# Unable to boot into Ubuntu



## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

Hi

Sometime back I installed Ubuntu 10.04 thru WUBI on to one of the partitions of my HD (which is already installed with Win xp sp3).

Y'day when I tried to boot into Ubuntu the following message is displayed:

"
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Please re-install a copy of the above file.
"

1. I checked up under " C:\WINDOWS\system32 " the file with the name HAL.DLL is present.

2. My boot.ini file is as follws"

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\wubildr.mbr = "Ubuntu"

what could be the reason for non starting of Ubuntu?


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Can you still boot to Windows?

Do you see a copy of wubildr.mbr in your root directory? Has anything on the drive been moved or changed? Have you run any commands on the drive or changed partitions in any way?


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I did a search and this is the word from the horse's mouth.


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

Elvandil said:


> Can you still boot to Windows?
> 
> Do you see a copy of wubildr.mbr in your root directory? Has anything on the drive been moved or changed? Have you run any commands on the drive or changed partitions in any way?


Yes I am able to boot into win xp now also.

root directory means system32 directory ? I checked there I could not find any such file there. No nothing has been moved or changed and not run any commands to change partition.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

In Windows "root directory" means directly on the C: drive (except in those rare cases where the system drive is something else).


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

TerryNet said:


> In Windows "root directory" means directly on the C: drive (except in those rare cases where the system drive is something else).


In that case, I did not see any wubildr.mbr in root directory.

I just want to want to know that is it ok to have " noexecute=optin /fastdetect " wording in my boot.ini which I shown above ?


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## flan_suse (Apr 26, 2010)

g.ramesh said:


> 2. My boot.ini file is as follws"
> 
> [boot loader]
> timeout=30
> ...


Is that a typo above? I see WINDOW S instead of WINDOWS.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> I just want to want to know that is it ok to have " noexecute=optin /fastdetect " wording in my boot.ini which I shown above ?


Yes, that in my boot.ini for Windows XP Pro.

Note the last line in yours. That, I assume, is why *Elvandil *asked about the wubildr.mbr file. If it's not there Ubuntu is not going to boot.


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

TerryNet said:


> Yes, that in my boot.ini for Windows XP Pro.
> 
> Note the last line in yours. That, I assume, is why *Elvandil *asked about the wubildr.mbr file. If it's not there Ubuntu is not going to boot.


Hi Terrynet

is the wording noexecute ok in boot.ini file?

If wubildr.mbr is not present in root directory what is the solution?


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I hate distro trying to help by distorting a standard installation thus a user ending up knowing neither the standard method and the special method to rescure a Linux should anything help to it.

Don't use Wubi myself but the layout suggests the file "wubildr.mbr" is the first 512 bytes of the Ubuntu partition. See Task E4 of Just booting tips for the standard way making a NT version of Windows to boot a Linux. Vista and Win7 are no different in requiring the same thing but their boot loader is "bootmgr".

I suspect the Ubuntu CD may have a utility to copy the Ubuntu's MBR but the following is the what I regard as the "standard" method that works in every version of NT version of the MS Windows of Win2k and Xp that use NTLDR as the boot loader.

Officially MS Windows has never been engineered to read a Linux partition so in order to boot it the first 512 bytes (equivalent to the MBR) of the Linux partition is placed in the "C" drive so that its boot loader can fire it up. It is the MBR inside the "C" drive that actually boots the Ubuntu Linux. Therefore to get it follow the following steps:

(1) Boot up Ubuntu CD and use it as a Live CD. In fact any Linux Live CD will do but the commands here are wriiten for Ubuntu family distros.

(2) Check which partition has Windows and which one has Linux by command

```
sudo su
fdisk -l
```
 The Windows partition must be bootable so it will be marked witha "*". A ntfs partition is Type 7 so these two together mean a bootable Windows system inside. It should be among the first one or two. Let' say it is device /dev/sda1. The first Linux partition should be Ubuntu. All Linux partitions must be type 83. If Ubuntu has been installed with several partition the bootable one /boot should always be in the first one. Lest say it is /dev/sda3.

(3) Make two mounting points in /mnt (of the boot up Live CD) to mount WIndows and Linux partitions and then mount them

```
mkdir /mnt/sda1
mkdir /mnt/sda3
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3
```
(4) I have omitted preceeding the commands with "sudo" because in the first line "sudo su" I have already claimed the Super user position. Now verify the contents of the two partitions by

```
ls /mnt/sda1
ls /mnt/sda3
```
Linux see all hidden files inside a WIndows partition so Wubidr.mbr could still be there with the usual hidden files like boot.ini and NTLDR etc. Wubidr.mbr could be corrupted so it pays to redo it again.

The Ubuntu partition will have /boot, /home, /dev etc. The bootable one must have /boot.

(5) To copy the first 512 bytes of Ubuntu partition into Windows partition. This must be done by a sector to sector copying command dd available only in Linux or Unix. 

```
dd if=/dev/sda3 of=/mnt/sda1/wubidr.mbr bs=512 count=1
```
The above copy "1" record of size specified by "bs" from an input file sda3, which is a device directly, to an output file /mnt/sda1/wubidr.mbr. Make ajustment if your Windows and Ubuntu are in different partitions. Steps (4) is only for verification and can be omitted if you know where are your WIndows and Ubuntu. Basically you only need to mount the WIndows partition to deliver wubidr.mbr there.

It pays to understand the concept which is the same for all MS Windows booting a Linux. Thus if you install several Linux you simply repeat the steps and set your own filenames like Linux1.mbr, Linux2.mbr etc and amend boot.ini accordingly.

In general no need to touch the boot.ini or anything in Windows once the set up has been done. All NTLDR needs is the file "wubidr.mbr" available inside the partition that holds boot.ini


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> is the wording noexecute ok in boot.ini file?


Yes. The boot.ini I checked is just like yours, except I don't have Wubi installed so don't have the last line of yours.

With Ubuntu installed using Wubi there is no separate partition for Linux. Looking from the "outside" all you see is a large file in the Windows partition; when you boot to Ubuntu this large file becomes the Linux partition and from within the booted Ubuntu it looks like a separate partition.

For this reason I don't have my usual extreme confidence that *saikee*'s procedure will work. But it's certainly worth a try. If it doesn't work report back details of what happened and he may be able to amend the instructions.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I don't use Wubi. If what you said the Ubuntu is just a guest system inside Windows in which case there should be no necessity to boot a guest system which must operate wholly inside a host system, as a virtual machines does.

I run a portable Ubuntu that is fired up inside a MS Windows.

The Step (2) I put in is to check if such a system exists. In which case there should be no partition type 83 visible and so it would be impossible to proceed to Step (3) if Ubuntu is just a file inside the MS Windows. I act on the entry on boot.ini as that is the normal way to get NTLDR to boot a Linux, by having its mbr inside the "C" drive.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Wubi does not make Ubuntu a guest system like when using VirtualBox or VMware or other virtual machines. Wubi installs as a Windows application, un-installs with Add/Remove programs, but you actually get a dual boot. So, we'll just have to see how well your procedure works with this special case.


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## Lezley (Jun 8, 2010)

I'd totally re-partition and install Ubuntu all over again =P


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

Hi thanks to all of you for your replies.

Now problem seems to be increased as I am not able to boot into win xp either. It is showing hal.dll is missing.

Then I tried the following.

1) when tried to use recovery console , it is showing C:\> after some time.
Then I issued the command expand h:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll.

2)Then it displayed " Access is denied ".


Then I tried to run chkdsk with /r option after 50% completion is showed "the system has unrecoverable errors"

At last I booted thru a live CD of Ubuntu 10.04 and checked for computer. It is displaying the three of my original partitions of my HD but none of them are being mounted and are showing the following message:

Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 13: ntfs_attr_pread_i: ntfs_pread failed: Input/output error
Failed to read NTFS $Bitmap: Input/output error
NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it's a
SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chkdsk /f on Windows
then reboot into Windows twice. The usage of the /f parameter is very
important! If the device is a SoftRAID/FakeRAID then first activate
it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g.
/dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation
for more details.

Please tell me whether my win xp has gone bust?


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

What more proof do you need?

(1) Your Xp doesn't boot.

(2) In recovery console chkdsk reported "unrecoverable errors"

(3) You sought a second opinion by boot up a Linux and it reported

(a) The partition could not be mounted
(b) The difficulty of reading the ntfs filing system confirmed.

The conclusions are therefore

(i) In the Recovery Console Xp said there had been "the system has unrecoverable errors" so some permanent damage to the filing system. If the damage affects the system files then the XP will never boot again.

(ii) Another operating system confirmed corruption in the NTFS filing system and does not know how to overcome it.

If you have hard disk space or another hard disk you can load another MS Windows to see if it can read your Xp partition. The message on the wall is cut your loss and re-install Xp. You obviously have made a serious mistake sometime in the past to trash the ntfs filing system resulting two operating systems could not make sense out of it. It would be useful if you know what it was and learn from it. You you have done nothing then may be the hard disk has gone and developed a hardware corruption which at this stage it can still be read but could come to a total halt later on.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Sounds to me that your hard drive "has gone bust."


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## flan_suse (Apr 26, 2010)

You can always run a SMART self-test on the hard drives with the Ubuntu LiveCD. Boot into the Ubuntu LiveCD and install smartmontools:

```
sudo apt-get install smartmontools
```
Then run a short self-test on both drives. Each test will take about two minutes to complete. Replace _sda_ and _sdb_ with whatever the drives actually are.:

```
smartctl -t short /dev/sda
smartctl -t short /dev/sdb
```
After more than two minutes, when the tests are complete, check the results by viewing the drive's self-test logs:

```
smartctl -l sefltest /dev/sda
smartctl -l sefltest /dev/sdb
```
You will then see whether or not it bumped into any errors. You can repeat the same thing with a long self-test that takes anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending how large the drives are:

```
smartctl -t long /dev/sda
smartctl -t long /dev/sdb
```
Check the logs again. If the tests are not complete, then it will show a percentage remaining. Keep checking the logs until it shows that the extended tests have either finished or encountered an error:

```
smartctl -l sefltest /dev/sda
smartctl -l sefltest /dev/sdb
```
You can also check the SMART error logs:

```
smartctl -l error /dev/sda
 smartctl -l error /dev/sdb
```
If a drive reports an error during a self-test, then it's dying / dead, and you need to figure out how to safely back up your data and then replace the drive.


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

flan_suse said:


> You can always run a SMART self-test on the hard drives with the Ubuntu LiveCD. Boot into the Ubuntu LiveCD and install smartmontools:
> sudo apt-get install smartmontools


After I run the above aommand it downloaded some 3 tools, and showed the following message:

Postfix Configuration 
│ Please select the mail server configuration type that best meets your ↑ 
│ needs. 
│ 
│ No configuration: 
│ Should be chosen to leave the current configuration unchanged. 
│ Internet site: 
Mail is sent and received directly using SMTP. ▒ 
│ Internet with smarthost: ▒ 
│ Mail is received directly using SMTP or by running a utility such ▒ 
│ as fetchmail. Outgoing mail is sent using a smarthost. ▒ 
│ Satellite system: ▒ 
│ All mail is sent to another machine, called a 'smarthost', for ▒ 
│ delivery. ▒ 
│ Local only: ▒ 
│ The only delivered mail is the mail for local users. There is no ▮ 
│ network. ↓ 
│ 
│ <Ok>

Please tell me how to proceed further?

I am ready to install xp again if required but I want to recover the data on the other two partitions, is it possible?

One more important thing when I booted thru Ubuntu Live CD and when I checked with Disk utility it is showing all the partitions of my HD.


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## flan_suse (Apr 26, 2010)

Since it is a LiveCD, it does not really matter how you configure SMTP, etc. Just accept the default options.

If your LiveCD has internet-access, which it appears to have, you can also stay booted in the live session and use Firefox to access this forum and post your results. When you highlight something in the terminal, you can right-click and copy the text, which you can then paste as a reply in here.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

If a hard disk partition has a corrupt filing system, which could just be a small damage to the filing index, then the operating system would play safe and not to mount it as it does not know how to deal with an error if it gets one.

The partition boundaries are defined in the MBR so they can be showed up in Linux and any MS Windows "Disk Management". If unformatted partitions are visible so partitions with unmountable filing systems can also be displayed. The display does not guarantee the partition can be read.

In the current situation may be running "testdisk" from Linux will provide an in depth view of what can be done.


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

flan_suse said:


> Since it is a LiveCD, it does not really matter how you configure SMTP, etc. Just accept the default options.
> 
> If your LiveCD has internet-access, which it appears to have, you can also stay booted in the live session and use Firefox to access this forum and post your results. When you highlight something in the terminal, you can right-click and copy the text, which you can then paste as a reply in here.


There is nothing to click for accepting? All text only?
I have u/l the screenshot to rapidshare and link is :

http://rapidshare.com/files/397927330/s_shots.tar.gz.html


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

saikee said:


> In the current situation may be running "testdisk" from Linux will provide an in depth view of what can be done.


Please tell me how to run testdisk after booting from live cd?


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

To run testdisk with a Live CD

(1) Boot up a Ubuntu CD and select "try Ubuntu"

(2) Click "Application", then "Accessories" then "terminal" and obtain root privileges by type command

```
sudo su
```
(3) Download testdisk by terminal command

```
apt-get install testdisk
```
(4) When done run testdisk on device sda by command

```
testdisk /dev/sda
```
Testdisk gives a better chance because it work on the hard disk directly without mounting it and is the only software I know that can rebuild a filing system index.

If the partition information is critical you should clone the doggy disk into a back up before destroy its contents with a re-installation. The command "dd" is the command that will clone your data sector by sector. The cloned disk is still unbootable but at least you have something to go back to. Normal file-copying commands will not work because they need the partitions mounted first.

Good luck as you will need it!


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

saikee said:


> To run testdisk with a Live CD
> 
> (1) Boot up a Ubuntu CD and select "try Ubuntu"
> 
> ...


When I run the "apt-get install testdisk", the following information is displayed:

[email protected]:~$ sudo su
[email protected]:/home/ubuntu# apt-get install testdisk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree 
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package testdisk
[email protected]:/home/ubuntu#

Is there any alternative?


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

I am sorry not to mention this :
At the boot up, pc is still showing option to boot in to either win xp or Ubuntu.

Of course for either of these oses it is showing hal.dll error.


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## g.ramesh (May 8, 2003)

saikee said:


> If a hard disk partition has a corrupt filing system, which could just be a small damage to the filing index, then the operating system would play safe and not to mount it as it does not know how to deal with an error if it gets one.
> 
> The partition boundaries are defined in the MBR so they can be showed up in Linux and any MS Windows "Disk Management". If unformatted partitions are visible so partitions with unmountable filing systems can also be displayed. The display does not guarantee the partition can be read.
> 
> In the current situation may be running "testdisk" from Linux will provide an in depth view of what can be done.


Hi saikee
thanks a lot for your replies. I d/l testdisk and run it and also the screenshots at various stages u/l to rapidshare whose link is given below:

http://rapidshare.com/files/398299060/testdiskscreenshots.tar.gz.html

*At screenshot-7 I stopped. Please tell me what to do next?
*

The log file of testdisk is as given below:

Sun Jun 13 00:37:08 2010
Command line: TestDisk

TestDisk 6.11.3, Data Recovery Utility, May 2009
Christophe GRENIER <[email protected]>
http://www.cgsecurity.org
OS: Linux, kernel 2.6.32-21-generic (#32-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 16 08:10:02 UTC 2010)
Compiler: GCC 4.3 - May 6 2009 14:40:08
ext2fs lib: 1.41.4, ntfs lib: 10:0:0, reiserfs lib: 0.3.1-rc8, ewf lib: 20080501
/dev/sda: LBA, HPA, LBA48, DCO support
/dev/sda: size 625142448 sectors
/dev/sda: user_max 625142448 sectors
/dev/sda: native_max 4385456 sectors
/dev/sda: dco 625142448 sectors
Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/mapper/control - 0 B - CHS 1 1 1, sector size=512
/dev/sr0 is not an ATA disk
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63, sector size=512 - ATA SAMSUNG HD322HJ
Disk /dev/sr0 - 733 MB / 699 MiB - CHS 358117 1 1 (RO), sector size=2048 - HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N

Partition table type (auto): Intel
/dev/sda: Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) present.
Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - ATA SAMSUNG HD322HJ
Partition table type: Intel

Analyse Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
NTFS at 0/1/1
file_pread(4,4096,buffer,6291519(391/160/25)) read err: Partial read
file_pread(4,1,buffer,6291696(391/163/13)) read err: Input/output error
NTFS: Can't read MFT
NTFS at 10199/1/1
NTFS at 22947/1/1
file_pread(4,4096,buffer,374935074(23338/160/25)) read err: Partial read
file_pread(4,1,buffer,374935080(23338/160/31)) read err: Input/output error
NTFS: Can't read MFT
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=10
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=3
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=10
Current partition structure:
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 10198 254 63 163846872
2 E extended LBA 10199 0 1 38911 254 63 461274345
5 L HPFS - NTFS 10199 1 1 22946 254 63 204796557
X extended 22947 0 1 38911 254 63 256477725
6 L HPFS - NTFS 22947 1 1 38911 254 63 256477662
Failed to read $MFT: Input/output error.
Error reading $Mft record(s): Input/output error.
Ask the user for vista mode
Allow partial last cylinder : No
search_vista_part: 0

search_part()
Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63
NTFS at 0/1/1
filesystem size 163846872
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn  10240429
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
file_pread(4,4096,buffer,6291519(391/160/25)) read err: Partial read
file_pread(4,1,buffer,6291696(391/163/13)) read err: Input/output error
NTFS: Can't read MFT
HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 10198 254 63 163846872
NTFS, 83 GB / 78 GiB
NTFS at 10199/1/1
filesystem size 204796557
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 12799784
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
HPFS - NTFS 10199 1 1 22946 254 63 204796557
NTFS, 104 GB / 97 GiB
NTFS at 22947/1/1
filesystem size 256477662
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 16029853
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
file_pread(4,4096,buffer,374935074(23338/160/25)) read err: Partial read
file_pread(4,1,buffer,374935080(23338/160/31)) read err: Input/output error
NTFS: Can't read MFT
HPFS - NTFS 22947 1 1 38911 254 63 256477662
NTFS, 131 GB / 122 GiB
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=6
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=6

Results
* HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 10198 254 63 163846872
NTFS, 83 GB / 78 GiB
L HPFS - NTFS 10199 1 1 22946 254 63 204796557
NTFS, 104 GB / 97 GiB
L HPFS - NTFS 22947 1 1 38911 254 63 256477662
NTFS, 131 GB / 122 GiB
ntfs_device_testdisk_io_ioctl() unimplemented
file_pread(4,16,buffer,374935081(23338/160/32)) read err: Input/output error
ntfs_device_testdisk_io_ioctl() unimplemented
NTFS filesystem need to be repaired.

dir_partition inode=5
L HPFS - NTFS 22947 1 1 38911 254 63 256477662
NTFS, 131 GB / 122 GiB
ntfs_dir: ntfs_inode_open failed
Directory /

interface_write()
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 10198 254 63 163846872
2 E extended LBA 10199 0 1 38911 254 63 461274345
5 L HPFS - NTFS 10199 1 1 22946 254 63 204796557
6 L HPFS - NTFS 22947 1 1 38911 254 63 256477662
simulate write!

write_mbr_i386: starting...
write_all_log_i386: starting...
write_all_log_i386: CHS: 10199/0/1,lba=163846935
write_all_log_i386: CHS: 22947/0/1,lba=368643555

Interface Advanced
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
NTFS at 0/1/1
file_pread(4,4096,buffer,6291519(391/160/25)) read err: Partial read
file_pread(4,1,buffer,6291696(391/163/13)) read err: Input/output error
NTFS: Can't read MFT
NTFS at 10199/1/1
NTFS at 22947/1/1
file_pread(4,4096,buffer,374935074(23338/160/25)) read err: Partial read
file_pread(4,1,buffer,374935080(23338/160/31)) read err: Input/output error
NTFS: Can't read MFT
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=10
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=3
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=10
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 10198 254 63 163846872
NTFS, 83 GB / 78 GiB
2 E extended LBA 10199 0 1 38911 254 63 461274345
5 L HPFS - NTFS 10199 1 1 22946 254 63 204796557
NTFS, 104 GB / 97 GiB
X extended 22947 0 1 38911 254 63 256477725
6 L HPFS - NTFS 22947 1 1 38911 254 63 256477662
NTFS, 131 GB / 122 GiB

ntfs_boot_sector
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 10198 254 63 163846872
NTFS, 83 GB / 78 GiB
NTFS at 0/1/1
NTFS at 0/1/1
filesystem size 163846872
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 786432
mftmirr_lcn 10240429
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
Boot sector
Status: OK

Backup boot sector
Status: OK

Sectors are identical.

A valid NTFS Boot sector must be present in order to access
any data; even if the partition is not bootable.



> Good luck as you will need it!


Thanks I think I am getting lucky with this test!


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

If you run "testdisk /dev/sda" you can navigate various options of investigation and there might be offers to fix your problem.


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