HoBu

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Hi, I am having trouble with my Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2000 laptop:

It is a pre-installed Windows XP pro version (SP2); later on a SuSe version (it might be 8.2, but cannot remember anymore) was installed by a friend of my father. The laptop had a SuSe boot system (GRUB) where one could choose between Windows & Linux.
So, trouble starts: As I do not use Linux that often and I needed some extra harddisk space, my dad decides to erase SuSe by just erasing the partition !! NOT GOOD. Didnt have any problems until today, when I decided to defragment all of my partitions. After rebooting the system, I can see the start desktop ("Fujitsu Siemens etc etc, Press F2, Press F12 etc"), but then just a blank screen with "GRUB _" in the upper left corner. I cant press any buttons, it just beeps at me annoyed & doesnt react at all. Tried to boot with:

- Windows XP pro Sp3 disk
- Windows 2000 pro Sp4 disk
- Ultimate Boot Disc
- Knoppix 5.1.1
- Knoppix 6.0.1

Changed of course to first boot from CD-ROM drive; nothing helped. I can hear the CDs starting, but then after a short time "GRUB _" is returning again!
Read that the MBR (Master Boot Record) must be damaged while defragmenting the partition Linux was on, AND I have found out in some forum entry that the CD-ROM boot option might have gone down the drain with it, too

Does anyone have any hints & tips what to do??? Help is highly appreciated!!!

Thank you all,
Hon

ramram29

Start XP in rescue mode and run the fixmbr command.

HoBu

It doesnt even get to any screen where I could run XP in rescue mode ... only "GRUB _" is there. Just fixed something in BIOS and tried to boot from disk but now Ive got "Operating System not found" on my screen. Again, no other reaction... Any ideas?


BIOS is PhoenixBIOS, btw!

michaelk

Hopefully you can reverse whatever you changed so at least the computer will boot back to the grub prompt. When SuSE was deleted so was the menu.lst file which grub needs. However, you can still boot to windows via the following commands:

grub> rootnoverify (hd0,0)
grub> makeactive
grub> chainloader +1
grub> boot

I assume that windows is on the 1st partition. However, since this is a laptop there could be a restore partition and windows might actually be the second. If that does not work try hd0,1).

Once windows boots you can run the mbrfix command.
http://www.sysint.no/nedlasting/mbrfix.htm

If you have a real XP installation CD you can boot into rescue mode and run fixmbr too.

saikee

I believe the OP has nuked the Suse partition so Grub has no home except what is left in the MBR. In such a case Grub has been broken and cannot react to the instructions suggested by michaelk.

ramram29's solution is the correct one but it appears the OP did not know how to arrange the CDrom to boot ahead of the hard disk. If the Bios has been instructed to boot the CDrom first then any Xp or Win2k CD can be booted up, Recovery Console requested and the command
will overwrite the hard disk MBR with Xp/Win2k own version. Thereafter Xp will boot normally and Grub will completely disappear for good.

HoBu

Thank you for your answers! saikee is right, I can't type in any command in Grub.

Meanwhile I did manage to let the CD-ROM boot first, but I only got Operating system not found. Once again, I can't type in anything else nor anything Recovery Disk related came up. In another forum I asked I got this message: "You may have a Windows upgrade disk If I recall they don't work unless they see a windows boot installed." That might be it, because I only got an OEM version of XP AND all of my other original disks are in another country (I'm travelling ATM)

What I did manage this morning was to boot from a USB stick with "Super Grub Disk" on it. This seems to be the only thing working for now...still working on it!

Thank you meanwhile for all of your answers

saikee

I remember some uitility disks like Linux RescuseCD and the like has an option to write a MBR for the Xp.

You can also use a Dos floppy, with fdisk.exe, boot it up and issue the command
It will do the same thing.

Your description of the error reported by the XP CD starts to worry me as this can be the case that you or your father has nuked more than needed. You need an opinion of the status of what you have in the PC. I suggest you boot up any Linux Live CD or even SuperGrub which will have either a Bash shell or just a Grub shell or Grub prompt. Try to obtain the partition details and post them here.

In a Grub prompt (available before a system is booted or inside a Bash Shell trigged by command "grub")
In a Bash Shell
If you have partitions Type 7, for NTFS filing system, then Xp should be inside the first one. That partition needs to be bootable or the XP CD may report it "Operating system not found". If you have a Bash shell the output of "fdisk -l" always shows a bootable partition marked by a "*".

shahavinash

I too have a similar problem i have vista in the first place. When trying to boot, I get I tried with the repair option of Vista but still it didn't work out. Got to the console screen and tried to issue "fixmbr"...it says "not an internal or external command". Can you say how can I get back my laptop to boot into Vista.

Thanks

adamben

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/window...disc-download/

saikee

The last link "Just booting tips" of my signature has all the tips for restoring Linux, Xp, Vista and Win7. It should answer all the questions raised here.

frankbell

I botched an install on my test box one with similar results. (I was distro surfing.)

Booting to a DOS boot disk and running fdisk mbr fixed it.

If you have access to another computer and the net, can download bootdisks here:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm