Barry Watzman wrote:
> I think that is incorrect; I think that a clean install does NOT
> necessarily create a new MBR.
>
> You have some options when you do an install; you can use an existing
> partition (with either a "full" format or a "quick" format) or you can
> delete and/or create new partitions. But NONE of those actions replaces
> the MBR, which is a portion of the drive itself and not of any one
> particular partition (each partition has it's own boot record, but those
> are separate from the MASTER boot record). I don't know that ANY of the
> options when doing an install from an XP CD rewrites the master boot
> record, although several of them will rewrite the partition boot record.
>
> The only two ways that I know of to be sure that you get a new MBR are:
>
> 1. Run the old MS-DOS FDISK program using the /MBR option .... this
> explicitly rewrites the MBR
>
> 2. Run a program the blows away the MBR, which will leave the drive
> without an MBR, forcing it to be recreated to install any OS. The
> program that I use to do this is "ZAP", which was an IBM program that
> was, at one time, originally on the IBM (later Hitachi) web site, but it
> seems to have been removed. It writes binary 00's to the first several
> cylinders of the drive.
>
>
> BillW50 wrote:
>
>>
>> Yes a clean install does recreate a new MBR. But something could be
>> modifying it. As it seems to stick for awhile and then poof, right?
>>
>>> I reset the BIOS to its defaults at one point to make sure that wasn't
>>> the problem, but it made no difference.
>>
>> Most BIOS uses flash memory. And sometimes flash fails. Thus either
>> the settings won't stick very long or not at all. A weak RTC battery
>> can also cause similar symptoms, but it is rare it does.
>>
>> I just worked on an EeePC 702 that couldn't read the SSD (solid state
>> drive). And I couldn't flash the BIOS either. Pulled the SSD out and
>> popped a new one and everything worked again. I could even flash the
>> BIOS. Weird that the BIOS needs a working drive just to flash the
>> BIOS. Who would have guessed that one?
>>
>>> Considering that two drives (one old, one brand new) both behaved the
>>> same way, I too tend to suspect the IDE controller.
>>
>> Yup, you are probably right. Although I wouldn't write it off yet. ;-)
>>
Barry,

I tend to agree with you. And if memory serves, Compaq is (was) one of
those manufacturers which made a point of doing things differently with
regards to hard disks MBR, same as IBM with Thinkpads.

The symptoms the OP described appear to me as typical of HD failure and
I am not convinced what was attempted is enough to decide the IDE
controller is shot.

As you suggest, I would run first chkdsk /mbr on a new HD in that
machine before attempting a new install of Windows.

--
John Doue