my computer will not boot

[appsn]

Hello !

I am having trouble booting my compaq presario 1200 laptop. All this occured because I tried to install ubuntu linux on a separate partition in my hard drive, the install failed (base system could not be installed ) and it asks for formatting the partition again, which I did; with no avail. Finally, i decided to quit the install , hoping my windows xp would remain unchanged. Unfortunately, when i tried to start my computer , all I could see was a dark window with the curser prompting at the upper left corner of the screen. I inserted the linux install cd again, the cd drive started turning , made some noise and stopped. Nothing else would appear on the window. So right now I really don't know what to do. I need to retrieve my datas stored on the hard drive. :bounce: If someone could help me fix that, i would be very grateful.

 

[ej0c]

You tried to install an additional operating system without first backing up your critical data? You may be hopeless :unch:

Have you tried repairing with the Windows XP cd? You may have to enter the bios first to make sure that the computer boots from the CD, rather than the hard drive. Once the CD starts, choose the repair Windows options.

Sometimes this goes very smoothly, others not.

 

[appsn]

thanks for your advice

Thank you for this advice. I regret having made the install without first backing up my datas. I hope I will be lucky nayway...

 

[ej0c]

If it comes to it, you can usually hook the hard drive up to another computer as a slave, and get your info off that way.

There are two tools in the windows recovery console(Selectable off the windows boot cd) which repair the boot files on the c drive: ficboot and fixmbr.

but see what your windows cd does when you try to boot from it. Good luck!
ed

 

[Liquidlen]

appsn;
When you try to dual boot with Linux it puts a new file on your HDD to give you the option to load either O/S it's called Grub you can do a search at Microsoft or Here ,for instructions to remove it easily .

 

[N3051M]

If it comes to it, you can usually hook the hard drive up to another computer as a slave,

dont think he has that kind of option - its a compaq laptop.. although a workaround might be if you can get your hands on a external hdd case(usb/1394) for notebook hdds...