

Cpu dude you got him to delete his dell utility partition.


-: Partition1 [FAT] 55MB (47MB free) dell utility partition
Partition2 [NTFS] 72638MB (55714MB free) windows xp
C: Partition4 [Unknown] 8MB (7MB free) this doesn't matter
F: Partition3 [FAT32] 3585MB (1919MB free) factory restore image ("DSR")
Unpartitioned space 8MB


Don't install windows just stop what your doing now as you will delete your windows installation.

I'm writing a reply out for you now, so don't bother doing anything.

What I told him to do was correct, those small partitions don't do anything useful and won't in this case either - those were perfectly safe to remove (especially since they only 63MB's in space and very little space used in them). Just because Dell put it there, doesn't mean it's not safe to remove them. I've clean up enough Dell partitions in my day to know this.

OP, let it run to /WINDOWS - just as long as you choose to leave the current system intact. It won't delete or format anything in this case.

Gavin Cotter

What you told him to do was delete his dell utility partition.I realise you didn't know what it was, as you wouldn't have told him to delete it.
As a result of doing this, he can't just press f11 and restore his computer to factory default.
No need to tell me what you've done in "your day".

Gavin Cotter

mfield if the xp cd your using is not the same as the one you have installed, i.e. one is pro, the other is home, you won't have a repair option available to you.

You could try the following if your not already fed up.

Boot from your xp cd and choose recovery console.
Type bootcfg /list

It should look like this.

[PHP][boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons[/PHP]

Take note of what partition it says windows is installed on.

Post the info back here.

mfield

Gavin Cotter wrote: »

mfield if the xp cd your using is not the same as the one you have installed, i.e. one is pro, the other is home, you won't have a repair option available to you.

You could try the following if your not already fed up.

Boot from your xp cd and choose recovery console.
Type bootcfg /list

It should look like this.

[PHP][boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons[/PHP]

Take note of what partition it says windows is installed on.

Post the info back here.

It says there are currently no boot entries to display

Gavin Cotter

Issue a dir command to see if there are any files on that partition.
Issue the command bootcfg /rebuild and hope that it finds an Windows xp installation.

[1] C:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All):
Press Y hit ENTER.
Enter Load Identifier: (Custom description for an operating system loading from the Boot menu)
Type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER
Enter Operating System Load Options: (that is: /fastdetect)
Type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER.

Hope all goes to plan.

mfield

Gavin Cotter wrote: »

Issue a dir command to see if there are any files on that partition.
Issue the command bootcfg /rebuild and hope that it finds an Windows xp installation.




Hope all goes to plan.

Fair play to you dude, it worked a treat! NICE ONE!

Many thanks for all your help CPU & Gavin! I owe ye both a beer!

Captain Furball

Delighted you got it working again.
I had similar problems a few weeks ago too -same thing happened.