The boot record, or MBR, is located on the main disk of the computer, it is with its help that the computer starts boot process. Sometimes the user is faced with a situation where the bootloader is damaged or removed, which makes it impossible to boot the operating system.
Instructions
Step 1
If there are problems with booting the system, the user usually presses the F8 key, hoping to enter the recovery menu. If it succeeds, it can choose to load Last Known Good Configuration or, if not, enter Safe Mode. But in the event that the recovery menu cannot be opened, many users begin to think about reinstalling the system.
Step 2
If you see nothing on the screen other than a lonely blinking cursor, the boot record is most likely corrupted. Try to restore it, for this you need your OS installation disc. Insert it into your floppy drive, restart your computer. Choose to install from CD, to do this, press F12 - for many computers, a menu for choosing a boot device appears. If this does not work for you, enter BIOS (usually you need to press Del or F2) and install the first boot from CD.
Step 3
Start Windows Setup and wait for the Windows XP Professional Setup dialog box to appear. Select "To restore Windows XP using the Recovery Console, press [R = Restore]" from its menu. After pressing R, the recovery console will appear. You will be asked which copy of Windows to log into. If you have one OS, type 1 and press Enter.
Step 4
When prompted for an administrator password, enter it. If you didn't have a password, just hit Enter. The line C: WINDOWS> appears, enter the fixboot command and press Enter. When asked to write a new boot sector, type y (yes) and press Enter again. A message will appear about the successful writing of the boot sector, you will see the already familiar line C: WINDOWS>.
Step 5
Now enter the fixmbr command. A warning about possible data loss will appear. Confirm consent to create the MBR by typing y and pressing Enter. A new boot record will be created. Reboot by entering the exit command. If you changed the BIOS settings, re-enter it and reboot from the hard drive, save the changes. After exiting the BIOS, the operating system should boot normally.
Step 6
To repair the Windows 7 boot loader, you also need a boot disk. Start Windows installation from it. After the installation files have been written to your computer, select your keyboard layout, then the installed OS. Select the line Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows and click Next.
Step 7
A window will open with a choice of recovery options, select Startup Repair. The troubleshooting of the boot problems will begin, at the end of the process, restart the computer - the operating system should boot.
