Error code 7b indicates that the Windows installation can't access the harddisk Windows is installed to. This error message usually comes up with Windows XP if the harddisk controller is set to AHCI mode (or a RAID mode) in the BIOS. Disabling AHCI (or RAID) should solve the problem.

Well I went into bios and there is no reference to ide, only sata, and no heading or tap or reference to "drivers" Then I tried wiping the drive with Dban. Then I got a new error message and ubuntu wouldn't boot any more. So now I've put ubuntu in the drive and I'm reinstalling it. Then I'll try overriding it with xp. I'm afraid xp may not work on sata. I saw no reference to ahci or raid. I couldn't find that anywhere in bios.

hh

thanx a lot by the way. I really appreciate your help very much.

h

Why no boot to the ubuntu liveCD then run Gparted from there and format the hard drive with NTFS or FAT32 format, format the whole thing then try to boot with the Xp install CD and get windows installed that way.

I am assuming you do have a Xp install CD and not just a recovery disk? I think in the windows world these two are different things.

Good luck to you.

Actually, I think Dban screwed it up. I put Dban on a cd and it said not to extract the winrar files. Well, it extracted them on its own. They downloaded without the winrar. I think that's what damaged the files. So now ubuntu is installed again and I'm going to try installing xp and erasing ubuntu again, making sure it boots from the cd drive and hitting f6 in the beginning to look for raid and sata drivers.

You guys are great! Thanx!


hh

hh

OK I will do that! Thanx!

hh

If what your doing now doesn't work, I would download and use the Ult. Boot CD. I have found the tools on this CD very useful. The version I have has a total of four tools for wiping hard drives. Here is the link to the site.
http://http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

I forgot to mention this is a fairly new laptop and came with Windows 7 installed. It's never had xp on it. I erased Windows 7 with ubuntu because it wouldn't let xp erase it. I tried pressing f6 and nothing happened, but a couple minutes later I got a new message saying to press S if I needed to specify some additional somethingorother so I'm going to look for sata for xp. While it was loading it said IDE and RAID several times so I'm guessing sata is what I'm missing.

h

Please post the exact model/maker of that laptop.

Googling the error code you posted led me to a number of sites which indicated the resolution to the problem was as posted above by TobiSGD. If you can't find the options, you might post specific information on your computer manufacturer and type.

Otherwise, re-formatting as suggested would be the next logical step with the Live CD. The CD will have GParted but I don't believe an installed system will have it by default. You may need to overwrite the mbr if none of the other options work, see post #3 at the link below:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...er-4175422340/

Well I just discovered under some heading a reference to sata and ahci or whatever it is and there was an option to switch to compatibility mode, which I did, and it said it would work with IDE. So I'm trying again to install xp. It's working. Thank you so much for all the help.

I love you man!

hh

Fixed! Thanx!

h

Now if you would like to install Ubuntu without deleting Xp is possible too. Mark this thread as solved and star a new one with dual boot specific questions.
Good luck to you.

Please post the ouput of

sudo fdisk -l ( from the ubuntu terminal )

Do you have Windows on it's own partition ?

Windows needs to be on a NTFS partition.