Invalid partition table

Hello all. Common enough problem, I know. My Windows XP system won't
boot, telling me "Invalid partition table". I've booted from my
Windows CD and taken the "R"ecovery option. After selecting the
Windows installation I want to log into it says:

"The system registry does not appear to have an active ControlSet key.
The system regisrty may be damaged."

It then prompts me to to take the "Last Known Good Configuration"
after rebooting, which is useless because Windows won't start due to
the partition table error. From the Recovery Console I've also run
FIXMBR, which says it has successfully rewritten the MBR. However it
makes no difference to the bootability.

I've taken the HD and put it into another system. I can read and
write from it just fine, and the Configuration Manager says the
primary partition is "healthy".

I am at a complete loss of what else to do without just starting from
scratch and reformatting the drive. Any ideas?


Alphawoolf

AlphaWoolf alpha.woolf yourcoatsbcglobal.net wrote:

It then prompts me to to take the "Last Known Good Configuration"
after rebooting, which is useless because Windows won't start due
to the partition table error.

So the partition table error comes before you have a chance to press
F8.

From the Recovery Console I've also run
FIXMBR, which says it has successfully rewritten the MBR. However
it makes no difference to the bootability.

I've taken the HD and put it into another system. I can read and
write from it just fine, and the Configuration Manager says the
primary partition is "healthy".

Have you made a copy of any important files on that hard drive?







I am at a complete loss of what else to do without just starting from
scratch and reformatting the drive. Any ideas?


Alphawoolf


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From: AlphaWoolf alpha.woolf yourcoatsbcglobal.net
Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Subject: Invalid partition table
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AlphaWoolf wrote:
Hello all. Common enough problem, I know. My Windows XP system won't
boot, telling me "Invalid partition table".

The simplest cause of this is lack of an "active" or "bootable"
partition.

http://tinyurl.com/p8ho5

if that is the case you should be able to fix it using "fdisk -a 1"
from the recovery console

http://docsrv.sco.com:507/en/man/htm...fdisk.ADM.html

http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_d...oot_record.htm

http://www.ntfs.com/mbr-damaged.htm

"AlphaWoolf" wrote in message
...
Hello all. Common enough problem, I know. My Windows XP system won't
boot, telling me "Invalid partition table". I've booted from my
Windows CD and taken the "R"ecovery option. After selecting the
Windows installation I want to log into it says:

"The system registry does not appear to have an active ControlSet key.
The system regisrty may be damaged."

It then prompts me to to take the "Last Known Good Configuration"
after rebooting, which is useless because Windows won't start due to
the partition table error. From the Recovery Console I've also run
FIXMBR, which says it has successfully rewritten the MBR. However it
makes no difference to the bootability.


this sounds like a harddrive that had its partitions manipulated by
'partition magic' or one of those other parttition butchers

I've taken the HD and put it into another system. I can read and
write from it just fine, and the Configuration Manager says the
primary partition is "healthy".

is this a fat32 or a ntfs?


I am at a complete loss of what else to do without just starting from
scratch and reformatting the drive. Any ideas?


Alphawoolf

JAD wrote:

I've taken the HD and put it into another system. I can read and
write from it just fine, and the Configuration Manager says the
primary partition is "healthy".

is this a fat32 or a ntfs?

And how is it partitioned?

"JAD" JOHN DOE PORN ADDY HARVESTER.com wrote:

Hey JAD, is your mother still a whore?

this sounds like a harddrive that had its partitions manipulated
by
'partition magic' or one of those other parttition butchers

In the hands of a skilled user, PartitionMagic or another disk
manager is an extremely useful program.

It's like a power tool, you should be a grown-up before you try
using it.










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Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
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Subject: Invalid partition table
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"John Doe" wrote in message

some more boring stuff YAWN

On 6 Nov 2006 03:50:12 -0800, "Gremenbulin"
wrote:


AlphaWoolf wrote:
Hello all. Common enough problem, I know. My Windows XP system won't
boot, telling me "Invalid partition table".

The simplest cause of this is lack of an "active" or "bootable"
partition.

http://tinyurl.com/p8ho5

if that is the case you should be able to fix it using "fdisk -a 1"
from the recovery console

http://docsrv.sco.com:507/en/man/htm...fdisk.ADM.html

http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_d...oot_record.htm

http://www.ntfs.com/mbr-damaged.htm

To followup with this and some of the other responses:

1. The drive was originally partitioned with the Seagate tool (it's a
Seagate drive).

2. I have copied all data off this drive. It's NTFS.

3. I saw FDISK mentioned everywhere but I didn't know it was part of
of the Recovery Console. This is my first big education in Windows
recovery (I have little idea what caused this in the 1st place but my
PC has been acting flaky at bootup). I think it's too late for FDISK
now. At some point between running FIXBOOT and FIXMBR Windows setup
could no longer see a Windows installation. I've since deleted the
partition in Windows Setup and created a new one. However the format
failed. I've since been busy with other things since but my next step
is put it back in my working PC and try formatting it with the Seagate
tool.

Basically I'm down to nuking it and starting from scratch, which I
have the luxury of doing since I could copy the data off.


Alphawoolf

Get GParted or Knoppix - burn a CD from the ISO image - use the tools
supplied.

/JJ

On 6 Nov 2006 15:06:04 -0800, "jj92_2" wrote:

Get GParted or Knoppix - burn a CD from the ISO image - use the tools
supplied.

/JJ

Well, after repartitioning the drive on my good machine, I've
attempted to load Windows back in the original box. Windows Setup got
to the point where it needed to reboot. At that point it came back
with the same invalid partiton error again. Now, both Windows Setup
and Recovery Console blue screen with the following error:

STOP: 0x00000024 (0x001902FE, 0xF7CAA814, 0xF7CAA510, 0xF74281FC)
ntfs.sys - Address F74281FC base at F741B000, Datestamp 41107eea

I'm going to put the drive back in my good machine and check it out
but I don't have much hope for this scenario. Previously the drive
had repartitioned and copied data for hours on the other PC without a
hitch. SMART diagnostics show good too. I'm thinking either buy a
new drive or a controller card?

Alphawoolf