XP woes - "MBR Error 1. Press any key to boot from floppy"

[tom_martin22]

Hi

I’ve had this problem for a while now… When I turn my PC on, it comes to a black screen saying “MBR Error 1 - Press any key to boot from floppy”. For months it was not much bother as within a few hits of the reset button Windows would load. But then it got to a stage where I’d have to hit the reset button more and more. So for the last few months I’ve just been keeping my PC on….

…. I went on holiday in October and switched off while away. It took several hours of hitting the reset to get Windows to load. Then, a few weeks back, I stupidly switched my PC off by accident. This time it took a whole 24 hours to get Windows to load! I reckon at least 300-400 reset presses!

Anyhow, I’m using this as a calling to update to a more modern OS. But seeing as I have got spare hard drives, I would quite like to keep my current OS as is in case I need to come back to it for whatever reason. So I wondered if anyone knows how to fix my problem?

I did try some stuff a while back but none of it worked. This included FIXMBR and FIXBOOT. I’ve got screenshots from the time if they might help? I’ve also got a BSOD from around the time and another screen with various ISOLINUX messages. My memory is hazy as to what I did exactly though.

One other thing… When I went through the 24 hour resets, I went in to BIOS a few times and the OS system HD was not showing in BIOS. TBH, I thought it was dead. I knew it worked mechanically because I could hear it. But I must admit I was pleasantly shocked when Windows loaded after circa 400 resets!!!

Any help very much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[captaincharisma]

if fixing the MBR hasn't resolved the problem and now the drive disappears randomly then it sound more like a bad hard drive. backup any data you can off it and replace it

 

[dark_lord69]

Your hard drive is failing and you should backup immediately.

Your best chances for fixing the issue (In no particular order):
1. CHKDSK /R (google it)
2. Download a program to fix the disk from the manufacturer of the hard drive.

I would say that, if you're not seeing the drive in the BIOS then you need to try a different SATA cable and if that doesn't help then this drive is about to die.

 

[tom_martin22]

OK, thanks for the replies and the warnings... I'm fully backed up on that drive. That's just my C drive, so all I back up from there is app settings and what not. All data is kept on a separate drive completely.

I did wonder if the drive might be on the way out. It is about 10 years old after all so it has not done too badly. The thing is though, once I get pass the resets and Windows finally loads, it's all good for weeks/months. The only thing that makes the problem return is shutting down. Even if I restart through Windows everything reloads with no issue. It's only on a proper shut down that the problem occurs. Does that still sound like a failing HD?

I'll look into those two options dark_lord69, thanks. Are there any other utilities such as HDTune, GSmartControl, etc that I can use as well?

Cheers

 

[captaincharisma]

OK, thanks for the replies and the warnings... I'm fully backed up on that drive. That's just my C drive, so all I back up from there is app settings and what not. All data is kept on a separate drive completely.

I did wonder if the drive might be on the way out. It is about 10 years old after all so it has not done too badly. The thing is though, once I get pass the resets and Windows finally loads, it's all good for weeks/months. The only thing that makes the problem return is shutting down. Even if I restart through Windows everything reloads with no issue. It's only on a proper shut down that the problem occurs. Does that still sound like a failing HD?

I'll look into those two options dark_lord69, thanks. Are there any other utilities such as HDTune, GSmartControl, etc that I can use as well?

Cheers

as you said this is a 10 year old PC you have and if the HDD randomly disappears from the BIOS you either have a failing HDD or even a failing motherboard

 

[tom_martin22]

Hi

Back with a few updates.

I ran CHKDSK /R on the drive. Well, actually, I chose C which is one of three partitions on the drive, so I'm not sure if that matters? Anyhow, there were 5 stages. For the first 4 it said file verification completed. The fifth flicked passed so quick I wasn't able to see what it said. But I ended up at a screen which said "The volume is clean. Windows has finished checking the disc."

I also ran some other tests and checks... SMART result seems ok. The HDTune benchmark looks all over the place though. Also, I am just finishing up a HDTune Error Scan and so far it has found 4 damaged sectors. What's weird though is that it is taking an age! Getting towards the 24 hour mark soon and it is still not done. I'm sure it has never taken that long before. I've got results from a 2TB drive I error scanned a while back and that took 5 hours. And it is 4 times larger! So I don't know if the slow error scan signifies a problem or if it is just because it is a different model.

I'm stabbing in the dark a bit tbh, so if anyone more knowledge is able to comment on whether these results point toward or away from the HD being on the way out, that would be fantastic. I'll post the Error scan result when ti has finished.

Many many thanks

 

[tom_martin22]

Hmmm, photos have not worked. I'll try again. Watch this space!!

 

[tom_martin22]

No luck with photos... Is there a thread or tutorial on what I need to do? I have uploaded them to Photobucket. I click on the "Picture" icon above, add the photo URL, but still no luck 🙁

I'm pretty sure it is user error. Unless I don't have sufficient privileges?

Here's a link to the album in the meantime:

Hard Drive test Results

 

[tom_martin22]

One more thing so that I don't hog my own thread too much!

The HDTune error scan finished with 4 damaged blocks. The reason it took an age was because it was running at 3.8 MB/sec.

I'm not sure why, but I decided to run another HDTune benchmark:

New Benchmark

It struck me how different this was to the one above. It was only later that I noticed the scale and that the maximum transfer rate was 3.8 MB/sec (previously 87.4MB/sec). Is this a sign that the HD is close to dying? Or could something else be causing it?

 

[tom_martin22]

The consensus from others I have asked is that the HDD is on its last legs. So I've decided I'm going to make sure I've got everything I need from this drive and then retire it ASAP. I've got a spare, and I want to move on to W7 anyhow. It would have been nice to have this drive working **just in case** I need to go back to it for anything. But never mind, I'll just have to make sure my backing up is very thorough!

Incidentally, I bought three of these drives when I built the PC and the other two seem just fine to me. They have given zero issues or signs of failure, and when last tested they passed with flying colours. I want to keep using them as I HATE throwing things away unnecessarily... But do you think I should let their age (10 years) do the talking, or their performance and test results (all good)?

Someone mentioned that testing a failing drive will make it fail even sooner, and that certainly would explain why the results were getting worse! I'll stop tests now while I get the rest of the info I need from it. For future reference though, could anyone please confirm if this is just the case with a failing drive? Is it ok to run tests on drives that are old but not failing?

Thanks again for the help