22 replies to this topic

[Earthling]

I cleared my HDD and reinstalled Win 7 Ult x86 from scratch, so I got the 100MB system reserved partition as well as the Windows partition. During installation I took a system image with the Win 7 native imaging system and another one with Acronis.  Then I installed Grub4DOS to the MBR, no problem.  When I tried to do a test restore from the pre-Grub4DOS system image the system failed to boot and that is the subject of a thread elsewhere.  Undeterred I restored my Acronis pre-Grub4DOS image and that booted normally and I proceeded to install Grub4DOS for a second time.  Then I got this error -

 

Invalid partition table.  If you still want to install use the --skip-mbr-test

 

The Acronis image should of course have put the system partitions back in exactly the same state they were in at the time the image was created and we know the MBR was OK then.

 

At some point, and I'm not sure whether this was before the first install of Grub4DOS or afterwards, I shrank the Windows partition and created one other primary (intended for Win 8) and an extended logical partition for data.  I used Minitool Partition Wizard 8 for these operations as Disk Management could not achieve the shrinkage I needed.

 

I have deep checked the disk with SeaTools and no issues at all and apart frrom this error there are no indications at all of anything being amiss.  I could use EasyBCD for dual booting and ISO booting but would rather use Grub4DOS as I have done for years.  Any thoughts?

 

 

[steve6375]

So what does the MBR sector look like after the Acronis restore?

Run RMPrepUSB, hit Ctrl+F5 to show the internal HDD and select it, then click Drive Info - 0 and post results.

[Earthling]

I've done that but apart from getting a red warning that I've selected a large capacity storage device - it's 320GB - I'm not sure what to do next.  I do see a button though inviting me to install Grub4DOS and I'm tempted to hit it.

Edited by Earthling, 02 February 2014 - 08:34 PM.

[steve6375]

So what does the MBR sector look like after the Acronis restore?

Run RMPrepUSB, hit Ctrl+F5 to show the internal HDD and select it, then click Drive Info - 0 and post results.

 

Drive Info button ???

[Earthling]

Sorry, yes I have pressed that  but it doesn't appear to do anything

[steve6375]

Highlight the 320GB drive in the drive selection box first?

[Earthling]

Yes, it's highlighted

[steve6375]

So you press Drive Info button and absolutely nothing happens? No pop-up box, nothing?

[Earthling]

OK got it

 

COMMAND LINE: DRIVE=0 USBINFO USBSTART=0 ALLDRIVES SURE

RMPARTUSB v2.1.716 ©2013 RM Education plc [SSi]
=================================================

Accessing Drive 0 - "ST332082 0AS" (320,072,933,376 bytes)

Sector at LBA 0

============= SECTOR DATA ================


[Sector 0]  0MB
0000 FA 33 C0 8E D0 BC 00 7C - 8B F4 50 07 50 1F FB FC  ú3ÀŽÐ¼.| ‹ôP.Pûü
0010 BF 00 06 B9 00 01 F2 A5 - EA 1D 06 00 00 BE BE 07  ¿..¹..ò¥ ê...¾¾.
0020 B3 04 80 3C 80 74 0E 80 - 3C 00 75 1C 83 C6 10 FE  ³.€<€t€ <.uƒÆþ
0030 CB 75 EF CD 18 8B 14 8B - 4C 02 8B EE 83 C6 10 FE  ËuïÍ‹‹ L.‹îƒÆþ
0040 CB 74 1A 80 3C 00 74 F4 - BE F8 06 AC 3C 00 74 0B  Ët€<.tô ¾ø.¬<.t.
0050 56 BB 07 00 B4 0E CD 10 - 5E EB F0 EB FE BF 05 00  V»..´Í ^ëðëþ¿..
0060 60 6A 00 6A 00 FF 76 0A - FF 76 08 6A 00 68 00 7C  `j.j.ÿv. ÿv.j.h.|
0070 6A 01 6A 10 B4 42 B2 80 - 8B F4 CD 13 61 61 73 0C  j.j´B²€ ‹ôÍaas.
0080 33 C0 CD 13 4F 75 D9 BE - F8 06 EB BF BE F8 06 BF  3ÀÍOuÙ¾ ø.뿾ø.¿
0090 FE 7D 81 3D 55 AA 75 B3 - BF 52 7C 81 3D 46 41 75  þ}=Uªu³ ¿R|=FAu
00A0 07 47 47 80 3D 54 74 11 - BF 03 7C 81 3D 4E 54 75  .GG€=Tt ¿.|=NTu
00B0 40 47 47 81 3D 46 53 75 - 38 60 B4 08 B2 80 CD 13  @GG=FSu 8`´.²€Í
00C0 BF 1A 7C FE C6 8A D6 32 - F6 89 15 4F 4F 83 E1 3F  ¿|þÆŠÖ2 ö‰OOƒá?
00D0 89 0D 61 60 6A 00 6A 00 - FF 76 0A FF 76 08 6A 00  ‰.a`j.j. ÿv.ÿv.j.
00E0 68 00 7C 6A 01 6A 10 B4 - 43 B2 80 8B F4 CD 13 61  h.|j.j´ C²€‹ôÍa
00F0 61 8B F5 EA 00 7C 00 00 - 45 72 72 6F 72 21 00 44  a‹õê.|.. Error!.D
0100 32 31 30 41 36 31 35 2D - 41 43 46 44 2D 34 31 34  210A615- ACFD-414
0110 61 2D 42 44 46 31 2D 46 - 43 39 46 32 41 38 35 46  a-BDF1-F C9F2A85F
0120 30 37 36 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  076..... ........
0130 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
0140 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
0150 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
0160 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
0170 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
0180 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
0190 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
01A0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
01B0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 1A 17 42 6C 00 00 80 20  ........ Bl..€
01C0 21 00 07 EF FF FF 00 08 - 00 00 00 20 03 00 00 A3  !..ïÿÿ.. ... ...£
01D0 14 0D 07 EF FF FF 00 28 - 03 00 00 08 80 07 00 EF  ..ïÿÿ.( ....€..ï
01E0 FF FF 17 EF FF FF 00 38 - 83 07 00 A8 82 07 00 9E  ÿÿïÿÿ.8 ƒ..¨‚..ž
01F0 D0 FF 05 EF FF FF C1 E7 - 05 0F 3F E8 3C 16 55 AA  Ðÿ.ïÿÿÁç .?è<Uª
 

[steve6375]

shows

07 NTFS Primary

07 NTFS Primary

17 Hidden NTFS Primary

05 Old fashioned DOS extended partition ???!!!!!

 

This should be listed at the bottom of the output. So does that look the same as the original disk?

[Earthling]

Not sure what you mean - I haven't changed any disks.

[Earthling]

Partitions look right though, two primaries for 7, one hidden primary for 8 and an extended partition.

[steve6375]

original disk = disk contents you started with

restored disk = disk contents now after restore

 

The 05 partition is very odd - it is used by DOS and is only for 8GB or smaller disks!

[steve6375]

You can try the install grub4dos button...

If it doesn't work I would change the 05 ID to 0F.

[Earthling]

What is actually there in the 05 are three logical drives in an extended logical partition totalling 177GB, but they aren't showing up.

[steve6375]

Aren't showing up - in what app???

[steve6375]

I have deep checked the disk with SeaTools and no issues at all and apart frrom this error there are no indications at all of anything being amiss.

So this statement was incorrect? There are missing logical partitions?

[Earthling]

I simply meant not showing in the table.  But it says Grub4DOS has been installed to MBR so I'll reboot and see.  Let you know.

[Earthling]

Grub4DOS rules!  Thanks Steve, can't see I would have cracked this without your software and help.  I will take a much closer look at it now.

[steve6375]

Are the logical partitions still missing?

 

You can use DISKPART to change the ID from 05 to 0F

 

Admin command prompt

DISKPART

sel disk 0

lis par

sel par x                   - x = the 05 ptn

lis par                       - check 05 ptn selected

set ID=0F

lis par

exit

 

be careful!

[Earthling]

The drive info looks the same at the bottom.  My partitions are all showing up in Computer and in Disk Management so no user issues at all now.  What would I gain from doing as you suggest, and is there any risk of data loss?  I have a lot of stuff in those logical drives.

[steve6375]

There is always risk. I would leave it alone if it is working.

[Earthling]

Thanks Steve