I've been having slight issues with my computer, mostly along the lines of having to boot from disk and running ubuntu temporarily. It suffered a massive heart attack or something like it after I tried cleaning it of a nasty trojan that messed with all search engine links, so now it just refuses to run windows XP which is what it has. I figured I'd back up the data and reinstall XP but it wouldn't let me for some reason, so I tried Windows 7 and still nothing. Yet Ubuntu works just fine.
So now I'm stuck with either just installing Ubuntu and trying to install Windows 7, or just leaving this whole issue to a friend that actually knows what he's doing.
I figured something was off. I'm just going to have to have to get a techie friend of sorts to help me out, cause I'm fed up with this as is.
The way I backed up my files is just transferring them over to a portable HD I've got, which worked just fine. It's just when I try to reinstall windows xp it runs into some errors. I've got no way of showing this aside from trying to do it again, but I really don't want to go through with that right now. I was just wondering if it would just be a smart idea to just let Ubuntu install then try and do the same with Windows 7, provided that would work at all.
If it isn't one thing, it's damn well another. Honestly it wouldn't surprise me, so I'll just get some chap to look at it, frown at me, and wonder what the hell I might've done to it.
And if it's a hardware problem, how the hell am I posting right now? It boots up with Ubuntu but doesn't want to format with Windows XP, or even notice that a Windows 7 disk is even there.
I don't know enough about hard drives to say, really, but my understanding was that the 'boot from cd and reformat' process goes on at a level "below" what any virus should be able to fuck with.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
If you can, get that friend to help you out, but if the only thing that stopped it working to begin with was a trojan the computer hardware probably is fine. However, I could also see a trojan being blamed for the poor performance caused by a dying HDD also. Which still doesn't explain the inability to boot from your windows CD.
Computers are finicky, and I don't know of any way to impart the gut instinct of knowing when a computer is just being finicky or actually has a hardware problem.
I guess I'd start by running chkdsk or the linux equivalent to check that it's ok. The likelihood of anything else developing a problem is alot smaller because nothing else has moving parts. From there, assuming the HDD passes, I'd reset the BIOS to factory defaults, make sure the CD drive is set up as a boot device and has priority over the HDD and go from there.
You're able to run Ubuntu because you're actually running Ubuntu Live which stores what it needs into RAM and loads everything else from the CD. It makes no changes whatsoever to the HD.
Well, if his hard drive is dead he wouldn't be able to install Windows, or anything, onto it. It might start installing but just hang there on a certain % forever, or it might give him an error.
I can access my HD just fine. I already transferred my massive archives of porn and what not to my portable HD and it's just dandy. It just doesn't want to reformat at all really. I was thinking of just reformatting with ubuntu then trying to wipe it with a fresh windows 7 install.
@SyphonBlue: Actually now that you mention it I only tried to repair windows xp, rather then reformat it cause I wasn't ready to part with all my glorious youtube links. I guess I could try that, and will later. I'll post the results of it too.
if the HD is working, it should be as simple as booting your machine from the WinXP CD, deleting the old partition, and telling setup to start a new installation of Windows. you completely avoid whatever nasty virus is on the hard drive.
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Are the errors you're getting with backing up or with reinstalling?
SteamID: Baroque And Roll
The way I backed up my files is just transferring them over to a portable HD I've got, which worked just fine. It's just when I try to reinstall windows xp it runs into some errors. I've got no way of showing this aside from trying to do it again, but I really don't want to go through with that right now. I was just wondering if it would just be a smart idea to just let Ubuntu install then try and do the same with Windows 7, provided that would work at all.
if you can't even boot from the CD and format, that sounds like hardware failure
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
And if it's a hardware problem, how the hell am I posting right now? It boots up with Ubuntu but doesn't want to format with Windows XP, or even notice that a Windows 7 disk is even there.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Reformat though should help.
Computers are finicky, and I don't know of any way to impart the gut instinct of knowing when a computer is just being finicky or actually has a hardware problem.
I guess I'd start by running chkdsk or the linux equivalent to check that it's ok. The likelihood of anything else developing a problem is alot smaller because nothing else has moving parts. From there, assuming the HDD passes, I'd reset the BIOS to factory defaults, make sure the CD drive is set up as a boot device and has priority over the HDD and go from there.
(I am such a wrestling nerd)
Real answer is I would buy your friend lunch or get him some booze and see if he can take a look at it and can tell you what is wrong.
Can you open the HD in Ubuntu?
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
or are you trying to do something else?
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
@SyphonBlue: Actually now that you mention it I only tried to repair windows xp, rather then reformat it cause I wasn't ready to part with all my glorious youtube links. I guess I could try that, and will later. I'll post the results of it too.
As in: booting into DOS to 'format c:' and THEN installing windows, as opposed to whatever it is you're trying to do.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
steam | Dokkan: 868846562