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I know it is a stupid question but I really need your helps now.

I installed Ubuntu on my T60p and wiped out everything that was on the hard drive. The file format was changed to the one that suits Linux as well.

Now I have to go back to Windows but I cannot.

Firstly, the Recovery DVD no longer works. Every time I messed up my system, the Recovery DVD could always restore the hard drive to the original factory state, but not this time. When I click on the full recovery option, the program blocks and restarts.

Secondly, the Windows XP installation CD doesn't work either. It says no hard drive was detected and the only option left was pressing F3 to restart.

I assume all of this happen because Linux has changed the file format to the one that none of the Windows systems can recognize. I downloaded the Ultimate Boot CD and tried to use some of the programs to format the hard drive but didn't succeed.

Is there anything else I can try before calling Lenovo?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Tony

I sold a hard drive with Linux on it to forum member Phazer. He said he had some trouble formatting it but somehow was able to figure it out. Maybe you can ask him?

Also, the UBCD probably has some sort of drive zero-out utility, doesn't it? That should work.

If your Recovery CD is the IBM recovery CD, start it, and break out of it (Ctrl-Break or F3) at the first menu it stops at. Quit again if necessary in order to get back to a DOS prompt. Run FDISK. Delete all partitions. Run FDISK /mbr. Then see if the recovery works.

Otherwise, grab a Linux or Windows boot CD and delete all the partitions. What you are trying to do is the wipe out the disk to nothing. That should allow the recovery to proceed.
... JDH

Yeah, Linux formatted the drive the ext 3 or whatever..

Do you have QTParted or another disk partition program on CD?

BTW next time, IF there is a next time ... Don't let Ubuntu install with the default partition set-up..Go to expert or manual and split your HDD up.

ulrich.von.lich wrote:I know it is a stupid question but I really need your helps now.

I installed Ubuntu on my T60p and wiped out everything that was on the hard drive. The file format was changed to the one that suits Linux as well.

Now I have to go back to Windows but I cannot.

Firstly, the Recovery DVD no longer works. Every time I messed up my system, the Recovery DVD could always restore the hard drive to the original factory state, but not this time. When I click on the full recovery option, the program blocks and restarts.

Secondly, the Windows XP installation CD doesn't work either. It says no hard drive was detected and the only option left was pressing F3 to restart.

I assume all of this happen because Linux has changed the file format to the one that none of the Windows systems can recognize. I downloaded the Ultimate Boot CD and tried to use some of the programs to format the hard drive but didn't succeed.

Is there anything else I can try before calling Lenovo?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Tony

On the "no hard drive found" problem, I set the SATA drive in BIOS to "compatability" which will allow the install disk to see the drive. That is with XP. With Vista, SATA drives are already recognized.

Then, if you are trying to install XP, make sure you use the format option first before install begins. This will correct the boot sector problems created by Linux.

If you are trying to install Vista, do the same, format the drive then install Vista. With Vista, if you do not re-format a "linuxed" partition, you will end up with a blinking marker on a black screen after a long install attempt. Frustrating! But, formatting the drive when fist installing the OS will eliminate that frustration.

The format command appears at the bottom of the install window when you first start to load the operating system.

I may have a similar problem after a linux install (Xubuntu) but on an older laptop.

I had Xubuntu on my 240x however I wanted to reinstall W2KPro. I was able to transfer over the I386 folder from the W2KPro CD from an external USB stick to the hard drive (then ran WINNT.EXE), and when prompted to reboot to install the OS, it kept going back into the Xubuntu OS boot screen.

I did format my hard drive and deleted all partitions to make sure that the Xubuntu did not load however, all I get now is "Grub load..etc, Error (random #)" and a blinking cursor.

Would doing fdisk /mbr erase the master boot record of the previous OS install? (I know, I should have partitioned it prior to the full install of the Xubuntu OS!) I am at a loss as to how to make my HD completely blank for a new OS install!

I honestly don't know what I did that finally made mine install XP from the recovery disks. I ran fdisk 2-3 times and formatted that many also. Each time it would reboot, it showed "grub stage 6.1" or something like that and just stayed at the flashing cursor. I even put the new HDD in the drivebay adapter and tried formatting that way. Finally, the restore disk overwrote the problem and no problem since. Blind luck I guess

Use Dban to wipe the drive first. A minimal single pass wipe should do it. Boot with a DOS floppy and use Fdisk to create a partition. Finally format the drive from the DOS floppy. The operating system should install then.

http://www.dban.org/

Hi thanks guys for the feedbacks!

I resolved the problem by:

1. use fdisk to delete all existing partitions
2. execute fdisk /mbr

I don't know how the command "fdisk /mbr" modifies the master boot partition. All I wanted was a blank hard drive on which I can install windows system again and that magic command did the job.

Thanks a million! I'll be back next time I ran into problems in Linux.

ulrich.von.lich wrote:Hi thanks guys for the feedbacks!

I resolved the problem by:

1. use fdisk to delete all existing partitions
2. execute fdisk /mbr

I don't know how the command "fdisk /mbr" modifies the master boot partition. All I wanted was a blank hard drive on which I can install windows system again and that magic command did the job.

Thanks a million! I'll be back next time I ran into problems in Linux.

fdisk /mbr clears all the boot flag/pointers on the first 512bytes of the hard drive. All the blinking cursor error when the computer starts are related to that because the boot manager(grub, etc) can no longer find the correct partition to boot from after the partition is delete/formated.

teetee wrote:fdisk /mbr clears all the boot flag/pointers on the first 512bytes of the hard drive. All the blinking cursor error when the computer starts are related to that because the boot manager(grub, etc) can no longer find the correct partition to boot from after the partition is delete/formated.

Are you sure? The command is only supposed to replace the code in the master boot record. It does not alter the partition table where the boot flag is stored.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/69013

k0lo wrote:

teetee wrote:fdisk /mbr clears all the boot flag/pointers on the first 512bytes of the hard drive. All the blinking cursor error when the computer starts are related to that because the boot manager(grub, etc) can no longer find the correct partition to boot from after the partition is delete/formated.

Are you sure? The command is only supposed to replace the code in the master boot record. It does not alter the partition table where the boot flag is stored.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/69013

I didn't say anything about altering the partition table in my post. People tend to have problems booting up the computer after they deleted linux partition was because the boot manager like grub they installed (and forgot to clear/uninstall) on MBR can no longer find the required files to boot from(ex. vmlinuz). The first 512byte of the hard drive is the master boot record. The boot flag in MBR that I mentioned is different from the bootable flag/active flag on each partition. So I guess we were talking about the same thing but in different words.

Ref: http://www.yale.edu/pclt/BOOT/PARTITIO.HTM

teetee:

Perhaps we are only talking semantics here. A lot of people refer to the first sector (512 bytes) on a disk as the "MBR" when in reality the first sector contains both the MBR code (446 bytes) and the partition table (64 bytes). Like you said, the boot flag that identifies the active partition is part of the partition table, not the MBR code. I didn't understand (and still don't) what you meant by "the Boot Flag in MBR". To me, the boot flag is not in the MBR; it is in the partition table.