I was trying to clean-up a Compaq 6000 2.4 512 which was showing multiple signs of having been infected. When I ran the original restore disk I got a BSD. Upon restarting the computer I got a black screen with "Master Boot Record Error - Press a key" When I press any key I get "PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT". Pressing any key then reboots the system and the same sequence starts over again.

I can access the BIOS and reset it to default. I replaced the Bios Battery with a new one. During each bootup process the indicator lights on my CD Drive and Floppy Drive flash on and then off. I am unable to get the system to startup from either the Restore CD or a Bootup Floppy. I am unable to get a dos prompt. I have played with the Device Boot Sequence in the Bios to no avail. H E L P ! ! !The problem may be a defective hard drive...or at least a damaged boot sector of the hard drive.

Do you have one you can swap for the one that is currently in this computer?

Please give us a shout back...O K - I just swapped another HDD into the box. The Bios immediately recognized and itentified the new HDD but all I can get now is a blank screen that sez "Press return to Reboot". I still cannot boot to the CD or Floppy Drives. There also is one other change, and that is that I now see the COMPAQ logo the first few seconds of the powerup which did not appear with the old disk drive in place. While waiting for another suggestion I am going to try another HDD from a working computer and see if that does anything different. The HDD I just put in has been laying around for a couple of years and I can't remember what's on it, if anything.Are these working hard drives? You may have them setting around for a reason...

If you had the makes and models of these hard drives and the data on them wasn't important...I'd go to the manufacturer's website and look for diagnostic software that would allow me to zero-fill the drive(s), partition, format and then try the clean install. Remember...you'll lose all data on the drive(s).

Keep us posted...ok.. help is on the way! ...
Repairing the master boot record on a Windows XP system takes less than 15 minutes
Here's How:
Enter Windows XP Recovery Console.

When you reach the command prompt (detailed in Step 6 in the link above), type the following and then press Enter.

fixmbrThe fixmbr utility will write a master boot record to the hard drive that you're currently using to boot into Windows XP. This will repair any corruption or damage that the master boot record may have.

Take out the Windows XP CD, type exit and then press Enter to restart your PC.

Assuming that a corrupt master boot record was your only issue, Windows XP should now START normally


Good Luck!

spiderSAVED BY THE SAVIOUR .

I have never had a HDD go bad on me before as I have always upgraded all my computers with high-capacity drives before any problems DEVELOPED. This has been a new experience for me and I appreciate the RIGHT-ON and quick response which helped me solve my problem.

THANK YOU
Grumpy, did you lose all your data?You're welcome...

Did you end up replacing or zero-filling, PARTITIONING and formatting?SuperDave

Didn't lose a thing. I've been around long enough to have learned the hard way to always backup everything before I start tinkering or notice any sign of trouble.

The Savior

The old 20GB drive that I put into the box was so old it still had WIN 98 on it. Anything of importance had long ago been transferred to a new drive so I just reformatted it and will instal the OS maybe later tonight or tomorrow. I don't know why the 1st used HDD I tried did not work, but sometime in the near FUTURE when I have the time I'll play around with it a little bit and see if I can get it to work.

The original drive (40 GB) belongs to a friend who asked for my help when problems started to appear. She is elderly (70+) and uses the computer only for playing word games and e-mail. It was only using 26% of the total 40 GB so replacing it with only a 20 GB HDD is no problem for her. Again, sometime in the near future I'll have more time to take a closer look at her original 40 GB HDD. I noticed your website and might be communicating directly with you at that time.

THANKS AGAIN
Quote from: grumpygeezer on September 15, 2007, 08:11:22 PM

Didn't lose a thing. I've been around long enough to have learned the hard way to always backup everything before I start tinkering or notice any sign of trouble.