I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 on a 500 Gig hard drive with 3 partitions.The problem is I marked one of the partitions,not Drive C, as "active" by mistake.I done a Command Prompt to make it "inactive", but when I started the system up again it wouldn't boot.I used the Vista disk for the recovery process, but I got a message "Operating system unknown on (unknown) local disk" i tried fixing the problem with a command prompt "bootrec/fix boot" ,but nothing happened.When I look at the info in Command Prompt it doesn't show the disk partitions, just Disk 0.Also I can't repair because no Disks are listed to be repaired. If I look at the drive in "My Computer" it is full with a file system marked as "Raw" and it wants me to format the drive.I used "Recover My Files" software and it shows some of the documents that are on the drive, but doesn't show any recovery.I looked at some internet post about the message I got and partition and boot problems like I have, but at this point I don't to try any else to make it worse.I would do a reinstall ,but on one of the drives I have some stuff that wasn't backed up.I never thought about backing it up because it wasn't on the C drive.Any help to solve this problem would be appreciated. ..........Kumpie
Operating system (unknown) on unknown local disk
- Thread starter kumpie
- Start date
Jonathan_King
Vista Guru
Welcome!
Try marking the C partition as active again, using the Windows method in my post here.
Then run Startup Repair from the repair disc. Hopefully it will see your installation.
~JK
Try marking the C partition as active again, using the Windows method in my post here.
Then run Startup Repair from the repair disc. Hopefully it will see your installation.
~JK
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Jonathan King
- CPU
- AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor 4850e overclocked @ 2.92 GHz
- Motherboard
- ASRock A780 FullDisplayPort
- Memory
- 6.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 290MHz Crucial Technology
- Graphics card(s)
- ATI 3200 (onboard), nVidia 7200 GS (PCIe)
- Sound Card
- Realtek High Definition Audio
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 17" Cybervison ds69T, 17" Starlogic
- Screen Resolution
- 1024x768
- Hard Drives
- WD 320GB SATA, Hitachi 1TB SATA
- PSU
- Antec ea-430d 430W
- Case
- Antec 300
- Cooling
- stock cpu, 120mm rear, 140mm top
- Mouse
- Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 (USB)
- Keyboard
- Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 (PS/2)
- Internet Speed
- 9.32 Mb/s download; 0.36 Mb/s upload
- Other Info
- Other OS's: Windows 7 Professional x64, Windows Professional x86, Ubuntu x64
I went back last night to the recovery disk and done a check disk prompt, after that I done a repair which said it was a missing or corrupt bootmgr problem.Still no fix to the boot to get Vista running,so I did a disk part after which I ran repair again this told me,the best I can remember that there was a hard drive problem.So I tried to format the drive and at that point I realized the drive had gone bad.Earlier last week,by the way I was dual booting XP and Vista on the same drive,XP wouldn't come up.Then I got a black screen when booting stating that the NTDLR was missing.I took care of that through a command prompt.Then the stuff that I posted the first time happened and the computer wouldn't boot.I lost a few things but, luckly my pics and music is on external drive.I suspect I need to backup more and keep all my data on the external drive. One thing I would like to ask will doing command prompts destroy a hard drive.I can't find anything on the internet referring to it.Like one tech in town told me the drive was over two years old and he sees them go out at that age.Western Digital only warranted it for 2 years, so off to the store. Thanks for the reply Kumpie
My Computer
Jonathan_King
Vista Guru
Command Prompt cannot and will not destroy a drive. 2 years seems like an awfully short lifespan for a hard drive, but it could have been a bad drive, or received a jolt, or something.
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Jonathan King
- CPU
- AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor 4850e overclocked @ 2.92 GHz
- Motherboard
- ASRock A780 FullDisplayPort
- Memory
- 6.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 290MHz Crucial Technology
- Graphics card(s)
- ATI 3200 (onboard), nVidia 7200 GS (PCIe)
- Sound Card
- Realtek High Definition Audio
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 17" Cybervison ds69T, 17" Starlogic
- Screen Resolution
- 1024x768
- Hard Drives
- WD 320GB SATA, Hitachi 1TB SATA
- PSU
- Antec ea-430d 430W
- Case
- Antec 300
- Cooling
- stock cpu, 120mm rear, 140mm top
- Mouse
- Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 (USB)
- Keyboard
- Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 (PS/2)
- Internet Speed
- 9.32 Mb/s download; 0.36 Mb/s upload
- Other Info
- Other OS's: Windows 7 Professional x64, Windows Professional x86, Ubuntu x64
I will have to vouch for Jonathan, the CMD command cannot cause any problems with your hard drive. In fact, it is an important feature of Windows. Hopefully, you will not feel any reluctance to use it in the future. But, I am not posting to comment on the CMD. You mentioned using an external hard drive. They may have a very short life span. I am in the market for one, but all my research indicates that many users are unhappy with them due to the fact that they fail unexpectedly and sometimes quickly. It may be because they are not protected in the same fashion as an internal drive. Just trying to give you all the information, so that you can make the best possible decision for yourself. Wishing you luck.
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Dell XPS420
- Memory
- 6 gig
- Graphics card(s)
- ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
- Sound Card
- Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
- Hard Drives
- 640 gb
- Cooling
- Fan
- Mouse
- Dell USB 4 button optical
- Keyboard
- Dell USB
- Other Info
- DSL provided by ATT
Two years is short compared to some of the other drives that I have had 8-10 years and still going.It is still strange it went out when it went .I know you sometimes get a faulty piece, but it is still hard to swallow.I keep an extra drive and old Windows operating systems handy so in case something happens I have something to get me up and running again.My wife is not happy about using XP ,but just in a matter of time we were up and running from another drive. Far as using Command Prompt I won't stay away from it.One tech I talked to says he will not use it, to me it is handy when you need it.I believe the worst can happen is that you might have to re-install. I been dual booting Vista and XP because I have a scanner that HP didn't put out an update for when Vista came out and it works fine with XP or 98.Do you guys have a preference as to how to run 2 operating systems, boot from the BIOS or dual boot.I know Microsoft recommends not dual booting. I want to thank both of you for helping me, computing is ever changing and the best to learn from each other. Thanks, Kumpie
My Computer
We are all friends now, so glad to help. I do not know much about dual booting, so I do not want to give you erroneous information. There are others that will see this thread and comment. Maybe even better. I will close this thread, you start a new one with the title about dual booting; you will get many answers.
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Dell XPS420
- Memory
- 6 gig
- Graphics card(s)
- ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
- Sound Card
- Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
- Hard Drives
- 640 gb
- Cooling
- Fan
- Mouse
- Dell USB 4 button optical
- Keyboard
- Dell USB
- Other Info
- DSL provided by ATT