>>
And when you say "If it can't find its' secondary file(s), then they must have been corrupted some how.", I think I might know how that happened. After I deleted my knoppix partition, and found out Windows wouldn't load, I did try to remake the partition by just resizing my hda2 (windows) one in cfdisk, although it didn't work,
>>

ntfs is by design, a very touchy fs. Mainly due to the way it uses meta-data. MS wont tell any one just how it works.

___Never____

just resize a partition using one of the fdisk tools. You may get away with an expansion with a fat fs, but even then ...

___Never___

resize down. You must use a tool designed for that action as the fs needs to be adjusted for the new partition size.



===========================================

>>
And I found the MBR backup thing in an hdb5 partition,
>>

Can you see that hdb is a second disk !, and hda is your first disk !

Two seperate drives. You didn't need to resize, in the first place. If you do only have the one hdd, then something very strange is going on.

===========================================


At least you have those files you found.

Have you got a m8 that has Linux on their hdd. Could you take out your disk and put it in their machine for scrutiny. You did mention that you were getting another system ...

You will likely have to run those dos files from a floppy, which means you need a win startup floppy you can copy them from. If you describe your problem to one of the tech starff at the place were you purchased your Dell, they mighy be able to put together a boot disk for you. As long as you have your reciepts, OEM code etc.

Much progress on the "Dell Utilities" front ?


jm