Problem with XP Loading

[vaibhav_vk]

I have Windows XP on a partition 1 of 20GB HDD. I also have Windows 98SE on Partition 1 of 80GB HDD. In the Boot menu, Windows XP is set as default option. It was working fine earlier. I have also installed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.
The problem I am having is weird.....coz I myself being experienced in Windows Troubleshooting...am unable to find the root of the problem.
Now the problem is........
Sometimes when the system boots, it gives an INVALID SYSTEM DISK .....NTLDR missing...error. and when I restart it starts normally with the Boot menu being displayed and moving on with loading Windows XP.
Sometimes it boots normally and smoothly.
I think I may have a corrupted MBR on my 20GB HDD coz its kinda old.....But am forced to rethink that if the MBR was corrupted then it wont boot at all.......

So whosoever reads this LONG thread, plz advise.......or is there any software to check the MBR of HDDs?

Thanx

 

[imgame]

.If the active partition does not contain the Windows boot files (ntldr, NTDETECT.COM & boot.ini) or boot files for another operating system (Win98SE on FAT32 active partition), your system will not boot but instead be caught in an endless repetitive loop. HD is probably OK but the O/S may have lost it's Boot Partition Files.

 

[klinux]

- in which order are they connect ? are they on the same ide cable .?

- since it was working fine prior to winxp sp2 , try the following

- fixmbr and fixboot for both drives
- check the cables for loose connection , i know it might sound simple , but u would be surprised how many times such a simple task can fix big probs
- try running the surface test for the hdd from the manufacturers site , just to be sure and not have loss of valuable data later on . eg. samsung has shdiag and hutil utilities
- install the recovery console just in case
- my mbr used to disappear for sometime . try taking backup of mbr with ontrack disk managers provided by ur manufacturers
- in xp check event viewer to see if u have any disk errors or ide controller errors .
- at the moment i have a problem on a7v8x-mx where the primary ide controller just wont work in between operations . used to get the same error u got and the hdd would disappear from bios too .
- Check if the hdd is detected in bios when u restart after the problem occurs .
- last resort . if others fail . i think ranish partition manager checks ur mbr and gives u an option to rewrite it .

 

[vaibhav_vk]

Have tried almost everything

Windows XP is on 20GB HDD and Windows 98Se is on 80GB HDD. Both are on different IDE cables and yes they are properly attached to the HDDs.
20GB HDD is Primary Master
80GB HDD is Secondary Slave
No errors reported in Surface Tests. Both are Seagate HDDs. They both are always detected in the BIOS everytime the computer is booted.

No corrupt files of any sort.........Strange problem it is.........

 

[beyondthegracefgod]

Try chkdsk /r just to refresh ur system files.
Also hav u installed ne partitioning tools? lik partition magic?