If you prefer to make selected repairs manually, the following sections will show you what is involved. Use Dsrfix as illustrated earlier to get an idea what needs to be fixed. Then follow the appropriate sections below.
These instructions make use of the following utilities, though you may use any suitable alternatives if you prefer. I've chosen to illustrate with these particular tools because they are free and available to anyone.
- MBR Saver (mbrsaver.com)
- My utility to save and restore your MBR sector is bundled with my Dsrfix, which you can download from www.goodells.net/dell/restore/files/dsrfix.zip.
- PowerQuest Partition Table Editor (ptedit.exe)
- Download from ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/.
- PTS Disk Editor (de.exe)
- Download from http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/tool/de/PTS-DE.htm.
WARNING:
The following procedures involve directly altering sectors on
your hard disk. Improper changes can render all data on your hard disk
inaccessible. Have current backups of your data, make sure you know what
you are doing, work carefully, and proceed at your own risk!
Restoring Dell's MBR boot code
Fixing PBR descriptor Alerts
Fixing PBR label Alerts
Refreshing the reference partition table
