I think I just screwed myself...
 

Ok, here's the deal. I built a whole new computer with:

MachSpeed Motherboard
Ati Radeon 9600XT
120 gb hd
Athlon 2800+

So it's all built and stuff. My brother told me I should use Linux because windows is gay. Indeed, it is gay. But anyway, I had linux (KDE) and I began to realize that putting Linux on my computer is more trouble that its worth (which was free, lol). I needed to put Windows on and partition my harddrive in a way I'm familiar with. I look up instructions and it looked suspiciously simple (only 2 steps). I did it anyway. It told me to delete my existing partitions and then set up a single FAT partition. Little did I know, however, that if I reboot (it told me to reboot for the partition to take effect) I will run into errors as Linux loaded up.

So now I am stuck at a single spot in which there is no where to go. I load it up and it asks me which "Linux" I should boot up. I've tried them all and I still get the same thing. So anyway it boots up and it goes to the screen where it will tell me what it's doing and it'll get to a point where it says that it ran into errors (something about a superblock) and it tells me that I can either reboot or go through the maintenance process. I reboot and it gets to the same ordeal. Maintenance is a pain in the ass because I don't know how to do it or where to go.

Can someone tell me how to get past this stupid problem?

BTW, I'm using my old computer right now.

Hi Satrin, welcome to lq. I'm not quite sure what exactly you are trying to do. Are you trying to uninstall linux and install windows, or are you trying to repair your linux installation. What were the "simple steps" you followed?
good luck.

I'm trying to uninstall Linux and install Windows. Here's the "simple steps".

1. Delete all partitions on your hard drive and replace them by a single FAT partition with DiskDrake (OOC: I didn't have diskdrake, so I used the normal partition program.)

2. Uninstall the bootloader (generally grub) from the Master Boot Record (MBR). To do so, boot under DOS and run the fdisk /mbr command.

Never got to the second step because my computer went crazy.

I hope there's a way for me to fix this because I'm not buying another 120 gb hard drive (it only makes sense that there would be a way.).

Do you have a bootable windows install cd? If so, ensure the bios is set to boot from the cdrom first, or at least before the hard drive. Put it in the cdrom and reboot the machine. If not move forward with step 2. You'll need a bootable floppy. If you don't have a bootable floppy, you can get one here.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Hope this helps.
good luck.

Oh god, thank you man. Yeah, I have a windows XP installation cd. Thanks man.

Good luck with it. If you have problems post back.

Re: I think I just screwed myself...
 

Is it good or bad for an operating system to be gay? And anyway, how can you tell? This has something to do with window decorations, doesn't it? The Linux subculture is so interesting. Some people use KDE, some people use Gnome - not that there's anything wrong with that! To each their own, I always say. I didn't mean anything dirty by that. Just, you know, do your own thing. I didn't mean anything by that either. I mean it's not like you could do someone else's thing. Well, I mean you could . . .

Lol, I was referring to the fact that Windows's applications like to slow the computer down a lot and Windows crashes a lot.

Linux is more mature.

What distro did you use? I mean, installing Mandrake is the easiest thing in the world.

WinXP installation CD
 

You may have already figured this out, but you can repartition with the WinXP install CD.

After WinXP finishes loading it startup for installation, you will get the screen that says to install now press Enter (sic).

The next screen will probably show some type of current partition information. Just highlight the partition(s) starting from the bottom, press "L" (which will take you to another screen), then press Enter to confirm delete of the partition. If WinXP determines that it is a boot partition it will want you to press "L" then "D" then Enter.

Once all of the partitions are gone you start with a 'fresh' disK. What you will see is one line with the total size of you hard disk. Press "C" to create a partition on that disk.

I recommend creating at least two partitions. One will be where you will store all of your data ( D: ) and the other for the operating system and programs ( C: ). When you chose to create a partition on the hard drive, it will let you chose a size for the partition. Since you have 120Gb, select an amount of that you will use for drive C: (that is what it will set the first partition you create). The size of this is entirely up to you. What do you tend to load for programs? Games? Office software? Games tend to use a lot of HD so you will want a larger C: partition. I have a 120Gb. I just partitioned it down the middle. 60Gb on two partitions.

Once you have your partitions setup, you will highlight the C: partition to install WinXP on and press Enter. The next screen will ask how you want to format. I recommend NTFS. It is a more efficient file system as far as how it uses your drive. There are other advantages (I won't go into here).

Anyway, I have probably rambled on too much here and you have probably already gone beyond this point.

If not, let me know...