Well, I ran chkdsk /f and then tried to resize my partition. Now I am really in trouble! When Partition Magic rebooted and started resizing, it completed 1 of 3 operations, briefly gave an error number (that was to quick for me to catch), rebooted to a screen that gave several boot options (safe mode with network, safe mode with command prompt, safe mode, last usable configuration, and normal,). When I try to boot to any of these, I get the WindowsXP splash screen, with the blue line thing moving across, it acts like its trying to boot, and then, it restarts and I am back to the screen with the boot options. This is not good!
 
My best guess at this point, is to run a linux live cd, use gparted to finish the partition job, install a linux system that has a grub bootloader, and see if it will boot then. I suspect the problem is in XP's mbr, but I am not sure.
 
Am I on the right track? Any thoughts?
 
Thanks
Justbill

From your second post, I assume that you found the Powerquest article on the subject. This does not look good.
 
I also assume that because you have a recovery partition, then you have a Compaq, HP or Gateway system?
 
Do you have a set of PartitionMagic floppy disks, or were you running PartitionMagic in Windows only?
 
What concerns me, is the small "unallocated" space between the NTFS partition and the recovery partition.

Hi danleff!
 
Yes, this is a Compaq. This is the first time I have had this sort of problem with a partitioning project.
 
No I don't have the floppy's, I was running Partition Magic in windows.
 
Yeah the unallocated space seemed weird to me also.
 
Also, sorry I forgot to give the thread a title. I don't know where my mind was.
 
I have a thread running over at nt compatible on this also (looking for all the help I can get, to get xp back for these people). Here is a link to it
 
http://www.ntcompatible.com/Error_1655_while_partitioning_t34961.html
 
If I have to, I can always try to make use of the recovery partition, when the computer starts it doesn't tell me which f key is system recovery, but, there are only 12, so trial and error is not out of the question. I just didn't want to see them have to start from scratch.
 
whats really a mystery to me is why it did this. I have used Partition Magic, without incident many times. I have never encountered this sort of problem!
 
Someone over at nt compatible suggested Winternals ERD Commander. I find myself encountering more and more windows problems (on friends computers), so that software may be worth looking at.
 
Thanks
Justbill

Has anyone ever used "Winternal's Administrator's Pak ? I downloaded it to my Ubuntu desktop, it is a .zip file, I extracted it on the desktop, and tried to burn it. It is supposed to be an ISO image. I opened the folder and found a folder called CD1, which was the only folder that would burn as an ISO image. When I tried to boot it at restart, it wouldn't boot the disc. I know the boot order is correct because I can boot ANY Linux live CD. So I guess I am doing something wrong here.
 
This Administrators Pak is supposed to be a tool to repair MS windows sytems.
 
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Justbill

Looks like you already got an answer on NT Compatible? You found out that the program is run in Windows and then has a wizard to extract an ISO to burn?
 
I use ERD Commander at work all the time. Very good for my needs. How much did Microsoft bump you for this program? Yes, if you did not see it in the title, the firm that makes this program is a division of Microsoft.

I bought a download from this place
 
http://www.mainstoreonline.com/index.php
 
Its called Cheap Soft at a low price. It cost $30.00 But so far I have not had ANY luck. I guess I don't understand the answer I got.
I was going to copy the last couple of posts, and paste them here, but it is to much. If you dont mind, could you take a look over at NT Compatible, at this thread again, and see if you could maybe tell me where I have gone wrong here. I really don't use MS anymore at all, so I get a little confused when I have to boot XP and try to do this stuff. Was I supposed to install this on my XP, or just copy the cd1.bin & cd1.cue , and burn them as an image? This whole thing is turning into one big mess, reminds me why I hate MS windows so much! A budy of mine messed up his Suse install. All I had to do is run a couple of commands and do a rebuild tree, and boom he was back up and running.
 
Thanks a bunch for any help
Justbill

If the version of the Administrator pak is version 5, you need an activation key. This is provided by the manufacturer. If you did not get one with your purchase, then you most likely bought it from a "bootleg" site.
 
The software is designed to be installed on a Win XP machine. When you unzip the package, you should get a folder with the program files in it (non-CD version).
 
You probably (I am guessing) have a setup or exe file that installs the software on the system.
 
Once the software is on the system, you should have a menu for the program, with an option to create a bootable CD image.
 
You then can make a bootable CD, by burning the iso image to a cd. You can't use the Win XP utility for this, as it just creates a data CD, not a CD from image (bootable CD). So, this is why you needed Nero or another utility to burn the iso image to a CD - "burn as image." Looks like you got this far, but with Linux (k3b). I believe this is what the cue and bin files are for, so the program can create the iso file to burn.
 
If you can't see the "C" drive and the "D" drive is your recovery partition, then I assume that this is a result of the partition problem you have (where the NTFS partition was screwed up when you tried PartitionMagic and it failed to complete), or a result of how you tried to burn the bootable CD disk without installing the program first on an XP machine, then use the CD wizard to make a proper iso image. These are just guesses on my part.
 
As you probably guessed, the inode errors were when the Linux Live CD tried to read the NTFS partition. What Live CD did you try to use?
 
BTW, I asked about the floppy PartitionMagic disks, as this program offers to make a set of bootable floppies that mirror the partitions on the system and can attempt a recovery, using a DOS version of PartitionMagic. This is helpful to have when you have a situation like this. It should be an option under Start-->Programs-->Powerquest...-->PartitionMagic Tools--> Create a rescue disk.

I was using the "freespire" live CD. More specifically gparted.
 
I guess that was just a waste of money then, buying ERD Commander from that site? I mean, it did boot, after I burned the .bin &.cue files. I guess there is something to this that I just don't understand. If you think it will help, I will install it on my XP partition, and get something (nero) to burn it with. I do have a username, that is a number, that they assigned me. I wonder if that could be the activation key?
 
I usually make the floppy rescue discs, but that particular day, I didn't have any floppy's, I have NEVER had a problem like this before with Partition Magic, so guess what I didn't do :-(
 
I'll give it a try installing it on XP this evening, I'm really not sure how to do that, but, maybe there will be an autorun or something.
 
Thanks for all the help
Justbill

A free utility that you can use to burn the iso image, is BurnCDCC. I suggest that you also try to burn the iso image at a slow speed, as ISO images like to be burned at 4 or 8X, not the top speed that the burner is capable of.
 
I'm not sure how the files extract (what files are created) when you unzip the zipped file, but there should be either a setup file, or exe file to start the installation. The directions on the Winternals site really speak to the CD version, but the documentation is located here.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, on Gods green earth, SUCKS, as much as M$ Windows!
 
That said, thanks for all the help!
 
I finally did get the CD image on my xp (capitol letters left out intentionally) partition, and it burned an iso image succesfully (using BurnCDCC). But alas the tool did not work on there machine. The disc booted fine, but it did not see an operating system on the 54GB ntfs (capitol letters left out intentionally) partition. Amazing, because gparted saw it (the ntfs partition) with no problem. Proprietary operating systems, you can't live with them, but you can wipe the drive!
 
We have given up on winxp (capitol letters left out intentionally), and have wiped the drive, and have opted for either "Freespire" or "Ubuntu Dapper".
I am leaning towards "Freespire" initially for them, simply because it looks and feels a lot like a proprietary operating system that we are all familiar with, with out all the crappy proprietary crap (wow, did I say that).
 
The one thing these friends of mine do enjoy, is downloading music from the internet. Oviously, a lot of the programs for this are written for ms windows (capitol letters left out intentionally), and some Disney movies for there son. I have never been much on the music downloads, or movies, for that matter. Does any one have a suggestion for an open source solution for this. I am sure there must be some, but I am looking for something easy to use for them (I'll take care of the installation).
 
Danleff, thanks for all the help! Hey for a little irony here in this whole thing, if you remember back when I first joined this forum, I was whining and crying about how to get FC3 off my machine, so I could put ms windows (capitol letters left out intentionally) back on my machine. Now, I want nothing to do with ms (capitol letters left out intentionally).
 
Again, Thanks for the help!
Justbill