Ok, I screwed something up pretty bad. I had a Linux partition and decided that I was going to reclaim the space for Windows. So I used PM 8.0 to delete the Linux partition and the swap disk. Then i resized the Windows partition. When I rebooted, I got a boot error and could not get into Windows. I'm in safe mode now, but it's all that works. I have a paragon boot disk and tried to "fix the boot partition" on the main drive, but that didn't work. In safe mode, I've defragged the entire drive and nothing. Any ideas anyone?

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Maybe XP recovery console, though I have no idea how often it actually works.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

Recovering Windows XP using the Recovery Console

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I think you have to edit the boot sector or master boot record (MBR).. cos at the moment it's still looking for something that isn't there anymore or something.... not too sure about how you go about this, but do a search for boot sector editor or similar.

I found this one for you:-

Disk Editor - Drive Editor - Sector Editor, for NTFS FAT FAT12 FAT16 FAT32

hope that helps

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first off why would you use PM 8.0 to partition your drive when you could have used windows xp boot disk and would have went much quicker and you wouldnt be in the mess your in now. Use your windows repair that all you can do at the moment. Check your drive tree. (I.G Master, Slave). Make sure the drive that holds xp is your master. N*O*^0#B

We all make mistakes no need for any kinda elitist attitude. No one is above getting the BSOD or f**king up Windows, all it takes is some registry tweaks without a backup or some kinda fatal software conflict. Hell Windows is half f**cked by itself.

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Thanks for the replies guys. I tried the recovery console and it didn't work. So I just inserted my Windows disc and tried to repair the existing Windows installation. It worked....sort of. AntiVir started going nuts on me. Telling me everything was a virus. My PC was un-usable because everything was a potential virus. So I got out of Windows, booted into Safe Mode and got rid of AntiVir. Then tried to reinstall it and it didn't work. So I tried nod32. Now I get into Windows and everything is blocked...in other words, I can't start any programs or processes and the icons are all white. Also, dl.exe is running in the background, which tells me that I possibly have the bagz@mm virus or something. At least that's what I ve been reading. I can't uninstall nod32, not even in safe mode. So I've been slimed. No big deal I guess. It's the price I pay every couple of years in order to do the stuff that I do and run the software that I run. Just a risk I acceot. I rarely slip up lke this, but when it does happen, I'm ready for it. I back up EVERYTHING. And I have a spare PC that I can work on Photoshop and stuff.

So, I'm going to sit on it for a while and think of what to do. Just wipe everything and do a fresh install. That sometimes liberating....gets rid of garbage that I've accumulated and don't even remember. I'm not going to stress about it. I have kids to spend time with and a spare PC. I'll check in this thread in case anyone has more advice.

So I'm not even sure if it was the partition thing that created this mess. After all, I've done the exact same thing before with PM 8.0 and it took literally less than 30 seconds....and it worked - quicker than if would have booted with my XP disc. I assumed that clearing the partition was the problem since it was the last major thing I did before this all happened.

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All I ever had to do was boot to a winXP disk and get to the repair console,then you just put in the admin username and password. Then it should ask you what copy of windows you want repaired. You select that and then type in FIXMBR and it reverts your master boot record to stock.



Oh an I use PM 8 myself,cause I like having everything done before hand....like formating the partitions to FAT and making my other partitions. I tend to cut up drives alot when I run a duel boot so it's a nice app to have it all right in front of you so you can see it all before it goes through. Besides,I don't think the mess he's in now has anything to do with how he partitioned his drive.

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PM8 is what I use for formatting is well. The XP formatter is crap, I just make sure I have a working copy of an XP install disc before hand, wipe my C with PM8, get boot errors, and boot from disc... and voila lol.

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I also tried that. Didn't work. I lost track of where I screwed up :-P

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I guess it depends on where you put your bootloader....it probably gave you a boot sector error or disk error on boot right?

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