XP is impossible to install. Operative system not found or a black screen.

[Bastupungen]

Hello!

I installed Mandrake Linux 10.0 RC1 a couple of days ago and now my computer is totaly screwed up, atleast XP is. When i installed Mandrake the installation was smooth and i didn't have any problems. I installed Lilo as the boot loader. Linux loads up fine but XP did not. When i tried to start it i got a black screen with an marker loading(|_|_|_|_|_ ..like that). I left the computer for 10 min but nothing happend.

So i decided that i should try to reinstall windows xp. i got past the partitioning and the copying of the files but when the computer restarts i get operation system not found(translated from swedish). I have tried to do fixmbr, fixboot, fdisk /mbr, nothing really works. If i try to install windows first then Mandrake linux(with Lilo). then i get the black screen if i choose windows in lilo. I have tried to install win98 too. That worked just fine.

It seams like my computer just have started to HATE win XP. But i reallt need windows XP for my work. How can i fix this? any ideas?

 

[Aussie983]

Have you tried reformatting the entire hd...including the linux partition?

 

[Bastupungen]

Have you tried reformatting the entire hd...including the linux partition?

I have tried to format the linux partition and the windows partition. But not the entire harddrive... what diffrence would that do?

 

[Lee]

Try running fdisk. Get a floppy with say win 98 boot disk to it and doing fdisk.

 

[Bastupungen]

Try running fdisk. Get a floppy with say win 98 boot disk to it and doing fdisk.

And format the entire drive?

 

[Lee]

Well you can slice it up nicely into partitions and start from scratch.

I know it's a last resort, if you don't find a solution.

 

[Ded Morozh]

Multi-OSing

If you like to use multiple OSes, or just like testing them out, you might want to look into Partition Manager, it has a built in boot manager. I personally don't use it for that, I stick with windows. But, my friend swears by it. Sorry, but I don't have any fix for your issue. Usually, if I get something like that, I just toss in my ghost floppy and reimage my drive.

 

[Bastupungen]

The thing is that i have several partitions on this drive. I have tried to format the partitions with systems on them(XP and MandrakeLinux). But that didn't work. Do i have to format the entire drive to get an result?

 

[j79zlr]

You need to run either fdisk /mbr with a 98/ME boot disk or FIXMBR from the XP recovery console. This will not harm the partitions, just overwrite lilo in the MBR. Windows does not use a MBR, that is what NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM are, linux [can] write its boot info to the MBR, so even a reinstall of windows does not remove it.

If you want to learn how to boot linux using the native NT loader, look here, http://www.j79zlr.com/linux/index.php?page=boot

 

[Bastupungen]

You need to run either fdisk /mbr with a 98/ME boot disk or FIXMBR from the XP recovery console. This will not harm the partitions, just overwrite lilo in the MBR. Windows does not use a MBR, that is what NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM are, linux [can] write its boot info to the MBR, so even a reinstall of windows does not remove it.

If you want to learn how to boot linux using the native NT loader, look here, http://www.j79zlr.com/linux/index.php?page=boot

Ok. Then that is even wierder then i thought. Because if i try to boot windows from lilo i only get a black screen. And, like i said, if i try to do fdisk /mbr and then install windows i still get os not found.

Would an complete format of the drive help? or is an format of the first partition(windows) enough?