Re: MS Windows XP has become unbootable.

[Nikolay Kichukov]

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Hi,
You can boot with the installation CD for windows XP. Then enter the recovery 
console and issue:


fixboot (1)

That should get you going.

1. 
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixboot.mspx

HTH,
- -Nik


On 06/28/2011 08:26 PM, Thomas Vaughan wrote:
> I have apparently done a bad thing, no doubt because of my own failure
> to RTFM, and I'm wondering if there is a way for me to fix it.
> 
> Here is the output of 'fdisk -l':
> 
> Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x48cf583c
> 
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sda1   *          63   155653784    77826861    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
> /dev/sda2       155653785   306086444    75216330   83  Linux
> /dev/sda3       306086445   312576704     3245130    5  Extended
> /dev/sda5       306086508   312576704     3245098+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
> 
> Using version 1.99-8 of grub-install on a Debian GNU/Linux (Unstable)
> machine, I did
> 
> # grub-install --force /dev/sda1
> 
> Now, of course, MS Windows XP won't boot from /dev/sda1 when I select
> it from the grub menu.
> 
> Instead, I see the word 'GRUB' printed on the screen and can
> apparently do nothing more without rebooting.
> 
> I can still select to boot Linux from the grub menu, and that works well 
> enough.
> 
> I'm hoping that I don't have to re-install MS Windows, especially
> because I don't want the corporate IT folks to have to help me with
> this.
> 
> Anyway, I'm wondering if there is anything that I can do to get MS
> Windows XP to boot again.
> 
> BTW, I already had grub installed on the MBR (for /dev/sda), and I had
> previously done
> 
> # grub-install --force /dev/sda2
> 
> while mucking around with a VMDK setup so that I could boot /dev/sda2
> under VirtualBox.
> 
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