[stumpygangsta]

Hi all,

I have a problem that I hope you can all help me solve...

My grandad has a Hi-Grade Notino ML100 Netbook, that he uses to keep in touch with his family all over the globe, because of his dependance on it, I've said I will try and help him fix it... Hopefully you will be able to help me please?

When you boot the Netbook it comes up with the message BOOTMGR is missing, press CTRl+Alt+Del to restart - doing this just starts an endless cycle...

I've looked on the forum, but I can't seem to find an answer to this problem...

I understand that a XP recovery disc would sort this out, but the computer doesn't have a CD drive, nor did it come with a disc - I also don't have access to an External CD drive. I've checked on the BIOS, and it boots first from USB, then Harddrive - so I'm thinking that it might be possible to fix this with a USB? I don't understand how to go about doing this though...

The only other option I can see, is it says press F7 to recover. If you do that it Loads "Hi-Grade Recovery", and gives you two options.

1) "Safely Reboot" - this just reboots and takes me back to the same problem

2) "Restore Backup" - This opens up a black script window which says the following:

----
Finding SOURCE drive
Finding DESTINATION drive

*** THE INSTALLATION DRIVE DESTINATION WAS NOT DETECTED ***

Press any key to continue...

----
If I press something, then the following is displayed -
----
.
.
.
This operation will destroy all the data on your C: drive
press Control-C to cancel <hold hown control key and press the C key at the same time>
.
.
.
Press any key to continue...
----

Does anyone know what will happen if I continue? Does this delete literally everything, or does it just in effect perform a factory reset?

Any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated!

[Saga Lout]

That certainly sounds like a destructive reversion to factory settings. A borrowed XP CD would do the job if you can lay hands on one, assuring the owner it's only for the Repair option and you won't try to install from it. Post back if you think you can find one, for instructions on how to fix the flawed boot sector.

[stumpygangsta]

Will see what I can do - however, it doesn't have a CD Drive, and I don't have an external CD Drive...

Thanks for the response.


Also, just discovered, that in the F7 "Recovery Screen", I accidently pressed a directional key, and it bought up a black command script window -

"Administrator: X:\windows\system32\cmd.exe"

I don't suppose there would be any simple commands I could use? Or, would that be far too easy....

[stumpygangsta]

Sagalout,

I have managed to borrow a Lenovo Rescue & Recovery Disc for XP.

Will this work?

Thanks.

[Saga Lout]

Originally Posted by stumpygangsta

Sagalout,

I have managed to borrow a Lenovo Rescue & Recovery Disc for XP.

Will this work?

Thanks.

It may well do but tread very carefully and don't highlight or click anything without reading it carefully first in case that's IBM's idea of a factory reset. Your reference to an X:\ drive in Post #3 would ordinarily indicate something being run in a RAM Drive and has m,e wondering if your hard disk cannot mount.

[stumpygangsta]

Hello again,

I've been unsuccessful in using the disc...

A friend of mine suggested trying to use Linux, as I could use it without making changes to the current configuration - so I prepared a USB with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, as it can be run from the USB - I've put it in, booted up, and it recognises that there is another operating system and gives me a few options.

First I tried Memory Test (Just to see what it said), came back with no errors found.

Secondly I tried Use Ubuntu without install - this tried to run, but came back with the following:

-----

[1.004939] ACPI: Aborted because no cpio magic
[2.796916] ACPI: Expecting a [Reference] package element, found type C
[3.545611] longhaul: APIC detected. Longhaul is currently broken in this configuration.
[4.493478] crc error
[4.630439] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(104,1)

-----
Then it just hangs...

Sorry, I don't know alot about this, but the last message caught my eye - "unable to mount", similar to what you mentioned in your previous post.

What does this mean?

[Elvandil]

It is illegal to use an OEM disk on any machine other than the one it came with. And it won't work 99% of the time, anyway.

Since there is no bootmgr in XP, someone must have tried to install Vista or 7 to that machine. Do you know anything about that?

[huggie54]

hiya buddy go into bios and change boot order to boot from hd

[bbearren]

Originally Posted by stumpygangsta

Will see what I can do - however, it doesn't have a CD Drive, and I don't have an external CD Drive...

Thanks for the response.


Also, just discovered, that in the F7 "Recovery Screen", I accidently pressed a directional key, and it bought up a black command script window -

"Administrator: X:\windows\system32\cmd.exe"

I don't suppose there would be any simple commands I could use? Or, would that be far too easy....

Run that sequence again and when you get "Administrator: X:\Windows\Syster32\cmd.exe" hit the Enter key.

It should boot to a command prompt. type

fixboot

and hit Enter.

[Lance1]

I'm not sure if Fixboot and Fixmbr would work in this case or not but give it a try. Click HERE and download the windows recovery console. It's an ISO so extract it to the USB drive and boot from it. Select the OS and input the admin password. If there isn't one just hit enter. Type fixboot and hit enter then type fixmbr and hit enter. Restart the system.

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by bbearren

Run that sequence again and when you get "Administrator: X:\Windows\Syster32\cmd.exe" hit the Enter key.

It should boot to a command prompt. type

fixboot

and hit Enter.

I don't believe that "fixboot" is a valid XP command.

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by Lance1

I'm not sure if Fixboot and Fixmbr would work in this case or not but give it a try. Click HERE and download the windows recovery console. It's an ISO so extract it to the USB drive and boot from it. Select the OS and input the admin password. If there isn't one just hit enter. Type fixboot and hit enter then type fixmbr and hit enter. Restart the system.

An extracted iso will not boot from a USB drive.

[Lance1]

Originally Posted by Elvandil

An extracted iso will not boot from a USB drive.

This RC.iso is bootable. I know because I have used it on more then one occasion. If the BIOS has a USB boot option it'll work.

[Elvandil]

You are welcome to try. But I don't believe it is going to work. There is no MBR on the USB drive and if there is, it is not the correct one. But go ahead if you think it will work. I'll gladly eat crow.

There is no way it could hurt anyone to try, so I will just butt out for now.

[Elvandil]

One more thing, fixboot and fixmbr will destroy the proprietary MBR on the drive so that the recovery partition will no longer be accessible by the special keypresses at boot time. Only the recovery CD's will work, or I have another method of accessing that partition if this gets XP booted up.