Loading PBR for descriptor 1 - Bad PBR

Question

I need to wipe the entire hard drive on this brand new Dimension. Fdisk'd it. Trying to load Windows XP now and keep getting the error "Loading PBR for descriptor 1 Bad PBR". And it just halts there. My suspicion is that the bios is defaulted to look for one of the hidden partitions when it boots and is erroring out because its not there (since I fdisk'd everything). Can someone tell me how to bypass this so I can do a plain ole vanilla XP full install from my CD? Thanks.

This is a Dimension 3000 by the way. Bios level A02

Message Edited by hercules29 on 04-11-2005 12:23 PM

RoHe · Answer

Herc, Did you change the boot order in BIOS setup so that CD is first on the list? If you didn't, it's probably looking on the HD for a boot record that doesn't exist anymore. Ron

hercules29 · Answer

Yes and it still pops up with the same error. I even tried another cd drive just to make sure it wasn't a bad drive. There is a blue bar at the top of the screen that says www.dell.com and then under it says 'loading pbr for descriptor 1....done' then under it it says 'invalid system disk'. Which I assume is because it doesn't see an OS to load from.

RoHe · Answer

And the OS installation disk is in the CD drive when this happens? Ron

hercules29 · Answer

If it is not hard coded for the bios to act like this then I'm leaning towards either the bios being bad/corrupt or the IDE controller being bad.  I don't see why it should make a difference if I want to remove all partitions/create my own and then load my own OS.

hercules29 · Answer

Yes. And I have tried 3 XP OS (known good) cd's and get the same error. With two different cd drives. I'm thinking that the bios is telling it to look for one of the hidden partitions (restoral maybe?) that is not there any more because I fdisk'd all the partitions.  But I can't find any where in the bios where I can bypass this.

NVRambo · Answer

F12 and boot from the CD, select (clean install of Windows).

Whether or not partitions remain XP should recognize/ID them OR recognize the non-partitioned hard drive and identify the total space.

ALT+F BIOS or make sure the hard drive is seen before attempting the CD boot.....

hercules29 · Answer

Already tried that. It just passes over the cd like it is not even there and immediately tries to boot from the hard drive. Which of course has no OS so it gives the error. And I've tried different cd roms that are good and also known good xp os cds to no avail. I'm thinking it may have a bad IDE controller the more I think about it.

hercules29 · Answer

Yeh, I've already tried that too. No go. Probably because the partitions that it would be looking to reload from are deleted.

RoHe · Answer

When you see www.dell.com on screen, press Ctrl-F11 within 2 seconds. See if that gets you to a screen where you reinstall.

If that doesn't work, suggest you repost this on the XP forum for help...

Good luck!

Ron

hercules29 · Answer

Already tried that as well. Same error. Think I'm basically running out of options...

NVRambo · Answer

Try going into BIOS and disabling/turning off ALL drives other than the master (top) CD drive (if you have more than one). This, in effect, gives the system nothing to boot from BUT the CDROM/optical. If it will read/grab the CD at that point, let it run until it errors out (if it does at all.)

You can ALT+F all drive settings back to defaults if/when needed. The system is going to grab a boot record wherever it can find it. You're simply trying to give it only one choice.

RoHe · Answer

Are all the diagnostics LEDs on the back of the case green when you power on? If this system is under warranty, time to contact Dell about a new motherboard...

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 04-11-2005 05:07 PM

hercules29 · Answer

Yes they are. And yes I just got the machine. Working on getting it sent back now.

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Loading PBR for descriptor 1 - Bad PBR

Was this post helpful?