Okay, I hold my hands up. I've made yet another retarded mistake, and therefore another retarded thread. I recently got Windows 7 on my desktop computer, dual-booting it with Windows XP. All was well. Then I dismantled my shitty prebuilt, swapping for a new motherboard, case and CPU. After this hair-loss inducing frustration I found that Windows 7 still worked like a charm, but Windows XP would not boot properly.
Failing to give a shit, I just started fixing up 7 to be my main OS instead, deciding I would just get rid of the XP partition when I was finished.
Months pass.
Today I finally decided to remove that pesky XP installation so I could comfortably accommodate a copy of ArmA II. Attempting to format the XP partition threw up errors, telling me that it could not be formatted. Bemused, I assumed it was because Windows 7 was booted up at the time. Restarting, I decided to use GParted to format it, which, I reasoned, should work fine.
Can you see where this is going?
Predictably, GParted threw up a similar error. After smashing most of my teeth out on the keyboard, I saw the "Delete Partition" option.
:ohdear:
I thought: "Oh, goody! I can unallocate the XP partition and have a single-boot system with all the space I could ever want!"
Now I'm stuck with a computer which doesn't seem to know it has a perfectly good OS sitting there, waiting to be used. It keeps shouting at me that I need to plug in bootable media. I tried the Repair option on the Windows 7 disc, but it didn't do shit. I'm not sure where I should go from here, but I'd bet it's fixable if someone can tell me how.
[b]Cool Story Bro:[/b]
Deleted WinXP partition off a dual-boot with Windows 7. Won't boot, asks for bootable media. What to do?
Just to clear things up:
You had both of the OS's running fine on the rebuild.
You got new hardware; XP died.
You used Win7 until you recently decided to remove FailXP.
Upon attempting so, you received many errors. You then used (software?) GParted to delete the WinXP partition.
The computer no longer boots at all?
Err, check your BIOS and see if the Primary Boot Device is set correctly.
GParted is a utility you boot off of to change/remove/create partitions.
You are both correct, sirs.
I checked the BIOS already, primary boot device is still the SATA HDD (I only have one hard drive).
When I was going through the win7 repair dialogue it mentioned something about HDD drivers. By removing XP did I delete some critical drivers? I didn't even know hard drives required software.
I got the impression that even though windows 7 was my main OS, it was still using the XP partition to physically boot the system. GParted showed it with the label "boot". Now that it's just unallocated space, do I need to assign new volume labels?
Booting off of FailXP yet using Win7?
When you boot your drivers are loaded, so deleting XP basically deleted your drivers. You might want to format with Vista(or XP) on the HDD that used to have the OS.
[QUOTE=Shadow187(FP);16586054]Booting off of FailXP yet using Win7?
When you boot your drivers are loaded, so deleting XP basically deleted your drivers. You might want to format with Vista(or XP) on the HDD that used to have the OS.[/QUOTE]
So, reinstall an OS on that partition?
I'll try formatting it in GParted now, just in case that's what you mean. I've got to catch a plane tomorrow so I won't be on again for about 24 hours. If anyone else can help, please post!
Will reinstalling XP help?
Get a Windows 7 disk and do system repair.
Sounds like you deleted your bootloader.
Yes reinstall Windows XP and install a bootloader editor
grr, it hangs at "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". Unresponsive. Help?
unallocate all space with gparted
insert win7 DVD
install win7 over whole drive
profit
[QUOTE=tanthreecle;16781357]grr, it hangs at "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". Unresponsive. Help?[/QUOTE]
Burn slower, fast speeds fuck up the burn and cause wierd bugs (unless it's a retail/pressed disc, then make sure it isn't scratched/smudged to hell). And it sounds like the MBR is pointing to the now-unallocated XP partition, burn (LOWEST SPEED POSSIBLE on your drive) and boot the 7 disc, then do a startup repair. It should make the 7 partition bootable.
Okay, I'll try re-burning windows 7, but I can't face re-downloading the image just yet. In the meantime, is there anything else that could be causing it, like HDD drivers or something?
No, here's a tip of advice to avoid this nightmare in the future.
If you are going from a dual boot (Both windows OS's) to a single boot. You MUST say run -> msconfig and delete the bootloader entry which you are going to be removing. After that then you can play with partitions without making your OS unbootable.
Your present issue is as follows. Your bootloader is looking for two operating systems on your hard drive in specific locations. You deleted one without updating it first, so although the other OS is gone, it doesn't know and everytime you try to boot it gets stuck screaming "WTF MATE!"
Also look into Ultimate Boot cd, I did what you have done once, and I was able to repair my bootloader using the supergrub utility. Of course I also had GRUB installed not the MS bootloader. I doubt MS brought back the fixmbr command with 7 so you will need to do a startup repair with the 7 DVD. Another possibility which may result in less headaches is too use a linux live cd to back up all your data to an external hard drive and then wipe+ repartition your drive and do a fresh install.
[QUOTE=aphotic;16792018]No, here's a tip of advice to avoid this nightmare in the future.
If you are going from a dual boot (Both windows OS's) to a single boot. You MUST say run -> msconfig and delete the bootloader entry which you are going to be removing. After that then you can play with partitions without making your OS unbootable.
Your present issue is as follows. Your bootloader is looking for two operating systems on your hard drive in specific locations. You deleted one without updating it first, so although the other OS is gone, it doesn't know and everytime you try to boot it gets stuck screaming "WTF MATE!"
Also look into Ultimate Boot cd, I did what you have done once, and I was able to repair my bootloader using the supergrub utility. Of course I also had GRUB installed not the MS bootloader. I doubt MS brought back the fixmbr command with 7 so you will need to do a startup repair with the 7 DVD. Another possibility which may result in less headaches is too use a linux live cd to back up all your data to an external hard drive and then wipe+ repartition your drive and do a fresh install.[/QUOTE]
Thanks a lot. I'll try the supergrub thing and come back if it works.
supergrub said something weird about "linu/xcd" not being present or something. I think I made a linux-related silly. I'll look into smart boot manager and co.
Okay, I can't find anything that isn't designed for linux.
[QUOTE=tanthreecle;16791963]Okay, I'll try re-burning windows 7, but I can't face re-downloading the image just yet. In the meantime, is there anything else that could be causing it, like HDD drivers or something?[/QUOTE]
The download will close soon.
Better hurry.
lol it's still downloading and they've taken it down. I'm such a rebel
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