Hello,

I had Windows and Linux on my laptop and wanted Linux be removed from my laptop. With a partition manager cd I removed the linux partitions and also the swap paritition. I formated the rest of the partitions with NTFS. And now I have ONLY two NTFS partitions, on one of them is still windows there and the other one is completly empty. And now if I start my laptop again , windows does not start. I recieve following message.

GRUB Loading stage 1.5.
GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 17

How can I start Windows again? Is that , because I removed the swap partition? What shall I do?

Taha

Use a windows installation cd, at a prompt,

You're right..anyway,to be sure,after fixmbr i type fixboot too 'cos i found that fixmbr sometimes was not strong enough while,typing fixboot too,the boot was better and fully repaired


P.S. :type this way:

fixmbr
fixboot

Good luck !

Thank you for your answers. But I have another problem there. I put the windows cd and wanted to go to recovery console to type the command you said. But then I am asked to enter the admin password , which I have already forgotten as I didnt use this laptop for a long time. I tried to type some password which I mostly use , but it didnt work with them.
I have then tried to crack the admin password with the tool Ophcrack which starts with a linux live cd and cracks windows passwords within 15 min. But that way it didnt work as well, because I probably used password containig special sign, which Ophcrack cannot handle.

Any other way to fix it and to get my windows back ???

Just a thought. Are you sure you set an administrator password for Windows? It asks for one whether or not there's one set. If there isn't one set, you just press enter when it asks and you're into Recovery Console.
Or you could try this - I've never done it so cannot say whether it works or not!
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/p...cle.asp?ID=305

Or, as a last resort, boot using the latest version of Knoppix, access/copy/burn to CD etc your important files from your Windows partition then re-install.
Good luck

I tried just to type ENTER as well , but propably there is an admin password as it still asks for it.
I did the steps on this link you have given, but after 6. step I cannot continue. The 6. step is:

" 6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair

It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”

Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes. "

But it is not like that. The next screen mentioned at 6. step, which should give me the option to do a repair and should read something like "If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”, isn't a screen like that. It is just the screen where I have to handle partitions. And if I go to the partition containing the windows it asks me only eighter to remove the partition or to override it but not to repair it. So in that way I cannot continue this approach.

You will probably need to get a live cd or SystemRescue and try to copy/save any info you need from xp and re-install. You basically did this backwards. You deleted your Linux partition before you installed the xp to the mbr so Grub's stage1 (which is the only part of Grub in the mbr) can't find stage1.5 because it isn't there. Deleting the swap partiton was not the problem, deleting the Linux partition with the major part of your bootloader was the problem.

If you can't get your xp disk to work because of no password you might try googling some windows forums or the microsoft knowledge database for help.

I have another suggestion. What if I install linux again ??? Will that work again that way, that I get on start an option to choose between windows and linux ? If so then I simply can install linux again ? Do I need some special configurations to do before installing linux again?

If you just need to boot Windows use the GAG boot manager instead of Grub.

...I have just installed linux again and I get on start the same option to choose between linux and windows, but if I choose windows , following message appears:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows roo>\system32\hl.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Anyone knows what to do now ??? Should I ask this in a windows forum?

I would suggest you re-boot to windows to get the exact error, copy it and then google and/or check windows sites. Here's a site that allows you to download 'dll' files.

http://dllcity.com/free-dll-file-dow...-letter-h.html
Since the message apparently says to re-install it, this might work. Don't know anything about this site or its reliability and would have no idea what you would do with the file to install after you download it. Just copy it to your System32 folder?? Don't know.

...can't install gag. I have looked up for howtos, it says that I should do something with Grub and then install GAG. For that I have to "boot with an alternate (installation) CD" and then go to "rescue a broken system" section. But I dont know what an alternate (installation) cd is. There is no more explanations about it. Is that the windows cd? There is no rescue section. Is that a linux cd? I tried that as well but couldnt find "rescue a broken system" . So I cannot install GAG. I have already burned GAG into a cd and have tried to boot with it, but it doesnt work.

It doesnt work with dlls as well. I have installed (copied) the neccessary dlls into system32 folder , but still the same message comes up.

Any other help?

[/QUOTE]Or, as a last resort, boot using the latest version of Knoppix, access/copy/burn to CD etc your important files from your Windows partition then re-install.
Good luck[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear the 'fix' didn't work for you. I honestly think you have to bite the bullet and realise that by trying all these options things are getting so complicated that you may never be able to resolve it.

I suggest you do as I and yancek advise. Boot Knoppix or another live distro. Mount your Windows partition and copy over all the files you need. Then re-install Windows.