I'm new to Linux, and installed Mandrake Linux 9.0 on my computer for fun and amusement. I couldn't get it to recognize either of the Ethernet ports on my Asus A7N8X Deluxe, and I didn't have the patience to figure out how to get it to work, so I decided to put WindowsXP back on my machine. I used the Mandrake install CD to delete any partitions, and then used "fdisk /mbr" from a windows 98 boot disk, and then used the disk that came with my Western Digital drive to write zeros across the entire drive. I then tried to boot from my WindowsXP CD, and I keep getting an error saying to check any newly installed HDs, check for viruses, etc. Has anyone encountered this problem before and found a way to fix it? Any help would be greatly appreciated, this problem has been driving me nuts. Thanks!

Can you tell if this error message came from the BIOS or from the Windows installer program?

Edit: Sorry, didn't see that this was your first post. Welcome! Does this mean that we won't be seeing more of you?

Regards
Martin

I can't tell really. To provide more description, when I boot from the WindowsXP CD, it brings up a blue window where it shows that it's loading various things at the bottom of the screen. Before it reaches the end of loading whatever it's loading, a blue screen comes up with white courier font giving me the error msg. I described.

I was able to install a crippled version of Windows 98se, but certain things wouldn't work right, and when I tried to load the windowsXP CD from windows 98, I got the same blue error screen.

Try to use your win98 boot disk with fdisk and create a partition. Then try to install xp. You can delete that partition in the xp install. You could see if mandrake will reinstall (or at least format the drive for you) and then install xp over it. When you install WinXP you can delete partitions from the xp install program. It is generally better to do it that way.

Thanks for the response, but I've already tried both of those options with no luck.

so, when you boot off the win98 disk and run fdisk, what are the partiions described as?

Netizen

if i've gone in and previously deleted all existing partions using the mandrake linux cd(s), it says "no existing partitions".

i wasn't able to remove the linux-created partitions using the win98 disk...it listed 2 partitions, and when I went to delete the primary dos partition, i got a msg saying can't delete that partition while logical drive exists. when i went to delete "logical drive" or whatever it was, I got a msg saying that type of drive didn't exist. what's even more odd is how fdisk only saw 2 partitions while when deleting the partitions from the linux cd, it saw 3.

also, after I installed Linux, I kept getting an alert upon boot from the "Trend Chipaway Virus" protector that a virus was possibly trying to take over my system...could this be an indicator that Linux somehow screwed with my BIOS or boot or something non-harddrive related?

so you wiped it clean, then created a new partition with fdisk? or just wiped it and tried to install? it's a bit unclear. with the linux partition program, make sure there are no partitions that dos couldn't recognize. in fact it would be best if you made sure there were none. and then with fdisk, create the partitions, but don't format. xp should be able to handle that.

sorry if i'm just confused and telling you stuff that you already know. anyway, hope it helped.

Sorry for being confusing...I deleted any existing partitions with the linux partition tool and then created a new partition using fdisk. On my most recent attempt to fix the problem, I deleted any partitions, used the harddisk utility to write zeros across the drive, and then tried to boot from the windowsXP CD...running into the same errors I had before. however, I didn't create any partitions with fdisk after writing zeros, I just tried to boot from the XP CD.

Does your Western Digital disk have drive confidence testing on it? I believe that it does, or at least something like it. Run some extended tests on the drive with that disk, if you haven't already, and see what that turns up.

Try inserting your XP CD, and when it tries to boot, immediately hit F8 or F10, and go to Restore or Last Know Good. I have XP Pro so I don't know whether XP Home has it or not. Sounds like you really screwed up your hard disk by wiping it with 000s? Just delete and add partitions.

If nothing else works, call you hard drive manufacturer for help. It's really not a linux problem, and linux did not cause it. You did by doing the wrong thing.

This may be way back in your process, but in Fdisk, you would need to display/delete non-dos partitions. Trying to delete a dos partition in fdisk on a drive with only linux partitions wont work since there isnt one. Been ages since I used fdisk, I think the non-dos option is 3 or 4 on the menu.

Although, if you wrote zeros to the drive, suonds as if you need to create a partition and format in fdisk and give it a try.

Netizen

I've got a small brilliant program called killhd.com.

It was written by some unknown guy and it acts like a virus. He writes something at boot sector of hdd and when I do that, it does not matter what OS was on it, Linux, Windows or MAC. It's all gone in 1 sec and hdd behaves like a new one. Now you can fdisk or whatever you want.

I use it all the time for 6 years. Never has failed me.

Send me email and will email it to you.

just make bootable 1.44 and copy that program on floppy.

Boot from 1.44 and type killhd.

That's it.

I have fixed some serious problems with that on boot sector of many hard drives.

Program has 4096 bits and compressed has only 222!

smcoptyltd@hotmail.com

Peace...

There is also a utility called delpart.exe, you can get it from the MS website. It works really well, all it does is delete all the partitions in your hd. Make a win98 boot disk and copy delpart.exe to it and run it from there.

I installed XP Pro a little while ago just to see what it was like (I thought it was awful and deleted it all), but it stole about 8GB of my HD with a hidden partition of "partition information" that both MS and Linux fdisk couldn't see to delete. The delpart.exe utlility got rid of it fine.

Really you are taking a step in the wrong direction going back to XP though. :P

This little util don't care about any OS. Just kills boot sector and...
is not made my M$.

So... their tricks are not working here.