WinXP Pro boot crash after Linux install

[jeff_stack]

Help!

I tried to install Debian on my Win XP Pro machine but the install crapped out (probably my fault somehow) and now I can’t boot Windows. The startup screen with the logo is fine then I get a blue screen that says “AUTOCHK program not found – Skipping autocheck.” Then it just reboots.

I tried to do a repair installation of Windows XP and can see my windows partition but my windows partition is listed as <Inactive <OS/2 Boot Man 6997 MB <2132 MB Free>
When I try to select this partition the installer says, “Windows XP cannot recognize the partition you selected.” Then asks me to delete the partition or create a new partition in my free space.

When I run the recovery console from the CD my old C drive is accessible and all files are present. In fact, the autochk.exe is in the Windows\System32 where it belongs.

I have tried FIXBOOT and FIXMBR to no avail.

I think that I need to somehow set my Windows partition to active and hope that this will solve the problem. Any ideas how to do this or if you have a better idea how I might fix this problem I would love to hear it!

Note: This is a NTFS partition.

System: Desknote A928 laptop. P4 2.0a. 512 Mb DDR PC2700. IBM 5400 20 Gb Hd.

Everything was working sweet till this “gee I think I would like to try Linux” moment.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

[Grendel]

Try this.

goto windows/system32

then type in "diskpart"

Diskpart> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

Diskpart> select partition 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

Diskpart> active

From what i read, I think this may help.
Here is the link i found it.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q300415

Let me know how it turns out. GOOD LUCK

[NBR]

if the above dont work, try this

fdisk /mbr then hit enter. (it only takes about a second to do)

u will need a windows 98/me startup disk to do this!!!

but if this works it might screw with your linux partition possibly but if you use a boot disk for linux then it will probably be fine.

i dont know damn near jack about linux but i consider myself better than average with windows type stuff

[Ranger One]

Couple of things: When you tried fixboot from the Recovery Console > did you just type "fixboot" or "fixboot C:" ?
NBR is correct > if you have a Windows 98 startup disk > boot to that and type in Fdisk /mbr. You can then use the fdisk command to check your partitioning info to see if your first partition is active.After that's all set you can boot to the Recovery Console and setup the partition again to boot XP.
If you're dual booting with XP Pro & Linux on one hard drive > use Grub as the boot loader and let it install into the MBR. Works fine for me with XP Pro & RedHat 7.3. Hope this helps.