windows stops working after linux boots from usb on eee pc

rabbit2345 · 01-24-2010, 11:05 PM

Hi,

I have an Eee pc from Asus and I like to use my Linux jumpdrive a lot with it, so I can keep all my stuff portable and not on the computer. THe problem is, whenever I use my jumpdrive (which runs ubuntu jaunty), windows refuses to start and starts the asus recovery thing instead.

Of course, I relly don't care about windows that much, but I am quite curious why Linux would cause something to happen to the host computer, even if I don't write anything or even mount my local HD.

Can anyone explain this?

thanks,
rabbit2345

tacorama · 01-25-2010, 12:51 AM

did you change any boot order setting in BIOS to boot from the jumpdrive?

is the recovery image on the same physical hard disk as windows? if so then perhaps some how the Master Boot Record was changed while in Ubuntu and now the recovery partition is marked as bootable.

try to verify whats going on by going into ubuntu and running fdisk on which ever device has windows on it.

for example:
fdisk /dev/sda

that might get you started

rabbit2345 · 01-25-2010, 11:18 PM

Thanks tacorama, I did an fdisk on the drive and it all looked normal.

As it turns out, there was a virus sitting on the drive for almost a year now, completely unnoticed since Linux isn't really susceptible to windows viruses. I do remember plugging in my drive before rebooting sometimes, and I guess it infected windows then. Just comes to show how weak windows is, and how an unprivileged user can do something that bad on a system. Oh well.

thanks,
rabbit2345

Packrat1947 · 01-26-2010, 01:24 AM

I use a Dell M1210 laptop. The HD on this slides out on a sledge. So I have sledges for Win7, Vista, and two XPs. Late at night, I do all my surfing on USBs of SuperOS, Mint 7, & Puppy.

If the Win7 hd is in, then at the next boot, it loses the proper screen resolution. XP never does though. I hardly ever put the Vist hd in, so I don't know about that.

I'm a tech, and so I need many OSs in my work. I can't explain it, but Linux somehow interacts with Win7, ...and probably Vista.

That's about all I know,
Packrat1947

tacorama · 01-27-2010, 11:47 AM

maybe you could just do what i do when for some reason i must use a windows version:
my main comp is slackware linux, and ive installed virtualbox on it, and ive got a virtual windows inside of that program. then if it get virused up - i restore that virtual comp to a previous save point from the virtualbox program - from before the virus was ever installed!

one less drone for the botnet!