MBR Problem when booting vista

Ok, I'm pretty sure I have MBR problem
I had it when I used Windows Xp but it wasnt serious as now.
The MBR problem with xp was that every time i booted xp
i had a black screen for 30-60secs
and then xp start to boot.

Now i formatted C: drive (XP)
and installed vista, now i have black screen when booting vista and its stuck like that...
I tried to use fixmbr with xp cd(Restore Console) but windows xp isnt installed so it didnt work with the vista installation(It asks for Administrator password, so i gave vista password and it did restart)..
Any suggestions what to do to fix that problem?
thanks:)

(It asks for Administrator password, so i gave vista password and it did restart)..
I try to run recovery console again and it didnt restart, I tried to put [NULL](Empty) password and it didnt work and i didnt define a password for vista :/
what is the default password?

You might want to start over from scratch.  Running fixmbr from XP on Vista isn't a good idea IMO.

Boot the Vista disk, and on the screen where it says "Install Now", click Repair Computer, or sumptin like that, select ur Vista installation, and click Command Prompt

@ the prompt type:

BootRec /fixmbr
BootRec /fixboot

these are the equivalents to the fixmbr and fixboot cmds in XP Recovery Environment, and work for me whenever I have boot issues... 

ok i'll try that thanks.
but do u agree the problem is the MBR?

Seems possible...

maybe sumptin's left over from xp bootloader... I had similar symptoms when I replaces GRUB (which replaces Vista bootloader, in the first place), with Vista Boot manager (though I'd vary my phrasing... xD)

anyway let me know if it works!  i'll be rootin' for ya!

Hey i had GRUB problems too, i think the problems started from then(black screen)

BTW I did what u told me to..

Still black screen :/

Hmm... that's suckish!  *Thinks... screams to self: 'damnit u can do this... use that AP/Honors student mind  I'm gonna bitchslap myself, shitbag!'* xD

Um... did it say successful or whatever after you entered the command?  Oh... *brain springs to life!* is the Vista partition active???

If not, go to the Vista disk command line, type:

diskpart
select disk x (using x=whatever disk ur vista partition is on; they start @ 0)
select partition y (using y=whatever partition vidsta is on; they start @ 1)
active

then reboot, and try the BootRec / fix* stuff again

Yo dood... where ya be?  Need a reply!

LOL ur one funny guy, thx for helping me btw:)
Yea it said something like command successful..
I think the partition is active...
but i'll try activate it anyway:
DiskPart marked the current partition as active.
I got missing Operation System when booting from hardisk
Trying booting from cd... to fixmbr/boot(takes 15min to boot/load files from cd, green things moving and microsoft corporation at the bottom takes like 8min untill I see the color background) its just me?

Now I think I disabled the partition cause i cant see it when i need to select in the repair thingy

BootRec /fixmbr
The operation completed successfully.
BootRec /fixboot
The volume does not contain a recognized file system.
Please make sure that all required file system drives are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

Im leaving it like that and not restarting..

i have to go to sleep
gn
if you know how to solve this issue reply:)

You have a problem with whole HDD, not just MBR.

Do you have a RAID?

BlackTiger wrote:

You have a problem with whole HDD, not just MBR.

Do you have a RAID?

Agreed it should be hardware/setting problem. I had one WD160 IDE HDD that have similar problem you observed, because it's "cable select" mode doesn't like being the only drive on the IDE cable. Removing the jumper (making it to be slave) and it works normal again.

Btw, is that an IDE or SATA HDD?

IDE

So i need to make it slave by playing with the jumpers, i'll try that thanks.

I Still have missing operation system...
I dont know what RAID is.
So i cant be sure..

What is your motherboard? ASUS? M2R32-MVP?


I had quite funny (and weird) experience with my new motherboard ASUS M2R32-MVP. This piece of hardware has strange BIOS settings. It called as some sort of "HDD order", I don't remember properly.


This setting configures systems with IDE+SATA HDDs in same time and sets device order. My Vista was unable to boot with some "incorrect" that setting's value. I've just found a working value.

I tried to reinstall windows and when I had gotten to the part I need to choose partition then I didnt see the drive(The one that I changed to slave)

This is Motherboard that came with DELL Comp
DELL Computer: Optiplex 170L Series