Ubuntu back to WinXP(solved, new WinXP Question )

[Kriz]

Alright, so here's the drill: I installed Ubuntu on a Dell laptop (Inspiron 4100), and it just isn't working out. The programs installed can't do things my family members need them to do (divx files won't play in VLC, java won't work in firefox, etc), and no matter how many times I type apt-get into the damn console, it won't get apps.

So yeah, I need to put Windows XP back on it. Yes, this is counter-productive to sane computing habits, but with Windows XP, I can usually identify a problem within minutes and fix it within a similar amount of time. I have lots of programs for Windows, and I know how they all work.

Am I abandoning Linux forever? Certainly not. But I need this laptop up and running, and Ubuntu is trying my patience. It's neither the time, nor the place, nor the machine for me to be testing the Linux waters.

At first, I just tried throwing in the Windows XP CD and rebooting. And after inquiring at another forum I frequent, I learned that Linux can't run Windows boot discs.

So I downloaded Knoppix (4.0.2), burned it to a CD (this lappy has no floppy drive), and it won't boot off it. Just the whirring of the DVD drive, and then it boots into Ubuntu (or Kubuntu, actually. I half-assedly installed KDE, and I think I did it wrong).

So yeah, I need some sort of boot CD for Linux that can format the drive to something that can boot a WinXP setup CD.

thanks.

 

[JohnG86]

To install Windows XP while removing Linux, you need to boot off the XP CD. When the Dell logo is showing before it starts the OS press F12 to get a boot menu to show. Press the number that goes with CD-ROM and it will boot from the CD Drive. In the Windows XP install, you can remove the linux partitions then create a partition for Win XP.

 

[Kriz]

I just tried it now, and it gave me the same reaction as when I tried before (I have the DVD drive set to boot before the HD). It couldn't boot, so then it started the Linux boot process.

 

[InlineFive]

Linux is not running the disk. You need to enter your BIOS and change the boot order so that the CD-ROM is first.

 

[Kriz]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo
Linux is not running the disk. You need to enter your BIOS and change the boot order so that the CD-ROM is first.

I did that already. the DVD-ROM drive is the first drive that boots.

 

[NEOSOLACE]

It could be the boot loader that modified the boot sector of your HD. if you can get it to boot off a DOS floppy run FDISK /MBR. It's gotten me out of a jam such as yours...

 

[Kriz]

Originally posted by: NEOSOLACE
It could be the boot loader that modified the boot sector of your HD. if you can get it to boot off a DOS floppy run FDISK /MBR. It's gotten me out of a jam such as yours...

Is there such a thing as a DOS CD? Cause I don't have a floppy drive for this laptop, neither internal nor modular.

 

[Doh!]

Originally posted by: NEOSOLACE
It could be the boot loader that modified the boot sector of your HD. if you can get it to boot off a DOS floppy run FDISK /MBR. It's gotten me out of a jam such as yours...

How does a boot loader affect booting from a CD. It's done by bios before reading the hard drive which contains a boot loader.

Is the XP CD a legal copy of windows xp? If so and the cd is free of errors, it should boot provided that you set it properly in the bios.

 

[Kriz]

Originally posted by: Doh!

Is the XP CD a legal copy of windows xp? If so and the cd is free of errors, it should boot provided that you set it properly in the bios.

It most certainly is a legal copy. It came with my Dell desktop. Since the laptop was given to me used, it didn't come with a CD, only a COA on the bottom. I used this CD to install Windows XP on this laptop once before.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Kriz

Originally posted by: Doh!

Is the XP CD a legal copy of windows xp? If so and the cd is free of errors, it should boot provided that you set it properly in the bios.

It most certainly is a legal copy. It came with my Dell desktop. Since the laptop was given to me used, it didn't come with a CD, only a COA on the bottom. I used this CD to install Windows XP on this laptop once before.

Are you trying to boot from a Dell support CD or an actual Windows XP CD? I'm totally new to Linux (two days now) but I would think the PC's BIOS settings would supercede any sort of boot menu that Linux would've put there.

 

[Kriz]

Originally posted by: Robor

Are you trying to boot from a Dell support CD or an actual Windows XP CD? I'm totally new to Linux (two days now) but I would think the PC's BIOS settings would supercede any sort of boot menu that Linux would've put there.

It's a Windows XP CD, Dell OEM version.

That's exactly what I figured. But Ubuntu doesn't seem to agree. It spins the disc as if its trying to read it, then starts up the GRUB linux booting process.

 

[tyanni]

Originally posted by: Kriz

Originally posted by: Robor

Are you trying to boot from a Dell support CD or an actual Windows XP CD? I'm totally new to Linux (two days now) but I would think the PC's BIOS settings would supercede any sort of boot menu that Linux would've put there.

It's a Windows XP CD, Dell OEM version.

That's exactly what I figured. But Ubuntu doesn't seem to agree. It spins the disc as if its trying to read it, then starts up the GRUB linux booting process.

it doesn't spin the cd, the bios is doing the work. try the cd in another machine...

Tim

 

[mect]

In bios, have you tried completely removing the hard drive from the boot sequence?

 

[Crono]

Try using this.

 

[Kriz]

Originally posted by: tyanni
it doesn't spin the cd, the bios is doing the work. try the cd in another machine...

Tim

I just used the same CD in my computer last week to reinstall XP Home.

Originally posted by: mect
In bios, have you tried completely removing the hard drive from the boot sequence?

Yup, and it still wouldn't boot.

Originally posted by: Crono
Try using this.

Which one? With "INSERT" or without?

 

[Doh!]

It doesn't matter.

I would check your hardware settings again since you failed to boot w/ bootable CD's on two separate occasions (WinXP & Knoppix). Or your cd/dvd drive or cable could be a problem as well.

 

[Kriz]

yeah...the ultimate boot cd wouldn't boot either.

something is fishy about this dvd drive. It's a modular dell drive, and it usually hasn't given me any trouble before. I was able to copy a video file from a dvd to the hard drive in ubuntu, but it can't boot off any of these CDs.

 

[magomago]

Well to provide a fix until you can get windows I suggest you add the plf repositories to get DIVX and Java

Open up terminal


sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Then copy the following at the very end:


## http 100mbit/s mirror provided thanks to OVH http://ovh.com
deb http://packages.freecontrib.org/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free
deb-src http://packages.freecontrib.org/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free


After that save the file and close gedit. Then do a

sudo apt-get update


from there

apt-get install w32codecs
apt-get install libdvdcss2
apt-get install Sun JRE


that should get it up. IF you wanna look at their other files go

http://wiki.ubuntu-fr.org/doc/plf

and look at the bottom

 

[magomago]

btw I hve a feeling "apt-get install Sun JRE" won't work...I've never seen a pacakge with a space in the name (though I'm sure drag and nothingman could sy that better than me 😉) If that doesn't work, just pull up synaptic and search for "java"

 

[Kriz]

Wow.

It was the DVD drive. I popped it out, popped it back in, and it ran the boot CD. I fdisked, and threw in my Dell OEM WinXP Home.

thanks for the ubuntu tips, I have another system with Ubuntu on it, that will come in handy.

does anyone know how to change the serial number in WinXP Home? the cd i have came with my dell desktop, and has my number in it, so I need to change it to match the COA on the bottom of the laptop.

 

[Nothinman]

btw I hve a feeling "apt-get install Sun JRE" won't work...I've never seen a pacakge with a space in the name (though I'm sure drag and nothingman could sy that better than me ) If that doesn't work, just pull up synaptic and search for "java"

Yea spaces are illegal in package names, apt would just assume you meant 2 seperate packages. And AFAIK there's no Sun JRE packages because Sun won't let people redistribute them freely. You can install the java-package package and use make-jpkg to create a .deb from the Sun JRE download though.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

btw I hve a feeling "apt-get install Sun JRE" won't work...I've never seen a pacakge with a space in the name (though I'm sure drag and nothingman could sy that better than me ) If that doesn't work, just pull up synaptic and search for "java"

Yea spaces are illegal in package names, apt would just assume you meant 2 seperate packages. And AFAIK there's no Sun JRE packages because Sun won't let people redistribute them freely. You can install the java-package package and use make-jpkg to create a .deb from the Sun JRE download though.

Penguin Liberation Front's (PLF😉) repos do have a prepackaged debian file 😉


Btw to the original posters:

Alsol try www.ubuntuguide.org for more info. It was written for Hoary but a lot of the same things still apply (and if they don't or a folder is moved just start checking each folder 1 by 1 to see where it might have gone). You can use that to help you with quite a bit in installing, etc.

The second place to go would be http://www.ubunutuforums.org They have an EXCELLENT community that will help you with many things. The site is also RIDDLED with how tos. It has helped me take a simple ubuntu and make it ia) Look a LOT nicer and b) Understand what is going on a LOT more. If you haven't signed up there you should definitely do it

 

[Nothinman]

Penguin Liberation Front's (PLF) repos do have a prepackaged debian file

And they're probably doing it illegally, and it's not terribly hard to run 'make-jpkg blah.bin' so I'd rather just do that.