Philosophaie

Is there a memory address written to the BIOS Flash of the hard drive's Master Boot Record location in the first 256kB of that hard drive every time a hard drive is erased and a new operating system is added?

raptor_pa

You are taliking about a couple of different things, nothing is written to the BIOS area of the drive by anything the user can do in normal operation, it takes special hardware and software to access that area of the disk. Not sure what you mean by a memory address, every drive has a Partition table, ( the format of the p-table varies based on what File system/OS is used ) What data are you looking for?

Philosophaie

Bios accesses the master boot record directly from boot and the flash is only for the BIOS program and nothing else. Are the master boot record and the partition table one and the same?

raptor_pa

Partition table is in the master boot record. I'm a bit confused about your first question tho, there is a flash ROM and the equivalent of BIOS code on the drive as well as the PC motherboard.

Philosophaie

Does the master boot record store all of the wipes and additions of all activity on the hard drive Windows and Linux? If so can it get full to not be able to any more additions?

raptor_pa

No it doesn't store any history - in fact if you delete the partition, the MBR is also erased and recreated

Philosophaie

Could a Linux grub get embeded into the MBR and not be erased?

raptor_pa

The MBR in Linux is different and not recognized by Windows - so yeah it could unless you deleted the partition. Are your questions hypothetical or do you have an issue with a practical example?

Philosophaie

There were many different Linux distros with a Grub bootloader with many Linux partitions including the main previously put on my computer. It was reformatted and windows was put as the only partition. It ran great for about a year. Then there was a grub error. The last action before a rebooting was working in DOS. That may have triggered the Grub error.

tom7343

Hello Phil;

How about using "wikipedia" and search;
"bios"
"bios flash"
"mbr"
"grub"

Again, If can you boot and look in your Computer Management for "System Log" for errors.

Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Computer Management (You can RIGHT click and create a shortcut on Desk Top. To open with a click for there is a wealth of information in here.)

In Computer Management you will see "Device Manager"

As well as "System Log" and look for Errors.

Well, assuming your booting into your system you can cut right to the chase and RIGHT click on any errors you see and GOOGLE it..Thats right. If you Collapse Computer management while in Log/Device and go back and forth to Google you can search any error for there is a wealth of information right at your fingertips.

Now..If you begin having too much fun you can go on to "Software Log" and straighten out any errors there.

Don't give up for you may not fix everything..But, some times you learn stuff you didn't think you could.

Also with a Dual Boot (XP\Linux) as Grub is the MBR and love it.

Have fun.
tom

tom7343

Phil

OOPS..Looking at your last post you mentioned that the last operation before booting was in DOS.

Please answer this question..."Before Rebooting was last operation was in DOS".

Was the computer doing a file check and taking a long time with a blue screen before Rebooting?

If so, that is healthy...Make it do it again.
Open "My Computer" > RIGHT click on Drive (C:) an down to "Properties" > "Tools" from the top menu
Now without sounding to sarcastic ..These are the only valuable tools that MS has to offer.
Remember to use these tools often.
When you click on "Error Checking" CHECK NOW a window will open and CHECK both boxes..Message will say that you can't do it now. Would you like to schedule at reboot....Yes

Wait..There is more...While your here Run the "Disk Defragmenter" at least 2-4 times before shutting down.
Now if your cleaver enough to create a short cut to this tool and have on desktop for the more you run it the healthier it becomes.

When you reboot computer will go through a Check of files and take a while, so be patient. Just as Defragment takes time you need to find something else to do that is as much fun.
tom

One last hint..Having had the same problem before with MBR was able to boot WinXP with a Linux Disk...Kinda a secret that MS does not talk about..Dont' forget to use your XP Disk if Booting problems. Find a Linux that you would like and install it right beside XP ..I am using Linux now and most of the time.
Good luck
tom