Hey!

here is my problem

i was installing knoppix-std on my laptop from the live CD.
when i type the command #mkfs.ext2 /dev/hda1
all seemed fine. But when the command was done my laptop reboted (low power)
And when my computer started agine it said "OS is missing"
becuse i was running win_xp before my question is can i get it back with all the prior data

well if windows was on /dev/hda1 and you formatted it (cleared off the file syetem) and then put another on top, that's nasty. Your only chance might be to loo kto some commercial data restoration services.

If you just cockd up the MBR and windows partition is still there, boot back into your Knoppix live cd and browse the mount points for it. if it's there.

put in the windows cd boot to rescue console and do fixmbr

this should fix (give windows back it's domination it craves) and let you boot to it

yeah i think its the nasty one.

becuse i a newbie on linux and my english is limited.. can you explian the secound option? step by step?

step 1:

Boot into the knoppix live cd as before

step 2:

use the file manager to go to /mnt directory or whatever knoppix sets the mount points to/ use the command line to go there with

cd /mnt (or alternative)

Browse the files there and see what you can find, (ls if using the command line) see if your windows data is there. if not open a console and type

su
<root password

fdisk -l

this will show you the partitions on your HDD, see if any have ntfs or fat32 as the filesytem

step 4:

If you have no windows partitions there, then it looks bad, if you do (fingers crossed) then you just messed up the boot record on the machine, and it doesn't know where to go to boot the operating system.

step 5:

Ok so you have found that the data is still there (hooray) now you need to fix the mbr (master boot record). This can be done easily by inserting a fully fledged windows cd and following the comands to the rescue console, once there run the command fixmbr and you should see text indicating it's working.

step 6:

once done reboot the machine and it should be ok

I have tried to do that as simple and clear as possible, if you have further problems we can work through them

Does knoppix not use a graphical partitioner?? what version are you using?

ext2 is being replaced by ext3 now (journaling features)

Once you get it fixed and are ready to try again (dont be disheartened, happens to us all) use the knoppix cd to add a SEPERATE partition (maybe you did this in knoppix install), for playing around with linux, look into fdisk to achieve the partitioning.

Where is OP?

We do not know if the setup is dual-boot---nor do we know where in the install the formatting was done.

Details--we need DETAILS

duplicate post---bad dog....
I hear the cops coming now...