I recently installed SuSE Linux 9.1 on my machine. I installed it on three new partitions: /boot, / and swap. I installed GRUB on the /boot partition. But now when I start the PC, when it comes to booting, it says "Missing Operating System". What can be the problem? Please help me!!
Help! XP doesn't boot
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naveenchandran
In the zone
I think by using SuSE 9.1 YaST You will not face any problem but............
Better try reinstalling SuSE.
Better try reinstalling SuSE.
Well! ya if you mean XP is not booting, you are right XP will not boot b'coz SuSe Linux 9.1 has damaged or say overwritten the MBR with its own. If the MBR is badly written you cannot recover it. Here is the solution.
Method I:
If you have an installation CD of Windows XP boot from this CD and go t the recovery concole and type 'fixmbr' this should work. if not try method II
Method II:
In case you cannot boot from the CD to the recovery console. Remove your hard disk fromm your computer, install it in your friends computer as a slave drive and then make necessary changes. Change the boot.ini file if it contains extra lines, etc. Reconnet the drive to your PC if it works its your luck. If not use method III.
Method III:
Again reconnet the drive to your friends PC and if by luck your PC hardware configuration and that of your friends is exactly the same you can be lucky here. All you have to do is remove the boot.ini file, ntdlr, ntdetech.com from the root partition of your drive where your OS is installed(back this up instead of deleting it) , now go to your friends OS and change the boot.ini file to boot into your OS. For example: add this line if your friend is running windows XP on his c:\ and your OS is in the first partition of the slave drive. under the head [operating system]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
Reboot, u will see an option to boot into your OS, select it, it should work.
Method I:
If you have an installation CD of Windows XP boot from this CD and go t the recovery concole and type 'fixmbr' this should work. if not try method II
Method II:
In case you cannot boot from the CD to the recovery console. Remove your hard disk fromm your computer, install it in your friends computer as a slave drive and then make necessary changes. Change the boot.ini file if it contains extra lines, etc. Reconnet the drive to your PC if it works its your luck. If not use method III.
Method III:
Again reconnet the drive to your friends PC and if by luck your PC hardware configuration and that of your friends is exactly the same you can be lucky here. All you have to do is remove the boot.ini file, ntdlr, ntdetech.com from the root partition of your drive where your OS is installed(back this up instead of deleting it) , now go to your friends OS and change the boot.ini file to boot into your OS. For example: add this line if your friend is running windows XP on his c:\ and your OS is in the first partition of the slave drive. under the head [operating system]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
Reboot, u will see an option to boot into your OS, select it, it should work.
technoteen
Journeyman
please canyou be more clear about your question??
does it gives that message on booting into windows xp?
is your windowsxp installation alright, that you have not accidentally installed suse on it ?
or its that the only mesage you get ,that is, you are not even able to boot into suse?
i will say dont copy any files from others comp
Considering that you are stuck in third problem
first of all boot using your suse cd and reinstall grub using the recover mode
if you dont mind loosing your suse installation use the fixmbr option of windows and reinstall suse again
and if you are stuck in second problem, then only God save you
does it gives that message on booting into windows xp?
is your windowsxp installation alright, that you have not accidentally installed suse on it ?
or its that the only mesage you get ,that is, you are not even able to boot into suse?
i will say dont copy any files from others comp
Considering that you are stuck in third problem
first of all boot using your suse cd and reinstall grub using the recover mode
if you dont mind loosing your suse installation use the fixmbr option of windows and reinstall suse again
and if you are stuck in second problem, then only God save you
More details of my problem
Sorry I wasn't more specific when making my post.
As I said, I installed SuSE on three new logical partitions on the extended partition, making them '/boot', 'swap' and '/' respectively. I made it a point to install bootloader GRUB on '/boot' partition instead of the MBR, and the option saying "Leave MBR code untouched" was selected.
Now, once SuSE is installed, whenever I start up my computer, and it comes to booting into an OS, a message is shown: "Missing Operating System", and this is the only thing that appears on my screen. So I can't boot into anything.
I checked my BOOT.ini file using a bootable disk (as all data is intact), and it's like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
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
I had earlier installed RedHat Linux 9 on the same machine, and the machine used to work perfectly (again I installed nothing on the MBR, but on '/boot').
NOW can anyone help me?
Thanks.
Sorry I wasn't more specific when making my post.
As I said, I installed SuSE on three new logical partitions on the extended partition, making them '/boot', 'swap' and '/' respectively. I made it a point to install bootloader GRUB on '/boot' partition instead of the MBR, and the option saying "Leave MBR code untouched" was selected.
Now, once SuSE is installed, whenever I start up my computer, and it comes to booting into an OS, a message is shown: "Missing Operating System", and this is the only thing that appears on my screen. So I can't boot into anything.
I checked my BOOT.ini file using a bootable disk (as all data is intact), and it's like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
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
I had earlier installed RedHat Linux 9 on the same machine, and the machine used to work perfectly (again I installed nothing on the MBR, but on '/boot').
NOW can anyone help me?
Thanks.
technoteen
Journeyman
there is the problem
you had installed redhat on it earlier and redhat writes the mbr
so you will have to write the mbr again, for doing so use the windows xp bootable cd to boot into recovery mode and use fixmbr command
you had installed redhat on it earlier and redhat writes the mbr
so you will have to write the mbr again, for doing so use the windows xp bootable cd to boot into recovery mode and use fixmbr command
It seems however the MBR has been corrupted, u can repair the MBR using the instalation CD of WinXP as I said earlier, boot from the installation CD and go to the recovery console and type 'fixmbr' to fix the mbr. But since the error you are getting is 'missing operating system' that usually means a .dll file or system files in your windows\system32 folder is either missing of corrupted which is required to start the OS. It is very difficult to determine which .dll is corrupted, I will suggest you to check the file size of the .dlls to check if they are ok or not. If not copy new files to replace the old ones. Btw. your boot.ini file is also not correct the timeout should be 30 instead of 10, it indicates the boot.ini file has also been modified by Linux. try to fix this by using fixboot command. If nothing works I suggest you to re-install windows XP.
Hey ! Did you resized your primary partition using Linux to make room for the Linux installation ?? If yes, the files are missing in the primary partition , Linux deleted them or overwritten on them, this is a know issue if you make partitions using Linux (re-size and then partition them). If this is the case, i will suggest u not to solve this problem by doing this and that but simply re-install winXP. Btw. check your harddisk in the BIOS, it should be in LBA Mode.
swatkat
Technomancer
The problem may be due to the fact the a wrong partition is SET as ACTIVE partition.
So boot from Floppy and then type fdisk and press Enter.
Then there choose Y to support Large Hard Disks.
Then in next screen,choose choice 2 and press enter.
Then type the partition number in which XP is installed to make it Active partition and press Enter and the press ESC to Quit.
So boot from Floppy and then type fdisk and press Enter.
Then there choose Y to support Large Hard Disks.
Then in next screen,choose choice 2 and press enter.
Then type the partition number in which XP is installed to make it Active partition and press Enter and the press ESC to Quit.
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