Cannot boot into vista

[Onay]

Here's a run down of what happened to my T60p after trying to put Ubuntu 7.10 on it with vista simultaneously...

I partitioned the drive with ubuntu's live CD's partition editor by resizing the Vista OS partition and creating 2 new partitions for linux. Upon rebooting my system just to check to see if my windows still worked, I discovered that I could not boot into Vista. Instead, I am lead straight to Rescue and Recovery.

So I install ubuntu with GRUB and everything works fine, at least for ubuntu. Same thing happens when I try to boot into windows though. I have altered my grub file to try different partitions, but I'm getting the same results. I also tried changing the partition "flags", but it made no difference.

Problem is that I do not have any backups via R&R. They took up way too much space on my hard drive. Right now I could care less about linux, since I can install that anytime. How can I boot into my vista partition? I have limited resources, but any ideas you can pitch would be fantastic, since I still have all of my files on that partition.


P.S. I have read many other posts while searching about how to fix this problem, but every thread I've read deals with XP rather than Vista. XP recovery CD's have recovery consoles that you can use to fix the MBR or boot sectors/partition tables. Is there any way I can use R&R to do a similar task?

Thanks ahead of time for all your help.

[ryengineer]

See if one of the following helps you (You would need a floppy drive):

Rescue and Recovery - Recovery repair diskette

Master boot record repair kit

If you've a Windows Vista disk then it can fix your problem too.

Another alternative solution would be, since you can boot into Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery, there is an option there that lets you "rescue files" from your hdd on an external media like a USB drive etc. You can rescue all your files via this method and then afterwards intiate the factory restore process that will put your machine to out of the box factory settings.

[Onay]

Thanks so much for the fast reply. What files will it keep? Only the ones stored in the users like music and documents?

And if I restore the MBR, what happens if I still cannot boot into windows? Right now I have at least one operating system that I can access and use, but if I restore the MBR and the problem worsens, then I'm going to be digging my own grave.

Can I do any of these options via USB drive? That would make my life easier... the T60's dont come with floppy drives (or at least not mine).

[ryengineer]

Thanks so much for the fast reply. What files will it keep? Only the ones stored in the users like music and documents?

Sort of, anything you choose will be copied to external media.

Can I do any of these options via USB drive? That would make my life easier... the T60's dont come with floppy drives (or at least not mine).

USB floppy drive will do.

And if I restore the MBR, what happens if I still cannot boot into windows? Right now I have at least one operating system that I can access and use, but if I restore the MBR and the problem worsens, then I'm going to be digging my own grave.

You don't seem to have much option. I am hoping you don't lose your important data, consider storing it on an external media before fixing the MBR. I assume you haven't created a set Product Recovery disks too.

[Onay]

Okay, sounds like a little bit of work, but not horrible. I had quite a few things stored on it.

Is there anyway I can even get it to boot into safe mode? I'm apprehensive to restore my MBR, plus I don't have anything that I can use that uses floppies. I'll probably attempt to restore my data, but I'll do a bit more research.

This problem seems like it could be a common one amongst other Thinkpad users with R&R and Vista when they partition. If there's any forum that can help me, I think this one would be the most accurate. Thanks guys for your help.

EDIT:

I think my problem is just my MBR... How can I restore it to its factory state? The link you gave me to go to Lenovo's site is for Windows 2000 and XP according to the help file. I need it for Vista with a 5GB R&R partition.

EDIT2:

Also can I restore the MBR with Super Grub Disk? Or is that only for generic installs, and not ones with R&R like lenovo laptops? I just can't get a floppy drive within the next few weeks, and I reallly need the data on that drive.

[GomJabbar]

The first link ryengineer posted above has two downloads. One for W2K and XP and the other for Vista. That should be what you need to have both Rescue and Recovery and Vista bootable.

[Onay]

Does anyone know much about Super Grub Disk? I attempted to restore the boot of windows by using "Fix Boot / Windows" function, but it did nothing to help me, so I reverted back to GRUB. Is my only chance of restoring my Windows Vista Partition is complete factory fresh install?

Has anyone else had this problem? Who else has even partitioned vista on a thinkpad NOT using Vista's partitioner? I would think that this is a more common problem for Vista Thinkpad user's wanted to dual-boot. Please any more help would be much obliged.