I know NOTHING about linux.....help?
 

I have a tower I got for $75.00 that had Ubuntu/Microsoft. Problem was, it had 3 copies of Ubuntu installed right from the beginning. Not by me,really, but by the genius young man who installed it - must have made a mistake. So I deleted two of the copies via disk management in Windows, not realizing it would put my tower in a coma. And this must be Ubuntu II because it won't give me any hints with ? or dir. Help? I have data on there I can't get and cannot find a manual or anything. Please, help me like I'm a complete idiot because I am. Thanks. How do I coordinate Ubuntu with Microsoft again?

Don't worry! First of all, you need to download a "LiveCD" and burn it into a CD (use a friend's computer). You might want to download Ubuntu LiveCD (download it from here ->) http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop and then do this "Put the Ubuntu CD into the CD/DVD-drive and restart the computer.".

Then, you have to take all the data from your computer using an external hard disk.

Finally, erase your computer's hard disk using a program like "PartedMagic" which will help you both to erase your disk and create partitions in order to install a new operating system (you need to read how to do this before you try it, or if you want ask here).

Now just install your new operating system and you are ready to go! :)

I have many questions about this statement. As a complete Linux beginner, how did you arrive at this conclusion? It may just be that Ubuntu was installed over three partitions (/, /home, and swap) which would be a fairly typical install. More details please...

The poster above has excellent advice about using a Live CD to recover your data.

Thank you hawk, I am so glad live cd's are used with linux as well as microsoft. Have a great weekend.

as to the Microsoft install ????
if you are going to keep it
you WILL have to buy a license from Microsoft
then you can have them "snail mail" you the install dvd ( also you might / WILL need)
( xp for running "fixmbr" or running the Win7 change of it )
you WILL NEED the activation number

or

100% remove windows from the box

snowpine has some VERY GOOD advice there

the windows manager will show "unknown" partitions for
/boot
/home
/
SWAP

if one of them was the boot partition ( has the boot manager on it ) the machine will NOT boot


if you are not going to buy Windows then remove it from the computer
this is VERY EASY TO DO
use the Xfce Desktop version of LinuxMint ( friends computer or spare )
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=113
burn ( AS A ISO IMAGE !!! and NOT and a data dvd)the install dvd
the FREE windows tool
http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home
yes it DOSE sound like a piece of scam software BUT it is REAL
it is cygwin based linux software for running on windows

then use the DEFAULT install of the "whole drive" and let the installer set up everything

Before you go to deleting anything, consider these things. One is that you may have windows recovery media on it someplace. Two is that you may only have to fix the boot loader to correct all of this.

It might also be that grub listed three entries but still only one installation of Ubuntu you know filesafe mode --Ubuntu, some old kernel and the default kernel that was being use to boot. I guess we will never know now.

Perhaps the best solution here is try to fix the MBR with the Windows disk, Or re install ubuntu in the same partition where it was before. Luckyly Ubuntu is free of monetary cost.

Good luck to you.

^--- good point Tron, sometimes Ubuntu shows multiple kernels in the boot menu, this is totally normal and does not mean you have multiple Ubuntu installs. :)

The coma is probably caused because you erased the copy that hosted the program that made possible to boot multiple operating system. If that program had been on the windows partition, the same thing would have happened. If you want to avoid formatting your whole drive, you can also use the live-cd to install the program on one of the remaining partition, one that you wont delete. (read information about grub-install)

That way, you can "save" your Windows installation. As said in post above, you can also use an old Windows boot floppy or windows disk to restore the Windows boot program (bootloader) using the DOS "fdisk" tool. In any case, try to put it somewhere you wont delete, or no matter what OS(es) you keep, it will happen again if you play with partitions. You can put the bootloader in the disk master boot record (MBR), but it is not recommended. Newer computers also come with a small partition at the beginning of the disk called "uEFI sector" dedicated to host the computer boot programs, including the bootloader. However, it is unlikely your does.