Incompatible Boot Strap - Cant Change active snapshot

Discussion in 'FirstDefense-ISR Forum' started by enli, Jun 24, 2008.

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  1. enli

    enli Registered Member

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    Aug 2, 2007
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    11
    Hi

    I like to play with many softwares and recently this HDD was hanging on chkdsk so i tried "Spinrite" on it and it reported 3 unrecovered sectors. Booted back to XP and it wouldnt go after the XP login screen ( I have autologin enabled ). So i run chkdsk from my secondary HDD and it corrected some entries in MFT.

    I then again tried to boot my First HDD and it booted. But somehow the pre-boot was disabled. I tried to enable it but gave error - "There has been error enabling pre-boot". I thought something might be wrong with MBR or bootsector so i booted pc with Recovery console cd and run commands
    Code:
    fixboot
    fixmbr
    Still i found that FD has problem enabling the pre-boot. So i uninstalled it rebooted and again installed. Same issue !!!! I had the same issue 3 months ago but i forgot how did i fix back then. Now this is driving me crazy as i use different snapshots for gaming /testing new apps /some other work.

    I m attaching the setup log and yes i m using grub which is from ubuntu partition if that helps. I have currently 5 snapshots including the active snapshot.

    Regards
    EnLi

    EDIT: FD Version : FirstDefense Pro - Horizon Datasys 3.20 build 202
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jun 24, 2008
  2. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    Hi Enli,

    Here are the steps to take:
    1. uninstall grub
    2. use the fix mbr command from the windows recovery cd
    3. install FD-ISR again.
    4. Reinstall grub

    Panagiotis
     
  3. enli

    enli Registered Member

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    Aug 2, 2007
    Posts:
    11
    Well ok i will try that and post as soon as i reach home

    Later
    EnLi

    EDIT : How do you unstinstall grub ? I will google it meantime!

    EDIT2: By executing
    Code:
    fixmbr
    m i not installing XPs MBR instead of grubs ? It has the same effect as overwriting grubs mbr and ultimately uninstalling it ?
    I m confused
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2008
  4. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    It depends, from where you chose to install grubs in the first place. Did you install it in the disk boot sector or in a partition boot sector?

    Here you can find a tool to specialised to uninstalling, fixing ,etc. boot sectors http://www.supergrubdisk.org/
     
  5. enli

    enli Registered Member

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    Aug 2, 2007
    Posts:
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    Hi.. thanks for coming back.
    I already had superdisk,maybe this is the best time to use it.

    Aside from that i tried Partition table doctor 3.5 on my current HDD and it reported error with partition table so i rebuilt it. But still i cant activate the pre-boot screen.

    I tried FD v1.10.173 and it can activate the pre-boot but it writes MBR which dont apeal to me as i dualboot ubuntu and xp for which i need grubs MBR. After uninstalling v1.10.173 i tried v3.20.202 but still the same issue.

    I will report back after using supergrubdisk.
    EnLi

    EDIT1: For this disk i dont have ubuntu installed on. So i created 15MB ext3 partiton and put grub files inside it. Then installed it using :
    Code:
    root (hd0,5) //grub files are inside (hd0,5) as reported by grub when used      find /boot/grub/stage1
    setup (hd0)
    quit
    So that means i installed it in MBR ..right ?

    EDIT2:
    I just used supergrubdisk.. used these options : uninstall grub mbr , fixmbr for windows , fixbootsector of windows ..but still i cant activate pre-boot.
    What the hell ?
    Last time i had the same issue and i killed the disk with "active kill disk" then only it was able to activate pre-boot. Anybody have a better solution please ? Or is there any similar software i could have multiple copies of OSes ?
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2008
  6. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    Try the following steps.

    1. Uninstall FD-ISR. (program only)
    2. Reboot and run fixmbr.
    3. Enter in windows and eliminate the following folders:
    C:\$ISR\$APP\
    C:\$ISR\$LOGS\
    C:\$ISR\0\
    4. Run a checkdisk on c:
    5. Install FD-ISR 3.xx

    This should solve it.

    Panagiotis
     
  7. enli

    enli Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2007
    Posts:
    11
    Sorry to inform you but i had already tried that approach. But i will try it again and report back in about 20 mins.

    Right now i have installed v1.10 which writes MBR . I will boot into another snapshot >> uninstall >> boot recovery cd >> fixmbr >> install FD-ISR again and see.

    Later
    EnLi

    EDIT and update : I tried your approach still it cant activate the freaking pre-boot. I guess i will have to backup all my snapshots>> quick format C >> restore all the snapshots. :((
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2008
  8. enli

    enli Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2007
    Posts:
    11
    Zero filling C: didnt help. Then i tried to restore C: from a TrueImage image backup and then using fixmbr and fixboot from recovery console. Still the same problem.

    So frustrated was i , so i did reinstalled XP from the cd and then installed FD and it worked.

    Anybody can enlighten why this worked ?
    EnLi

    Edit :typo
     
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