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Some operations with a hard disk, such as an error when installing an additional operating system, can damage the boot sector of the disk, thus preventing it from booting.

Follow these instructions to restore the MBR:

Insert the XP or Windows 2000 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and reboot the computer.

If the computer does not boot with the CD, then you will have to change the boot sequence in the PC’s BIOS setup so that the CD takes precedence over the hard disk.

While booting, the boot program on the CD detects any existing, bootable partitions on the hard disk, stops the boot process and only continues booting once a key has been pressed.

On the first screen of the Windows Setup program, select "R" and on the next screen, select "K" to run the Recovery Console.

Now, enter the following command

fixmbr

If, after re-starting, the hard disk is still not able to be booted, you can also re-create the boot sector in the first partition.

In order to do this, return to the Recovery Console and type in this command

fixboot c:

The following tip describes how you can accomplish the same thing by using a DOS diskette:

PC locks up at "Verifying DMI Pool Data..."

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Formatting your Hard Drive with FAT32

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