BOOTMGR is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart !

Aquarius_Girl · 07-12-2010, 10:35 AM

HP Pavilion Laptop

I am in deep trouble !!!

Tried to install Windows Vista, it formatted my whole hard disk and then gave an error during the process.

Tried to install Windows XP, it couldn't cross the first step even.

and now when I am trying to install Slackware 13.1 and OpenSuse 10.2 by inserting their bootable DVDs.

I am facing the error stated in the thread title

I found some sites showing how to repair the computer through the repair options of Windows Vista DVD, but in my case there are no such options shown, only option I get through the DVD is to reformat the system and install Vista on it,

That too fails for me as my second Vista DVD shows an error like "xyz error has occurred, contact your HP support".

Please help me to get out of this mess and re-install Linux on it.

amani · 07-12-2010, 10:43 AM

Use the 'System rescue CD' or 'Parted Magic CD' and redo the partitions.

Check bios and other h/w

Install Linux

Aquarius_Girl · 07-12-2010, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

Use the 'System rescue CD' or 'Parted Magic CD' and redo the partitions.

Check bios and other h/w

Install Linux

I did not find your post to be helpful !

Which "System rescue CD" are you talking about ?

What am I supposed to check regarding BIOS ?

And how is partitioning going to solve the problem of that BOOTMGR error ?

linus72 · 07-12-2010, 11:45 AM

so, anishakaul
to be clear can you boot any linux livecd?

it sounds like it's trying to boot off hdd first...

the trooper · 07-12-2010, 02:29 PM

Could be that Windows hosed your partition table.
The following guide gives some useful pointers,although it is old:

http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/...on-Rescue.html

You'll need some means of repairing what Windows has done,something like these:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
http://www.knoppix.net/

Good luck.....

smeezekitty · 07-12-2010, 02:31 PM

It could of messed the bootloader and not actually wipe the disk.

yancek · 07-12-2010, 03:45 PM

anishakaul;

From the beginning, before installing vista what was the status of the computer? Did you have any other operating system on it and if so, what was it?

Quote:

Tried to install Windows Vista, it formatted my whole hard disk and then gave an error during the process

vista formatting the whole disk would seem like standard behavior for windows but I'm basing that on what I have read. Do you recall what this error was?

Quote:

Tried to install Windows XP, it couldn't cross the first step even.

That might be because xp wouldn't recognize the vista boot code in the mbr but then again, I've never used xp - so just a guess.

It would be helpful if you could report the actual errors you see.

Are you able to boot anything? a Live CD?

Alexvader · 07-12-2010, 07:38 PM

Hi Anishakaul...

AFAIK, \/1574h b0|2|<3d your MBR...

Don't mess with stuff from M$... I only use it virtual, when i absolutely need it...

I will personally go to Redmond and Strike Steve Balmer's head with my Ura Mawashi Geri, and say :

"Greetz from Osaka... "

...Then I will go to California, and ask Obama Girl to a date...

In the mean time, fetch some Win2000 install disk ( dunno if a Xp will do... but Win2000 has a repair console ), enter in console mode at install, and type

d:>fixmbr,

accept what it proposes... this will probably restore your master b00t record...

BRGDS

Alex

Aquarius_Girl · 07-13-2010, 01:13 AM

the trooper
Thanks,

This info from that guide was helpful. It let me understand the possible cause of the problem.

Quote:

Problem is all the installed Operating Systems must share the disks and as at start the BIOS only scan the first one, there must be a so called “partition table” in the very beginning of this disk. This partition table is located in the Master Boot Record (MBR) side by side with the boot loader.

Any misuse of the MBR by any of the OS's leads to problems. When trying to install any system, yes answer at a question like “automatic partitioning?” is likely to give problems... This is specially true with Windows, especially with custom windows installation made by special makes PC's (when no true “Windows” CD is included, as with many laptops). But it's also true with new “smart” (not so smart!) Linux installation programs given with some recent distributions.

The other steps the tutorial pointed are supposed to be executed from the shell which I do not have currently !!

The tutorial also said:

Quote:

3.1. The simpler case
All is simple if you have at hand :
* a disk (floppy or CD) able to start Linux by itself with fdisk available - most rescue disks of any distribution can do that,
* a paper with the fdisk -l and fdisk -u -l content written down.

I did not understand that, from where i am supposed to get that fdisk rescue disk ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by the trooper

You'll need some means of repairing what Windows has done,something like these:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
http://www.knoppix.net/

Good luck.....

That Gparted site asks to download the iso image and then burn it to a live CD as an image, I have found the link here:
http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownl...load-3725.html
but it is a tar ball,

How am I supposed to burn a tar ball as a image ?

Aquarius_Girl · 07-13-2010, 01:18 AM

Alex

Kindly use the language which is easy to understand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexvader

AFAIK, \/1574h b0|2|<3d your MBR...

What is this ? Explain its meaning !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexvader

In the mean time, fetch some Win2000 install disk ( dunno if a Xp will do... but Win2000 has a repair console ), enter in console mode at install, and type

d:>fixmbr,

accept what it proposes... this will probably restore your master b00t record...

BRGDS

Alex

I do not have any Windows except Vista and XP (both of them are having boot problems)

Kindly suggest some Linux oriented method !

Aquarius_Girl · 07-13-2010, 01:27 AM

yancek

Thanks !!

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

anishakaul;
From the beginning, before installing vista what was the status of the computer? Did you have any other operating system on it and if so, what was it?

I had a OpenSuse 11.2 peacefully running on it.

Quote:

vista formatting the whole disk would seem like standard behavior for windows but I'm basing that on what I have read. Do you recall what this error was?

Yes, it said "xyz error has occured, contact your HP support if this error persistes".

I do not remember the error number "xyz".

Quote:

That might be because xp wouldn't recognize the vista boot code in the mbr but then again, I've never used xp - so just a guess.

It would be helpful if you could report the actual errors you see.

Actual XP error "Hard disk not detected".

Quote:

Are you able to boot anything? a Live CD?

I don't have alive CD currently.

Aquarius_Girl · 07-13-2010, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeezekitty

It could of messed the bootloader and not actually wipe the disk.

May be true, because Vista install was incomplete.

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

so, anishakaul
to be clear can you boot any linux livecd?

it sounds like it's trying to boot off hdd first...

I do not have any live CD with me,

brianL · 07-13-2010, 03:05 AM

You really need a live CD/rescue CD, no serious computer user should be without one. Parted Magic is a good one, loads of useful stuff on it.

Alexvader · 07-13-2010, 06:50 AM

Quote:

What is this ? Explain its meaning !

AFAIK Vista Borked your MBR...

Can you use recovery console of XP install...? I mean, Does XP install disk has a recovery console feature...? I think it does not try to load any drivers if you chain your options to recovery console, you shoud get there before the "driver not found issue"...

If You want a Linux only solution, grab an empty CD, download GParted, burn it, and use (C)FDISK do delete any existing partitions, and create a partition table for Linux.

Aquarius_Girl · 07-13-2010, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexvader

grab an empty CD, download GParted, burn it, and use (C)FDISK do delete any existing partitions, and create a partition table for Linux.

Alex,
Can you answer this question of mine ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by anishakaul

That Gparted site asks to download the iso image and then burn it to a live CD as an image, I have found the link here:
http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownl...load-3725.html
but it is a tar ball,

How am I supposed to burn a tar ball as a image ?

I have downloaded Parted Magic as suggested by Briany ! I burned it to the disk, now let me see how to use it !!!