Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Win2K Hijacked my Compter!!


Direwolf_ts
10-27-2001, 06:24 PM
Original Problem:

>After win2k kept locking up on install I >said screw it and decided to go pure Linux. >Using Slack install I fdisked *ALL* >partitions away then partitioned for Linux. >Slack then installed and now any time I try >to boot from the HD I get:
>Windows 2000 could not start because the >following file is missing or corrupt: ><windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
>Please re-install a copy of the above file.
>
>I've tried fdisk /mbr with no luck. Where >is this nugget of Windows and how do I get >rid of it?
>
>Thanks!
>
>--Direwolf

After Troubleshooting:

OK. Someone help here. I may need a windows expert (why am I looking on a linux bbs for a windows expert??)

Abit BX6-2 motherboard w/ celeron 600
1 20Gig IBM HD as master on pri IDE
1 (??)speed CD-ROM as slave on pri IDE
1 1.2Gig HD as master on secondary IDE
1 2Gig HD on SCSI controller SCSI ID 3
1 4X CD-R on SCSI controller SCSI ID 6

I booted off of the Slack CD-ROM and using cfdisk I deleted all partitions on ALL of the hard drives writing to the partition table as I went.

I then rebooted using the Slack CD-ROM and again using cfdisk I viewed all partitions on ALL hard drives (hda, hdb, and sda)... Nothing. No partitions.

I then rebooted again using the Slack disk and using regular fdisk this time, confirmed that there is a total of ZERO partitions. No partitions exsist on any of my 3 hard drives.

I rebooted again, this time using a Win98 boot disk. Using the win98 fdisk I confirmed again (using 5 to change disks and 4 to view partition information) that there are zero partitions anywhere.

I then removed all disks from the disk drives (CD-ROM and floppy) and tried to boot from my partitionless empty hard drives. I got "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"... Expected error.

I Should now be able to say that I am confident that no operating system or indeed any left over nugget of an operating system or indeed anything at all exsists on my computer... Right?

I then booted off of the Slack CD and using fdisk created ONE primary partition on the 20Gig HD and wrote to the partition table.

I tried to boot off of the 20Gig empty, one partition HD. I got "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"... Expected.

Booting off of the Slack CD, using cfdisk I created:

/dev/hda1 200meg bootable
/dev/hda2 19Gig Extended
/dev/hda3 128Meg Swap
/dev/hda5 2Gig Linux Native
/dev/hda6 300Meg Linux Native
/dev/hda7 9Gig Linux Native
/dev/hda8 8.5Gig Linux Native

Removed all disks and tried to boot off of partitioned, empty 20Gig HD. Got the win2k error:

"Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe"

Now... the /dev/hda1 partition is marked bootable. The question of what partition is marked active should be moot because if I deleted every single partition, I should not be seeing anything to do with win2k. It should all be gone.

Is there a partition that win98 fdisk and linux fdisk and cfdisk cannot see? If so, using the win2k cdrom, is there an fdisk or similar program on it that I can use? If all of my partitions were deleted (due to the steps listed above, I'm certain ALL partitions were deleted) then where could this f*@#ing nugget of Windows be??

Any Ideas anyone??

--Direwolf

YaRness
10-27-2001, 06:31 PM
obviously the win2k boot loader is still in the mbr.

win2k didn't hijack your computer you just didn't install another boot loader.

the reason it didn't run the boot loader during your foolin around was prolly cuz you didn't have a bootable partition setup. once you made a bootable partition, the bios loaded the boot loader from the mbr.

look up how to install lilo... though it should be part of the slackware install process.

YaRness
10-27-2001, 06:32 PM
i.e. make your linux partition(s), run the install process, and everything should be fine.

Direwolf_ts
10-27-2001, 06:36 PM
Once you've deleted every partition and wrote it to the partition table the MBR should be blank.

Plus fdisk /mbr should wipe out any boot loader in the MBR.

Plus I've started with blank hard drives and done the linux install with the same results.

Any other ideas?

--Direwolf

Linuxcool
10-27-2001, 06:52 PM
Check your other thread for my answer.