Help, I think I lost my boot sector

Ed Wilts ewilts at ewilts.org
Fri Dec 10 01:19:56 UTC 2004


On Wed, Dec 08, 2004 at 09:13:54PM -0700, Bud Curtis wrote:
> I made the huge mistake of testing a Windows 2K System Install Boot CD on my
> Redhat system.  I thought the CD wouldn't write anything until I said
> proceed with the install.  Evidently it messed up my boot sector.  Everytime
> I attempt to boot up from the hard drive, I get the following message:
> 
>     DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
> 
> If I boot up with my Linux floppy, then the system comes up fine.
> 
> Is there any way to repair the boot sector?

There sure is!

I didn't do an extensive search, but this seems to be address your
issue: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19999

What you basically have to do is boot into your rescue mode and re-run
grub-install.  The details around this are in the howto at the link
above.  RHCE's can do this in their sleep but documenting all the little
gotchas along the way is the tough part.  The howto at a quick glance
seems pretty good.

-- 
Ed Wilts, RHCE
Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts at ewilts.org
Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program




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