Windows XP blew away my partition table again

Windows is the software equivalent of the Bush Administration: nothing but pure lies, evil intentions and a complete lack of integrity.

I had to spend another full day reinstalling XP and all of the software I had spent a week installing already. And because I didn't install Media Direct first, that's hosed now, too. Thanks, Dell, you shortsighted clods.

I know the hardware of my Vostro 1500 is pretty good. I've been using Windows in every incarnation since 3.0 (except WinME). It never ceases to amaze me how crappy it always is. Vista is no exception.

It really makes me appreciate the solidity of my six year old PowerBook, which has never crashed, never needed a reinstall, and always been robust, even after being dropped and banged up in transit.

Games are absolutely the only reason to run Windows. Unfortunately, that's what I want to do, and bought a good laptop for that. Too bad the OS sucks rocks.

/rant off

 

Please do not bypass the language filter in thread titles or posts. I'm editing the title of the thread, and please do not do that again. I'll leave the political comments alone, but be warned we do have an Off Topic political sub-forum so for that...so if this thread gets off topic I'll just move it.

Anyway, as for the original problem...
I've read a reference or two about people claiming that hitting the MD button without MD installed does hose the OS and partitions. I would blame that on Dell, not Microsoft...you sound like a fanboy when you post like that, and I do not think that is going to help you get replies from a Windows forum.

Good luck on the problem...and I can understand the rant. Sometimes you have to let the steam fly!

 

what's to reply?

he knows what to do and how to do it but he didn't. now he's finger-pointing.

 

Yes, you're both right, to a degree.

I'll cool it with the language, I get your point as a moderator.

I had no problems until XP self destructed, as is very usual and has been for years.

I didn't expect that an unaffected mediaDirect partition would fail to be recognizable. That's some weak design, in my opinion. Linux can see it, why can't 'Doze?

And, finally, sometimes "fanboys" as you call them, got that way through direct real-world experience. I've been supporting every OS in the typical Enterprise for over fifteen years, going back to SunOS 4.x, NEXTSTEP and early, early 'Doze. My prejudices and attitudes have been forged from many lost weekends trying to rebuild junk software on good hardware. It's disgusting to me that in 20007 we still have the same issues from a particular vendor that we had twenty years ago. Forgive me for having that long a memory.

Sorry, but not all comments on any OS can be 100% positive. While I recognize that my comments have a definite slant, the fact remains, OEM install bit me. I guess I should have blown it away and started fresh before trusting it. Perhaps this can encourage someone else to act accordingly and save my frustration.

 

Because, as said above, Dell screwed up.

So why aren't you blaming the OEM?

Windows has plenty of flaws on its own, without being blamed for buggy Dell software, or user errors while dealing with it.

 

While Windows XP have flaws as it is, blaming MS for Dells misstakes ain't right, just like Jalf said

 

That is actually your fault, but if you couldn't see that from the start, I won't bother explaining to you why.

 

If you've supported so many OS's how come you don't know how to use The Recovery Console?

It's the admin's best friend for fixing hosed MBRs.

 

Yeah, its nothing the recovery console couldn’t handle. You only had to repair the MBR.

 

Thanks for your comments. Surprisingly, they are all on target and apt.

I did try the recovery console first. Nada. The only windows instance recognized was the one on the E: DVD. had it been so simple, I wouldn't have posted.

Same thing with rebuilding the MBR.

You're right, that it is probably a combination of Dell's poor in-house deployment of Windows along with their build process and kruftware.

Windows itself is nothing to be proud of for robustness and functionality (47 day uptime limit, for example). And when Windows goes bad, it chafes at me like a proctologist wearing a loofah mitt.

I was just about ready to do a master backup on the installed system, too. MY fault for trusting, rather than building myself and knowing.

My fault, ultimately, for not just getting a MacBook Pro with Boot Camp for games. Anyway, the Vostro is working fine now, XP and Ubuntu (but no Media Direct).

 

Damn, I hope that isn't first-hand knowledge!

 

Why recovery console didn't work. You needed to go to the BIOS and set SATA to Comp and not AHCI.

That way the basic RC drivers can see the HDD. I have RC installed on a USB drive just for these kinds of situations.

Running Chkdsk /r, fixboot or fixmbr will fix 90% of these partition problems.

 

Thank you, tebore. That was very helpful information.

No, that proctologist comment wasn't from real-world experience. Just being hyperbolic, there.

I do want to get my Linux boot MBR reconfigured for both partitions, now. I haven't messed with it since I reinstalled XP.

 

Or worse, secondhand!

 

No problems at all with XP or Media Direct (although I seldom use it) in 1.5 years! If I were to re-install I'd probably drop MD altogether.

There's guides here. You need to install MD first!

 

Yeah, Media Direct is worthless.

I just dislike having that useless home button.

I didn't have my BIOS set to AHCI disk mode, BTW. It was ATA emulation.