Invalid partition table error on Dell vostro Vista

[kingrukus]

Recently I acquired malware (not sure how as I did not visit any fishy sites nor did I accept/run any fishy email attachments), and I tried to do a bunch of fixes to get rid of it. I finally ran chkdsk in windows vista, restarted, and the laptop never booted up again.

I am given the error Invalid partition table

Can anyone here help me fix this? I booted my laptop from a partion magic boot disk, but running some of the tools (Test Disk) on that has not helped me (maybe I am running them incorrectly?).

If it matters, it is a Dell Vostro 1320 running Windows Vista basic. I cannot access the recovery partition either to format and reinstall the factory image. Maybe there is a way I can somehow create a bootable factory image DVD?

[Dr. V]

The problem can be fixed by Windows 98 bootble disk. When you boot up your system it searches for a master partition table which gives the information the operating system booting. If that is detected incorrect or invalid then this error appears. Use Windows 98 boot up disk or Windows XP recovery console. Then first choose the boot up device and in command prompt type fdisk. Give y for yes. For active partition enter 2 and restart your system.

[kingrukus]

I used fdisk, and even after reassigning the main partition as bootable, it still gives the error. Furthermore I used chkdsk /f and it isn't helping any.

Partition Magic says that a cluster is being referenced twice, which is causing the error.

[SalVatore]

I would suggest you to delete the partition and then recreate a new partition. This will surely help you out and work as needed. It will be helpful for you and get the thing to be worked for you as needed. It will be helpful and you may then get sort of the thing. So get it functioned.. It will be helpful for you. So get it functioned and process. It will really help you out.