Re: linux partition formated under windows..

On 2007-03-30, srp@xxxxxxxxxxx <srp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I formatted my linux partition under windows since I needed the space
for a ntfs. however my computer would not then reboot.. after a bit of
a panic I managed to install a new boot manager and set it to default
to my Windoze partition ( using a boot cdrom with fdisk like tools )
Is this normal behaviour ? I was just getting dumped to a 'grub'
environment which did not seem to do anything . Please forgive my
naivity on this , I assumed that it was ok just to blow away the
partition, perhaps not though ?

Here's what it sounds like happened:

You had Windhose on the machine, with the Windhose
bootloader in the MBR. You installed Linux and installed
Grub's stage 1 (or whatever it's called) in the MBR. The
part of Grub in the MBR used the stuff in the Linux
/boot/grub area to find the Grub config file and then chain
load into Windhose. When you formatted the Linux partition,
you destroyed a link or three in the middle of the chain, so
it broke.

If a boot manager such as SBM (Smart Boot Manager) in the
MBR lets you boot into everything you want to boot into,
that's great. I have one or two Linux installations on each
of my machines, and I use SBM to select which of them I want
to boot. The advantage of SBM is each environment is
independent, not depending on _anything_ from the other
installation.

HTH

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@xxxxxxxxxxx
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Microsoft stranglehold on its users....
    ... loadlin to boot up linux manually by hand from DOS. ... LILO had bugs and it was a trap because to uninstall LILO you had to get a successful boot into Linux and uninstall it from the utility. ... The latest Red Hat Workstation Linux just loads everything on your box with little or no choices and then around version 7 they started to include CDROM drivers for the new, not the old CDROM drives. ... And, I tried the trick of using the old Linux install to mount the new OS software CDROM disk, copy the whole disk to a different partition, then run the install and that would not work either. ...
    (sci.research.careers)
  • Re: Anyone tried basiclinux?
    ... Don't want to see the dos prompt anymore. ... You are not prepared to use linux yet. ... and wiped out the entire install. ... Boot floppies are a legacy thing nowadays, ...
    (alt.linux)
  • Re: Grub Read Error on 1st boot after install
    ... > I'm new to Linux. ... > won't boot now. ... > install Linux on. ... use a second hard disk rather than just different partitions on ...
    (linux.redhat.install)
  • Re: Can someone else help? Was changing partition size.
    ... I tried the supposed fix to make Windows 98SE boot up with more ... than a gig of memory but that has not worked either. ... The last time I did that set of changes, it was done by using a Linux LiveCD ... and finish the Win98 install. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Fedora 9 install/boot problem (? Graphics Card / Mainboard drivers problem)
    ... For FC9 install: ... OS to boot through the BIOS). ... first partition of which I installed Linux, ... get & how to install them, esp as Fedora simply won't boot up & there is ...
    (alt.os.linux)