Computer wont boot and no recovery console

EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
edited June 2006 in Hardware
I was trying to set up Linux to dual boot the machine but eventually gave up as trying to set up a pseudo software raid around an existing Windows install is pretty much a nightmare (grub wouldn't recognise the drives, things just kept going wrong, etc). So I went to use my XP CD to use the recovery console to do the fixmbr thing but when I boot from the CD XP setup lists all my partitions but doesn't ask before hand if I wanted to use the recovery console. When I select my Windows partiton it gives me some comments about dual-booting Windows and the only options are to go back or install to that partition.

So... where the hell is the Recovery console?

Comments

  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I'm not sure, but I think it skips the recovery console step if it doesn't detect a working copy of Windows on any of the drives. So, maybe your windows sys files are corrupted or it's having trouble seeing them for some reason.

    I know that when I go in to install Windows on a fresh drive is the only time I see it skip the Recovery Console option.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    I'm getting as bad as primesuspect used to be with Memtest, but see if TestDisk can recover and/or repair your Windows partition and blow out the ones you don't want (if any).

    Good luck. :)
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    That's the thing though, it does recognise the partitions and if I tell it to install into the current partition where Windows should already be installed, it TELLS me a copy of Windows is already installed there, it just doesn't make any sense... I'll play about with TestDisk when my bedroom becomes inhabitable again.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    TestDisk said nothing was odd (although the only test it seems to do is the bootsector). I managed to boot the machine using one of the "Boot managers" on the Ultimate Recovery CD thing and Windows is working fine, which still begs the question, why the hell doesn't the recovery console work? I'm not really up for booting via a third party CD every time I want to start my PC...
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    *sigh* No ideas then?
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    No, sorry. I can't think of anything that would make it do that... All I can say is that somehow the recovery console still can't see your windows installation, even though other programs can.

    In your place, I would use that disk to boot up my system until I was able to copy off all my important stuff, then I would totally reformat that drive and start fresh.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Ugh, I'm not reformatting AGAIN, it would be like as many times in as many months. Stupid OS. Sick of reinstalling everything over and over. If it didn't use the damn "Registry" way of doing it I could just copy all the files over.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    What partitions do you have on the drive?

    EDIT: You could try getting hold of a Win98 Startup Disk and trying:

    A:\> FDISK.EXE /MBR
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Win98 startup disk wont help as supprisingly it wont be able to detect the SATA RAID, heh, I had thought of that.

    It has 3 partitions, Windows (NTFS), Data (NTFS) and Gentoo (Reiser3) of which I'm using Gentoo through VMWare atm.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Grrr. I post far too many questions on here that no-one has the answer to (no offence to anyone). So either I'm at the point where I always know what people are going to suggest or I just have really bizzare problems (although if they weren't really bizzare I would have solved them myself anyway wouldn't I, ergo the only questions I post are ones that no-one can answer).

    A pox on you Gates!
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