Quick question about windows partitions and why a computer won't boot

[kithen]

Hi everyone, I have created a problem and wanted to see what you guys think I can do to fix it. First off, here is the stats on the computer, which happens to be my father-in-laws:

Dell Dimension 8200 (Ugh)
Pentium 4 1.86
256 mb Ram
Windows XP SP 2

This computer I was working on has two partitions on its HDD, the C: Drive and the E: Drive. The C: Drive is 8 gigs large, where as the E: Drive is 120 gigs. I switched the active drive to the E: Drive in Windows. Later, I turned the computer off to re-arrange the desk area the computer is at. When I try to turn the computer back on, it won't boot now. I can get into BIOS and what not, but after that, nothing. I realize that the operating system is on Drive C, so my question is how do I boot from that partition instead of the active one, which is the E Drive. Also, how would I make it to where anything that is saved to the computer is saved automatically to the E: Drive. Thanks in advance to any replys.

[zekrahminator]

You, my friend, need to re-write the master boot record. You may even have to reinstall Windows.

In the future, a much smarter thing to do is to copy a partition over to the other drive, and expand it, which is easily done with Western Digital Data Lifegaurd tools. But more on that later. For now, I'll just tell you how to re-write the Master Boot Record.

Get yourself a Windows XP Home Service Pack 2 CD. Put it in the CD drive, go into BIOS, and tell the computer to boot off the CD drive before the hard drive. Reboot. You will then be prompted to "press any key to boot onto CD". Press a key on your keyboard to boot into the Windows CD. Now, wait about five minutes for the Windows CD to load properly. Press "R" when it is fully loaded to get into repair console. It will display a long list of Windows partitions. If there is only one, press the number 1. Otherwise, choose the proper Windows partition and press the corresponding number on the keyboard. It will then prompt you for a password. If there is no password, leave the field blank. If there is a password for the administrator account, type it in and press enter.

Then, you will see a black and white screen. This interface is called "command line". Type in the command "fixmbr", and then type in "fixboot". Type "exit", and hope it did the job. If it didn't try a different Windows installation to apply this fix to. If it still doesn't work, ask me about reinstalling Windows without destroying everything.

[kithen]

Ouch, I was hopeing for something a bit better, but if thats what must be done, so be it. I appreciate the info Zekrah, if I need to re-install without destroying everything, I will deffinatly send you a PM. Thanks again.

[zekrahminator]

Quick note...when I say "leave this field blank" "type in this command" and "type in this other command", you need to press enter after each command. If you just type in "fixmbr fixboot exit" and wait for it to do something, you're going to be awfully disappointed :p.

Just a quick FYI, as I don't think you've been in Command Line before lol.

[kithen]

Lol, I have been in command line, its just been about 15 years since then.