linux has taken over my computer!

[DrumminBoy]

I was messing around tonight and thought id install mandrake 8.2 on my 2nd hard drive i wasnt using. Well, when i got done playing with it for the night, i restarted from linux so i could go back to xp on my main drive. I thought either a menu would come up allowing me to choose which to boot to, or i would have to change my boot sequence. Well, the menu did come up but i wasnt able to change anything, the menu just counted down and linux loaded back up. I decided to change the boot sequence instead but same thing happened. I probably shouldnt have dove into linux without knowing much, but i was just curious. Ive also tried unplugging the drive but it just boots up and a bunch of "01"s flood the screen and i just reboot to the same thing every time. Can anybody help me out?

 

[Gooberlx2]

I hope you've made a linux bootdisk if you wanna get back into your Linux install. Did you install the boot loader on the MBR of your primary harddisk? Anyway, you can use your winXP CD to restore your bootsector to the way it was.

 

[DrumminBoy]

thanks, I've tried booting from my XP cd but it either says "no operating system found" or a bunch of zero's and one's fill up the screen. any more ideas?

 

[MrGrim]

Usually when you install a Linux distr you get the option to boot from floppy or HD. If you choose floppy then the bootsector of your primary HD is left alone, else Lilo adds itself to it. What I did when I first tried Linux was to disconnect my primary HD and install Linux, then whenever I wanted to boot into Linux I went into the BIOS and changed the boot sequence. 🙂

 

[Tiger]

Is the boot sequence set to boot from CD?
You've got to get that XP CD to boot so that you can repair the MBR.
When you got that done it's an easy few steps to dual boot nirvana.
Check out the "Dual booting W2K and Linux" FAQ on the main page.

 

[Gooberlx2]

go here for a guide on dual booting, using the win2k bootloader.