Dual boot fiasco, again.:(

[showtime586]

After finally working out the bugs on my 98/XP dual boot, my son downloads a music file from Winmx and gets a bunch of spyware and a message that says my MBR has been changed.
Now, I no longer get a bootloader option screen and cannot access XP. Why would adware/spyware want to alter my MBR and can I get it back without having to do a XP install?..Thanks in advance for any help.

[Yawgm0th]

That would be a virus, not spyware. By definition, if it does something so harsh as to destroy your MBR it's a virus. Would I be right to assume you can't access 98 (you only said you couldn't access XP)?
You can try using the repair features of the XP CD, but I have never used them (and most likely never will), so someone else will have to help you there.

[calcrazy]

From what I can remember of having to fix my MBR in XP after something went wrong with a Linux drive...

1) Boot into the console repair mode
2) Log in to the administrator profile
3) Type "fixmbr"

If I am wrong on the exact command, I hope someone will correct me but I did thing that was it.

[minibubba]

you can also boot off a floppy with fdisk and use:
[code:1:468ba7b064]fdisk /mbr[/code:1:468ba7b064]

[mad_alfred]

if you've got a maxtor hd... well... you can use maxblast 3 which you can download at maxtor.com ( once you enter the program you can restore the mrb boot code ) .... or use a bootloader like bootmagic or stuff next time...

[showtime586]

Thanks for the replies. I cannot access anything other than 98.
The bootloader screen that use to ask me whick os to use is no longer showing up during the boot sequence. I was told (by a co-worker) that in all likelyhood, fdisk/MBR would delete my bootloader screen, assuming it is still present. Is he correct?
My XP redises on a different hard drive than 98 does, but I cannot get to the desktop at all in XP.

[Yawgm0th]

Oh.... I misunderstood. That's not really your boot loader. It's just an output form of it that occurs when you have two Windows OSs on. Somehow, XP was removed from it. Make sure you can see hidden files, and go to C:\boot.ini and open it with notepad. Post the contents and we'll tell you how to edit it. Either that, or someone with a link explaining what to do (saving me the trouble :wink: ) will post (I remember someone posting it a few times).

[asklepios]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q289022

[showtime586]

boot.ini from the "C" prompt yields a "Bad command or file name" message.
Using the search option in Windows98 turns up nothing. I'm guessing it has been deleted?

[Yawgm0th]

I doubt it, but you could just recreate it anyway.

Open up notepad. From there, go to open. For file name, type in "C:Boot.ini" (with no quotes). Click open.

[showtime586]

Notepad yields a "File not found, verify file name is correct" error message.
I tried the fdisk/mbr that was suggested, could that have deleted it like my co-worker said it might?
Also, I cannot access the xp desktop from the xp windows folder which is located on a different hard drive than is 98. Is this normal? Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

[#Hashx#]

Last time I downloaded something from an Mp3 site that claimed to be free the virus that exploited Microsofts Virutal machine tried hopping aboard my comp. only to be Owned by Norton antivirus.

No, none of this is normal and sounds Like Virus activity as mentioned above. Unless someone you know at work could get you a set of 10 Norton floppy rescue disks(Also called Rescue disk and it makes 10 floppy disk 1st one is bootable others are for editing harddrive info like the mbr in the event of somthing like this happending and Virus defintions for scanning) to find this virus and destroy it, any changes you will make will most likely be undone by the Macro/Virus.

I'm not sure if any other Virus scanners have this feature.

Just to clairify you do not need a virus scanner to use these floppy disks(Rescue disk set) you just simply uses them like any other dos based utility.

You can always reformat and Start from scratch , however when you do get this Problem fixed, which ever way that is, make sure you Have a Virus scanner running with updated defintions espically when downloading files from any source you don't trust, sadly in some cases trusted sites have these problems too.

Hope this problem dosen't cause too much headache

[Yawgm0th]

I doubt it, but you could just recreate it anyway.

Just recreate the boot.ini file. In notepad, change the file type to all files when saving and name it boot.ini.

As #Hashx# mentioned, it is possible that any virus you had could do more damage. Try a Symantec online scan, here. Scroll down and click "Security Scan" to do so.

After doing this, your boot loader is likely to be back to normal. Obviously it still exists (you couldn't boot into 98 otherwise, XP overwrites the 98 boot loader), it just doesn't have the proper configuration to boot into XP. It is possible that there is something wrong with your XP install anyway, in which case it just won't work. But it's worth a shot if you don't want to reinstall XP.

[showtime586]

"Just recreate the boot.ini file. In notepad, change the file type to all files when saving and name it boot.ini."

I edited the file once in XP (because it had two 98's on it after a botched re-install) But I cannot remember the contents of the file, and creating it from scratch is beyond my abilities. I guess I will be better off just re-installing XP and let it create it for me.
If the boot.ini file is still present, I simply cannot find it anywhere.

[showtime586]

I went ahead and did a xp re-install. I got to a screen that said a version of xp was already installed and did I want to repair it? I clicked yes and everything came back with one notable exception. I now have a "set-up" option on my bootloader screen. Why, I do not know.
Can I simply edit what I have in brackets and remove this option?...Thanks

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
[C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup"}
C:\="Microsoft Windows"