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| Thread ID: 21905 | 2002-07-07 02:30:00 | Booting Linux | davel (657) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 60410 | 2002-07-07 02:30:00 | Hi - I have installed Linux Mandrake on my computer and now want to go back to Windows but I cant get to the hard drive to repartition it. I have tried Win95, Win98 and Ranish Boot disks but the screen reads Veryfying DMI Pool Data...................and nothing else happens. I found info on a webpage about wiping Linux from the MBR with the instruction dd if=/dec/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 but I dont actually know where or how I type in this instruction. Can someone please tell me how to go about doing this please. Once I can get to dow I will repartition the hard drive with Partition Magic. Thanks. Dave | davel (657) | ||
| 60411 | 2002-07-07 03:27:00 | I believe that this is not "really" a Linux problem. It's a BIOS, or bus problem. Some previous posters have had Mandrake, but that may be coincidence -- others have just had disk problems. The advice has been to look at google for "DMI Pool Data". I don't think any of them have posted back reporting what happened. If you can't boot from floppies (?) and the boot device order is correct (!), it's definitely not a Linux problem. That *nix command would have the same effect as the IBM "zap.exe" programme --- writing all zero bytes to the boot sector. That is a bit drastic -- it will remove all partitioning information. If you can get a DOS boot, FDISK /MBR would be a better (less damaging) thing to try. If it will still boot to Linux, and you are using the LILO boot manager, use the command (as root) #lilo -u . That will restore the MBR to what is was before LILO was installed. But that's probably irrelevant. Can you still boot to linux? It's not totally clear from your posting. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 60412 | 2002-07-07 03:55:00 | I've followed my own advice and looked at google. ;-) the first match: www.computerhope.com looks to be what you want. The MS answer is: "this issue is caused by the hardware". ;-( and suggest "To resolve this issue ... contact your computer manufacturer". :D |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 60413 | 2002-07-07 05:19:00 | Thanks Graham for your comments. No the hardware is ok. When I installed linux I just said yes to everything because I thought getting back to windows would be easy if I made a mistake. And its a nightmare. I cant get to dos I dont know how to use Linux so dont know how to type in instructions. On start up I have the choice of linux,failsafe,dos or floppy. I chose floppy and tried my boot up disk and got a - prompt. But that seemed to be a dead end too. Dos isnt the msdos and ignores my instructions, so I am having more trouble that a virus I once got. Any other ideas? Dave | davel (657) | ||
| 60414 | 2002-07-07 05:38:00 | HAve you tried choosing "Dos" as this is likely to actually be "Windows"? | Shroeder (492) | ||
| 60415 | 2002-07-07 05:50:00 | Hi - When I choose dos I get the following Booting 'dod' root (hd0,0) filesystem type is fat, partition type 0x6 make active chainloader +1 - however the keyboard id dead what do I do next? Dave |
davel (657) | ||
| 60416 | 2002-07-08 04:51:00 | First: linux won't be stopping floppy disks from booting . It can't . Linux isn't there until after the system has loaded the code from the first sector of some bootable device, which will load either Linux or some other OS . If you can't boot a floppy, you have to change the settings in your BIOS, so that the order is: A:, C: (or however the more modern ones display it) . That should you allow you to do the FDISK /MBR . That will probably make the disk bootable to Windows again . Second: You didn't read the manual, did you? Mandrake will have put a lot of documentation on your CDs . Files with names like "README1ST", "README" , "Getting Started", . . . :-( Third: If the boot off the hard disk prints "LILO", then gives you the "boot: " prompt, try "linux 1" . That will get you into "single-user" mode with a "#" prompt . "lilo -u" will have the effect of replacing the original sector on the hard disk . I believe that "Grub", a different boot loader does not have the "restore" option which lilo has . |
Graham L (2) | ||
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