A computer I'm fixing gives the error message "Invalid Partition Table". I
caused this by foolishly using the FIXMBR tool in the XP Pro disk's Recovery
Console in a situation when it wasn't necessary.

After running it, now when I boot up, the computer just hangs with an
"Invalid Partition Table" error. Thus, the C: is inaccessible. I can still
access the D: via the command prompt on Recovery Console though.

When I ran FIXMBR, it gave a message warning that I had an invalid or
non-standard partition table signature, and prompted whether I wanted to
continue. I then did continue, as I wrongly believed that as the system is
not configured in a particularly "exotic" way, that the default MBR would be
fine. My googling since has suggested this sometimes happens when you run
FIXMBR on a system with 2 partitions.

The setup:
40G HDD.
primary partion - C: - 10G - XP Pro - NTFS
extended partition - D: - 30G - XP Pro - NTFS

Now I don't know if this is relevant or not, but when those partitions were
originally created it was done via the Fdisk command on a W98 Startup disk,
even though later all partitions were later upgraded to XP/NTFS.

- BP

bp <bp@bp> wrote in message
<43ec4e10$0$32012$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au>.. .

I don't use a computer, so I can't help.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to computers. Actually, I only got
my first computer last week.

One ugly thing after another.

The outside of the garbage can.

It is not a question of whether you can still access the d: via the
command prompt on recovery console though, but are you going to try?

It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

It's chilling.

Sometimes you spend a lot of money to make a lot of money.

Format and reinstall.

I don't use that so can't help with your questions.

You should know if that is relevant or not.

It's a wonderful opportunity for somebody.

--
DUHane

bp <bp@bp>, the lewd old fart and tickle-brained mintie who likes
hard-core cucumber rhumbas with skunks, and whose partner is a
whoopee-girl with a sopping-wet map of tasmania, wrote in
<43ec4e10$0$32012$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au> :

Well, that makes sense. FAT32 partitions have a different header size to
NTFS. You fucked it, good and proper.

Try this: http://kadaitcha.cx/corruption.html



--
Cooking tonight: Mucked up caribou offal complemented by burned dead
animals and lemon marinade in beastly ears of corn and jerboa gonad
compote with hackneyed bowels aside worn out blow flies, arranged in a
steaming tureen brimming with bloody carrot, lifeless assortment of
krill, sour cream, a side of xenopus pancreas and a glass of eye gunk.

"Kadaitcha Man" <fuck-you.ya.cunt@kiss-my-big-black-ass.com> wrote in
message news:lmizb1$7yv$g@mickey-mouse-lactoids.org...


Lotsa dead links there. KM!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

Noel Paton <NoelDPspamless@crashfixpc.com>, the piddling derelict and
unlovable nance who likes hurtful candle bashing with dolphins, and
whose partner is a fast-girl with a pukey beaver cleaver, wrote in
<dshtub$171$1@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com>:

Ta for that. I'll review the page on the weekend. In the meantime, fuck
right off and die.



--
Cooking tonight: Gummed up coyote belly with cabbage vinaigrette
accompanied with run down fungus furuncle and coral snake intestine
seasoning, arranged in a circulating casserole containing wilted cooked
rat brain in tea, a side of grains and a mug of creamed duck shit.

Many antivirus programs backup the partition table when making a rescue
disk. If you have such a disk, now is the time to use it. If not, there are
utilities for recovery and repair.

http://www.partition-recovery.com/
http://www.ptdd.com/
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/

Ben

"bp" <bp@bp> wrote in message news:43ec4e10$0$32012$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...

"Kadaitcha Man" <fuck-you.ya.cunt@kiss-my-big-black-ass.com> wrote in
message news:lmizb1$7yv$g@mickey-mouse-lactoids.org...

Thanks for the help guys. I got my hands on a data recovery program called
"Easy Recovery Professional" so I'll give that a shot.

To give a little more info:
- yes, the data is important, so I'm not going to format it.
- options involving repairing, new installs, etc with the XP cd weren't
possible, because it simply saw the partition as being empty, raw and
unformatted. So any action it would let me take involved formatting so i
couldn't do it.

I downloaded a freeware program that allowed me to directly view the
master-boot-sector's 512 bytes. I'd read that if the last 2-byte signature
was not "55 AA" it could give the same error message that I received. The
signature was present, however.

The program also gave me the following readout of its interpretation of what
the M.B.S's partition table had written in it:

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

Geometry values (from BIOS!) for this disk : (C/H/S) - 962/1/4
Partition Table Information
ACT TYPE START-C/H/S END----C/H/S LBA-start LBA-length
Entry 1: 128 07 0 1 1 1023 254 63 63
19551042
Entry 2: 0 0F 1023 0 1 1023 254 63 19551105
58605120
Entry 3: 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Entry 4: 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Partition table as shown in MBR :
Entry 1: 80 01 01 00 07 FE FF FF 3F 00 00 00 42 53 2A 01
Entry 2: 00 00 C1 FF 0F FE FF FF 81 53 2A 01 40 3E 7E 03
Entry 3: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Entry 4: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

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

Now the only thing that strikes me as unusual is that "entry 1" (which
describes the inaccessible partition) has an "END-C/H/S" (1023 254 63)
that appears to me to be later than the start of the next partition (1023
0 1).....?

But on the otherhand the LBA measurements appear ok.

I'm not if this info is useful or not for finding the solution?

Cheers,
BP

bp wrote:
that you're not.

Leo

Go into the BIOS setup and make sure the disk configuration is set
to "LBA". Be sure to save the change when exiting. If this doesn't
help, most hard drive manufacturers have diagnostic software available
for download that should tell you if the disk is defective.

Maxtor http://tinyurl.com/7grtv
Seagate http://www.seagate.com/support
Western Digital http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...n&pid=999&swid

Ben

"bp" <bp@bp> wrote in message news:43f04180$0$9138$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au ...