2)  FDISK /MBR (Continued)

    If you have a Boot Sector Virus, just boot from a known "clean"
    floppy disk (which has the System files and FDISK on it - IE:
    your "disaster recovery disk") and run FDISK /MBR.  Bye, Bye Virus!

                              Gary Cooper

    Make sure it's write protected ..

                              Jasen Betts


    [Begin quote]

    One of the FDISK functions, updating the Master Boot Record (MBR),
    does not appear on any of the FDISK menus. The Master Boot Record is
    located at the beginning of your primary fixed disk. It is composed of
    two parts -- the master boot code and the partition table. The master
    boot code is a short program that determines which operating system
    will start the computer, then transfers control to that operating system.
    The partition table contains information about the partitions located on
    the fixed disk.

    The Master Boot Record may need to be updated when:

    * An operating system other than MS-DOS is on the fixed disk.
      Some operating systems replace the master boot code with their
      own program, which may not allow MS-DOS to start the system,
      even if the partitions are valid DOS partitions. If this condition
      exists, updating the Master Boot Record will replace only the master
      boot code.

    * The information at the beginning of the fixed disk has been
      overwritten. The partition information is destroyed and the fixed
      disk will no longer start any operating system. If this condition
      exists, updating the Master Boot Record will replace both the master
      boot code and the partition table. However, the partition table will
      not have any defined partitions.

    If you cannot get your system to start MS-DOS from the fixed disk and
    you are sure the initialization process was performed correctly, you
    may need to update the Master Boot Record. To do this, enter the
    following command:

         FDISK /MBR

    FDISK does not display any menus or messages while it is updating the
    Master Boot Record. When the procedure is complete, the MS-DOS
    prompt is displayed.

    If you are unable to start MS-DOS from the fixed disk after updating
    the Master Boot Record, you may need to partition and format your fixed
    disk. If you still cannot use the fixed disk to start MS-DOS, contact
    your Authorized COMPAQ Computer Dealer for further assistance.

    [End quote]
                              Compaq DOS 4.01 Manual
                              Submitted by
                              Paul Maserang

    If the situation at hand involved a trashed partition table. This
    regenerates the partition table, but does NOT restore the user
    partition information in it. Therefore, after using FDISK /MBR, you
    must still use FDISK without the /MBR switch to re-enter the partition
    information before you can do anything else. If the newly entered
    partition information is identical to that which existed there prior
    to the partition table being trashed, and nothing else has been damaged,
    there should be no need to reformat the drive, because the boot sector,
    FATs, directories, and data should still be undisturbed. If the boot
    sector or either of the two hidden system files (IBMBIO.COM/IBMDOS.COM 
    or IO.SYS/MSDOS.SYS) are damaged, the SYS command can be used to restore
    them without losing anything else.

                              Paul Maserang