I REALLY NEED HELP!!!!!

[757200ba]

Hello, i've:

ABIT AN8
7600 gt
1gb ram
western digital 80 gb-primary
seagate 160gb - secundary
Wndows Xp pro sp2

My problem is. Some times it forgets the hard drives, (i've chnaged the battery already).And know when i start the machine after posting my screen is full of the word "GRUB" (i know this has to do with multi-system form windows), the only way to boot is to insert the windows xp cd.
Please i don know what else to do.I dont know if it is hardware or software.
please help!!!! :-/

[dcunning30]

And know when i start the machine after posting my screen is full of the word "GRUB" (i know this has to do with multi-system form windows), the only way to boot is to insert the windows xp cd.

Really?????

Maybe it's a boot sector virus.  Time to reinstall the OS, in my opinion.

[757200ba]

Thank you for your

[Nick N]

GRUB?

Sounds like the boot system has been trashed by a boot loader of some type.

http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=grub

If you are running Linux and Windows or multiple OS then you will need to refer to repair for that loader system. Otherwise you need to repair the Windows boot loader and get rid of the other.

[757200ba]

WOW i never thought it was something like this.
I only have one OS, so what to do, is it something we can solve with anti virus, because its the second time this happends, i even update my bios, so what must i do?
I dont know much of this, virus and what to do in this cases.
Once again Many Thanks for all your replys.
Thank you

[Nick N]

Grub is a boot loader designed for Linux and others. You need to research how to get rid of it and restore the original XP boot system

You may be able to do that by running a repair install but that does not always work



You need someone to help that knows what they are doing if you have never done command line repairs

http://www.short-media.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial ... 5917&guid=

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000648.htm


and it may require a FIXMBR command too

[Nick N]

I checked on GRUB, you will have to do a complete scrub of the Windows boot system from the repair console using the Windows XP install disk


To do this successfully you should have started your system from the Windows XP CD and selected the 'repair' option.
This also assumes that you have not moved any partitions around, that is in the order or number that they exist on your HDD. If you have then you should execute bootcfg and rewrite the boot.ini file.
You also should be in the root directory, as in 'C:\' not 'C:\windows'


You will most likely have success with the following:

After the repair console boots to a DOS prompt, type the following...

C:\WINDOWS

Type:
CD ..
FIXBOOT C:
FIXMBR
BOOTCFG /rebuild


The follow the directions to fix the Windows boot system once finished type

EXIT

reboot


If you have never worked with that before I highly suggest you have an IT person do it for you.

[757200ba]

Once again thank you very much for yuor replys.Well i have new news about it.
Today i've format my hard drive, i even made fdisk, then i've installed windows.After instalation i just restarted the system (just to be sure), and guess what, GRUB,GRUB,GRUB again.I really dont know whats going on.
Another thing, this grub thing has to do with OS right? not hard drive.Why i ask, some time ago (maybe a month , i was playing with LINSPIRE in this hard drive, is this a reason for this GRUB thing.
Many thanks

[Nick N]

*siGh*


You assumed because you wiped out windows you wipe out the boot loader.


Well, no.

A boot loader such as grub is burned onto the boot sector of the hard drive which is not in the partition Windows installs to. A format of the partition will not kill it. The only thing that will kill a boot sector loader program is either the repair I listed above.. -or - the DOS maintenance disk for the hard drive (download DOS tools for the drive from the manufacture web site) and run a ZERO FILL on the entire hard drive. Thats not a format, thats filling the drive with ZEROS. Once that is complete you will have to partition the drive and reinstall Windows after a zero fill is performed. That is why I suggested the 1st option of manually killing/rebuilding the master boot record and rewriting the boot.cfg .

[757200ba]

Thank you, again for reply.I've done all what you told me but it didnt work, i've done FIXBOOT, FIXMBR,BOOTCFG /rebuild nothing worked so i will try the second option, anything you can tell me about it, i will aprec.
Many thanks

[Nick N]

Thank you, again for reply.I've done all what you told me but it didnt work, i've done FIXBOOT, FIXMBR,BOOTCFG /rebuild nothing worked so i will try the second option, anything you can tell me about it, i will aprec.
Many thanks

That should have wiped it out.

I see you have more than one hard drive in the system and if so do you have more than one OS installed elsewhere? Assuming there are multiple disks or partitions, is the BIOS set to boot from the HDD the fresh copy of Windows is installed on?


EDIT:
Seagate Dos tools: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/suppor ... s/seatools

Wetern Digital Tools: http://websupport.wdc.com/rd.asp?p=sw2& ... gv504f.exe

You have to make a boot floppy disk with the software they provide. If you do not have a floppy you must go to the website for the drives (seagate and WD) and get their CD tool maker instead which will burn the tools to a bootable CD-R


=================================================

Western Digital Zero Write:


To write zeros to a hard drive using the diagnostic disk, please follow these steps:

Boot your computer and set your system BIOS to boot to a floppy disk first. If you do not know how to enter or adjust your system BIOS please refer to your computer/motherboard user manual or contact the manufacturer.


Save the new BIOS setting and insert the Data Life Guard diagnostic disk into your disk drive.


You will be brought to the License Agreement screen, read the agreement and hit the Esc button.


Press the Y key to accept the license agreement.


You will be at the main menu for DLGDIAG 5.03. Use the down arrow button to highlight Write Zeros To Drive only after you have used the Select Drive option to choose the hard drive you wish to erase. If you only have one hard drive installed in your computer you do not need to select a drive.


Press the Enterkey.


Press the F key to write zeros to the whole drive.


You will be warned that all the data on the drive will be erased, press C to continue and erase the drive.


Press Esc to go back to the main menu.


Use your down arrow button to highlight Quit and press Enter.


==========================================


The problem is, if one drive has the boot loader and the other has Windows on it, your are in trouble because in order to kill it you have to crush the boot sector on the drive being started.

If you have data on these drives you do not want to loose I highly recommend you seek tech support to get this sorted out. The problem is definitely GRUB was installed at one time and has the boot sector corrupted, which is a known issue with the the loader. The only way to get rid of it is kill the boot sector and overwrite it.

What I am thinking is you are not booting to the Windows HDD and that is why the repair I listed failed. Ill bet its either booting to another drive with the Grub loader -or- the loader has corrupted the backup of the MBR which when you tell it to FIXMBR, it just reloads Grub.

[757200ba]

I,ve just finished the fill zero with the tools from wd (i,ve used my hard drive has a secundary , and used other pc and i,ve donne it) and install xp, guess what ,GRUB,GRUB,GRUB all over the screen.
I think its trash, that was a low density format.
I dont know what

[757200ba]

FFFIIIUUUUUU!!
So far so good no more GRUB.It worked
Thank you very much guys.Its wonderfull to have a forum like this, with minds that solve problems.
Once again, Many thanks for your fast replys, and ideas.
Many Thanks to you all

[757200ba]

Hello guys, yes its me again!!!!
Just guess what happen this morning when i turn the pc on.GRUB, GRUB, GRUB!!!!
I,ve done that write ZERO thing, and it worked.But now what is going on, i havent done anything with linux or particions or any other operating system.
WHAT TO DO!!!!
Do i have to trash the hard drive??
What!!!!!