Seriously! Why Does my MBR keep corrupting?

[Jeff Mottle]

For the 3rd time in 3 months my MBR has corrupted and Windows will not boot. Fortunately today I was able to fix it from the command line in windows 7 repair mode. Has anyone else ever run into this. The only thing I can think is that these new SSDs are not saving data to disk sometimes when windows is restarted.

[F J]

hey Jeff,

r u using dual-boot OS's by any chance?

[bev.lynn]

Jeff,

I am having a similar problem with my laptop. I thought it was because my laptop is about 4 years old and maybe there are some underlying hardware issues. The MBR gets corrupted about once a week.

 

But after installing Windows 7 on my 2 year old desktop, the same thing happened. Only once in two months though. Let me know if you find out anything. By the way, what do you mean by SSDs? Forgive my ignorance!

[Jeff Mottle]

I guess that rules out the SSD (Solid State Harddrives) then if you are not using them.

 

I am running Windows 7 (no dual boots) and have never had those issues before with any other OS.

 

I wonder maybe if it's related to how the OS hibernates (given you are on a laptop) and does not recover properly. I should maybe disable all hibernation settings and see if that could be it. I know windows 7 hibernates a lot better than XP did.

[bev.lynn]

I thought it might be caused by hibernation, so I turned it off on my laptop. That did not do it for me. I have noticed it sometimes happens when my anti-virus software is running in the background. I was wondering if it was Norton screwing with something.

[Jeff Mottle]

Hmm, I am running Sophos Anti-Virus, but it's set not to do anything to infected files so that I can manually address them, so technically that should not be it on my end anyway.

 

One thing you might want to consider doing is getting an app like Acronis True Image (that's what I use) and making a mirror backup of your OS harddrive. If you are ever not able to recover the MBR, at least you can recover an image and not need to re-install everything. I create a new image of my drive several times a week. I've not had to use it yet, but I've had drives fail in the past where I wish I had. Not a solution for our problem, but at least a safety net.

[ihabkal]

I thought it might be caused by hibernation, so I turned it off on my laptop. That did not do it for me. I have noticed it sometimes happens when my anti-virus software is running in the background. I was wondering if it was Norton screwing with something.

 

Norton screws everything. I use avast, their home version is free.

I repeat, I hate Norton products.

[bev.lynn]

I actually made a mirror backup of my hard drive and use it to recover my system. This has been very frustrating because I don't know when it will happen. I am so tempted to scrap windows 7 and go back to XP (on laptop).

 

I never had a problem before I installed Windows 7 with Norton. I was lured by the thought of improved performance.

[Tommy L]

I have no problems with w7 booting from a SSD.

[ihabkal]

do you have any electronic, magnetic, wave emitting device near the computer? I once had the MBR completely wiped out by a wireless internet device...I guess cellphones are dangerous too don't keep them near the case...

[QaiserCheema]

I am using windows 7 ultimate x64 on my pc and laptop both since RC version but never find any problem till now.

[bev.lynn]

do you have any electronic, magnetic, wave emitting device near the computer? I once had the MBR completely wiped out by a wireless internet device...I guess cellphones are dangerous too don't keep them near the case...

 

Wow! Oddly enough, every time this has happened on my laptop I was near my FiOS wireless router AND the cordless telephone. When I am away from my office it never happens. I was away for 3 weeks over the holidays and it did not crash once using it daily.

 

I will at least monitor this...I will dock my laptop while in my office and see if that makes a difference. By the way, my FiOS wireless router causes problems with my cell phone when I am within 3' of it!

[F J]

Norton screws everything. I use avast, their home version is free.

 

so not true..

i've used Norton for over 10yrs, never had any problems..

 

 

I guess that rules out the SSD (Solid State Harddrives) then if you are not using them.

 

I am running Windows 7 (no dual boots) and have never had those issues before with any other OS.

 

I wonder maybe if it's related to how the OS hibernates (given you are on a laptop) and does not recover properly. I should maybe disable all hibernation settings and see if that could be it. I know windows 7 hibernates a lot better than XP did.

 

there used to be a problem with OCZ SSD's coming out of hibernation.. in this case i dunno if its a hypothesis since u report it only happening once a month on average..

 

my standard approach for troubleshooting hardware almost always seems to come down to (what we call here) "by exclusion of parts" (dunno how to properly translate this popular expression)..

but i suppose u would probly refuse to "test-drive" a standard HDD for a whole month :X or even ditch the RAID in order to see how it goes on a single SSD..

 

also, Windows has become so advanced these days that u could do well to seek support with some Microsoft certified technician who could probly dig up some system log referencing whats happening with this issue..