[ltp] some ibm windows/linux questions

[Eben King]

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005, David Tansey wrote:

> I have a couple of questions, but first let me state my problem.
> 
> I ran grub-install /dev/hda1 by accident and can no longer
> boot into windows. I tried some remedies online but haven't
> solved anything. (The most promising one was using dd to
> backup the bootsector and then put in the backup boot sector
> into the superblock of /dev/hda1.) 
> 
> So I guess I need to reinstall windows.

Just because you can't boot Windows or mount the partition doesn't mean the
data is wiped out.

Use "fdisk -l" to confirm that the partition is still there, and "od -t x1z"  
to confirm that it still has stuff on it.

> I used to be able to mount my windows partition, but even that is
> impossible now. I can't remember doing anything differently -- oh well.

Fire up a DOS floppy and try "fdisk /mbr" (that rewrites the boot sector, 
but it may also rewrite the partition table).  Use DOS (or Linux) fdisk and 
make a small change to the partition table to force a rewrite, such as 
changing the type of a partition or setting the "bootable" flag.

Maybe scandisk from an XP CD (if you have one)?

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