Dual Boot Linspire and Windows XP

CloudyWizzard · 09-20-2005, 05:06 PM

Well you can boot from the Windows XP install CD (into recovery mode and run the fixmbr program (that should remove the GRUB Bootloader from the MBR) then you can just format the drive and install windows on it (the windows installer should be able to reformat the drive into NTFS).

theharujakian · 09-20-2005, 10:16 PM

Thats the problem, it wont boot off of the windows XP disk...

CloudyWizzard · 09-21-2005, 05:52 AM

did you change the BIOS to make the CD-Rom the first Boot Device ??
you can also remove the Bootloader with an older Windows 9x boot floppy and run "fdisk /mbr" but you will still need to boot the WindowsXP CD if you want to reinstall it.

theharujakian · 09-22-2005, 11:37 AM

yes I did change the BIOS, the CD was reading too, it just never booted...I left it for a whole 24 hours and it just stayed on a black screen, and I don't have a floppy drive on my cumputer, nor do I have the floppy disk needed.... =[

CloudyWizzard · 09-22-2005, 03:59 PM

Weird, it should work.
Normally the Windows CD should give a message like "Hit any key to boot from CD" if you don't do that withing 10 seconds or so the system will continue to boot normally.

theharujakian · 09-25-2005, 10:02 PM

That's exactly what it does, I always hit enter, then it would say "Loading Resources" or something like that, then go to a black screen, and stay there...

CloudyWizzard · 09-26-2005, 08:09 AM

Did you try with a diffrent CD or tried that CD into a diffrent system ?
It's possible the disc is damaged. it's normal that you get a black screen after loading the drivers (like RAID and stuff like that) it's loading the GUI installer then but it shouldn't take that long for it to show up (depending on the speed of the system offcourse).

theharujakian · 09-26-2005, 11:06 PM

i tried 3 different disks, all are working properly, and I don'thave a slow system at all....I'm basically screwed aren't I? =*[

CloudyWizzard · 09-27-2005, 08:34 AM

Well you can try putting the harddrive into another system and see if you can install it from there. Or maybe run some systemrescuecd and check the harddrive (I don't know if a faulty harddrive can cause this behaviour, I don't think the filesystem is a problem since Windows just offers to format any other filesystem to FAT or NTFS).

Or you can go to bootdisks.com (I think) and download a Windows 9x bootdisk, you should be able to boot it and run "fdisk /mbr" to try to restore the Master Boot Record and remove the bootloader.

fakie_flip · 10-02-2005, 08:39 AM

Is it possible to read NTSF in Linspire? Other distros can do it, and they are using the same Linux kernel. How can I do it?