PC help needed from the Hive mind

EKE_38BPM

Mrs EKE has a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop running Windows Vista. Everything was fine with it this morning, but I've just tried to turn it on and after the initial bootup screen, the one which says Dell, the screen fills with the word "GRUB" and goes no further.

I've done a bit of googling and all I can find is stuff about installing Ubantu but as this running bog standard Vista, I have no idea what to do.

Please help, oh cycling PC geeks.

dhope

Did Mrs EKE own the laptop from new?
GRUB is a boot manager so that'd imply that at some point the thing has dual booted Vista and Ubuntu/some other flavour of Linux

itboffin

that doesnt happen on its own dude who tried to install Linux of one form or another ....?

anywhoo pop in your windows vista recovery disk and restore your MBR (google it) it'll be fine.

EKE_38BPM

Apparently she had Linux installed but all traces of it was removed two years ago.
No sign of the Vista recovery disk so I can't restore.

What should I do next?

veronese68

Have you turned it off and turned it on again?
Sorry, but someone had to say it.

Jay dubbleU

Its very difficult to remove all traces of a programme - check the registry - there may still be Linux files in there -to access use 'Start, run, regedit'

sketchley

I would help but http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1255

dhope

Erm, I hope JDub is taking the piss. Please ignore his advice

davis

dhope is pretty much correct. JW is off the mark (sorry dude).

Basically, at some point, there's been a copy of Grub installed, and it was the primary bootloader for the PC, and it was working fine. Recently, part of this Grub bootloader has been overwritten (bit of an assumption) [edit]- this was probably done without your explicit knowledge by e.g. a Windows update or some virus/bootloader protection thingy, which is why you're getting the "GRUB GRUB GRUB" problem.

Now, you've got two options:

1. Repair the grub bootloader
2. Overwrite it completely with the "standard" windows bootloader.

I believe 2 can be done with the "fixmbr" command from a Windows rescue console (if such a thing exists).
I'm generally a *nix type of geek, and I'd probably look to do 1. from sysrescue or similar.

EKE_38BPM

Sketchley wrote:

I would help but http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1255

I promise I'll still respect you in the morning.

Seriously, what should I do/what can I do without the restore disk?

edit: I've just seen Davis' post.
I got a bit lost after "Basically..." but I'll try to decipher it and do what I can.

Cheers

davis

Ah - you've not got any media at all? This should help if you can locate some. If you can't, I guess you could do it from (freely downloadable) sysrescue, but the steps are different.

sketchley

I'll help for beer

Do you have another pc, or laptop with a cd or DVD writer? Do you have a blank disk?

davis

Oh yeah, good call Sketchley... I'm sure we can ...locate an .iso image of Windows summat-or-other for EKE to burn and boot & repair from

dhope

Yup, what davis and itb said. Fixmbr will be first thing to try. Assuming you have another working machine somewhere you could try making a USB stick bootable and use that

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/517062.aspx
http://www.bootdisk.com/

May help

EKE_38BPM

I'm currently using an old (and very slow) Acer laptop with the OS in spanish (which I don't speak), so everything takes ages and I can't really understand any prompts.

In answer to your question, yes I have a laptop with a DVD writer, but no blank discs until tomorrow.

I'm going to have a hunt under the bed, behind the sofa, up the chimney etc for the restore disc.

sketchley

Beg borrow or steal a windows vista disc from a mate or friend near by, or go see the it department at work....

davis

Hmm... Turn your Spanish laptop into a PXE server, use it to serve out a network-bootable image, fix the main laptop from that image. Easy!

(The above is not a serious suggestion, although it would work)
Back to trying to help; can you not change the language settings of the OS (usually called something like "Regional Settings", but in Spanish, obviously!)

Mr Sworld

It's a sign.... Vista is terrible... Get W7 instead.

EKE_38BPM

davis wrote:

Back to trying to help; can you not change the language settings of the OS (usually called something like "Regional Settings", but in Spanish, obviously!)

I tried that, and some things have changed, but all too much has stayed the same. For example: Control Panel is now "Panel de Control", but other stuff (I can't think of any things now) come up in English.

No sign of the restore disk, but the guy who installed (and then removed) Linux is going to fix it later this week. I'm not expecting much success, he's a bloke with a girl's name.

davis

EKE_38BPM wrote:

davis wrote:

Back to trying to help; can you not change the language settings of the OS (usually called something like "Regional Settings", but in Spanish, obviously!)

I tried that, and some things have changed, but all too much has stayed the same. For example: Control Panel is now "Panel de Control", but other stuff (I can't think of any things now) come up in English.

No sign of the restore disk, but the guy who installed (and then removed) Linux is going to fix it later this week. I'm not expecting much success, he's a bloke with a girl's name.

Hmm, ok. FWIW he demonstrably didn't remove all traces of it; he left the initial bootloader (grub) in place. I still think replacing it with the "normal" Windows bootloader to be the better option for you. The Windows bootloader is frankly crap, but it's the defacto standard and it means you're far less likely to find yourself in a similar pickle later.

Kieran_Burns

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... ta-550172/

i finally found the solution to over-writing vista's bootloader. the fdisk /mbr people keep suggesting as a fix for vista only works for XP and earlier OS. the program i've discovered {Mbrfix} discussion can be found at: http://www.sysint.no/Nedlasting/MbrFix.htm
This is a good utility (MBRFix.exe) for vista. the program should be run from command prompt and the directory that contains the program. for example c:\Users\username\folders...\mbrfix.

To download the file: http://www.sysint.no/en/Download.aspx thanks for your efforts cliff

or:

Here's another way.


I downloaded Super Grub ISO and created a bootable CD with it. You can read about it here:

users.bigpond.net.au/her...rubDiskPage.html

Using Super Grub program, I loaded the Windows section and told it to Fix Windows Boot. It didnt have Vista as an option when doing this, so I chose the Windows 2000/XP Option.

And that totally wiped Grub, and reinstalled Vista MBR. Partition table and boot sectors.

However, interestingly, Vista still wouldnt boot, but after 1 hour, I realises why. For some strange reason, Super Grub's Windows Restore function, altered my "Active" partition to another partition. So I had to make the initial partition that contains Vista as "Active". If I didnt, Vista complained that it couldnt find BOOTMGR and couldnt find C:/windows/winload.exe

http://supergrub.forjamari.linex.org/?section=download

jeepie

Hi Eke,

I think the best solution is to obtain a Windows Vista CD and boot from that. This will give you repair or reinstall options. Or as suggested, it could be a sign, and you could buy a Windows 7 CD to reinstall Windows (although I've just checked and it's over £100 notes) so beg, steal or borrow a Windows CD to get you booting.

Cheers

J

noodles71

You need to be careful if you have any data on the drive that needs recovering. Some people are great at running restore DVD's and reinstalling windows from a Windows DVD but can be quite careless in saving any of your previous stuff.

From what you describe I would be 99% sure that your data is recoverable. Once you are sure you have all your music, photos, etc.... then it is quite a simple task to restore that laptop. I have a Inspiron 1725 which is a very similar machine when it comes to the drivers (software needed to make it talk to windows). I think I can find the Dell recovery disks lying around somewhere. You will need a valid product key which you can find on the green looking Microsoft sticker underneath that consists of 5 groups of 5 characters. Without this you will need to dig into your pockets to have someone help you and not fall foul of the law.

You have two options before you recover if you want to save your data;

#1 - Download a "Live CD" of ubuntu, knoppix or any other Linux from another computer and write it to CD or USB stick. Boot your Inspiron off that disk/stick and immediately after it starts to load plug in your external backup drive. The Live CD should then allow you to copy from your user folders on the hard disk inside the laptop over to the external disk.

#2 - Remove the hard disk from the laptop, place it into a SATA cradle and plug the USB from the cradle into a working PC and copy the stuff from your user folders onto the 2nd PC, hopefully there will be room.

After this, run a full restore from Dell CD/DVD's or a new complete installation from a Windows Vista DVD. Running a repair will work but the machine will never be the same if you do more than just rewrite the MBR (Master Boot Record).

I'm based near Liverpool St if you need some help sourcing the DVD's.

cheers,
Greg

mudcow007

there is more than likely a recovery partition on the laptop - hence why there isnt a recovery disk

turn machine on - keep pressing F8 an enter recovery mode

dhope

mudcow007 wrote:

there is more than likely a recovery partition on the laptop - hence why there isnt a recovery disk

turn machine on - keep pressing F8 an enter recovery mode

Problem is F8 is Windows recovery console, which you'll not be able to get to as the boot manager is ballsed and doesn't know where to find Windows.

EKE_38BPM

mudcow007 wrote:

there is more than likely a recovery partition on the laptop - hence why there isnt a recovery disk

turn machine on - keep pressing F8 an enter recovery mode

Thanks all for the suggestions. I've just tried the F8 thing, but that didn't work, I still get the GRUB GRUB screen.
The guy who installed Linux is coming tomorrow to sort it out (hopefully).

If that doesn't work, I'll be trying the suggestions on this thread, one by one!

noodles71

mudcow007 wrote:

there is more than likely a recovery partition on the laptop - hence why there isnt a recovery disk

turn machine on - keep pressing F8 an enter recovery mode

Good advice but if you have any data on the laptop you want to recover first then do this BEFORE attempting any type of recovery.

mudcow007

noodles71 wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

there is more than likely a recovery partition on the laptop - hence why there isnt a recovery disk

turn machine on - keep pressing F8 an enter recovery mode

Good advice but if you have any data on the laptop you want to recover first then do this BEFORE attempting any type of recovery.

you can normally do a "re-install" that only reinstalls windows operating files leaving user data intact

within the recovery partion there will be an option of "restore factory image" that's what totally wipes the disc

could you whip the hdd out an connect it to another machine to check partitions?

its possible who ever installed Linux wiped the windows partition?

Grub is the boot loader for Linux

davis

@EKE, dhope, KB, noodles and I are the ones to listen to here... Mudcow, while you're being helpful, you're leaping ahead while everyone else has provided more than enough -- sorry dude.

EKE_38BPM

I think its about time I updated this thread to let you all know the major blunder I made and what happened in the end.

The installation of Linux many moons ago was determined to be the source of the problem by one and all, so I was advised to have a look for the CDs/DVDs that came with the computer, use the restore disc and that should solve the problem. I had a look for the restore disc and failed to find it, so the guy who originally installed Linux said he would come round on the saturday with a restore disc and sort it out. This meant using the Spanish laptop for four or five days, but I would have to just muddle through.

Fast forward a few days to the friday night. Mrs EKE, her housemate and I went to our local for a few drinks and then continued the drinking when we got back to the house. The two ladies decided they wanted to play Just Dance on the Wii and I had to delve into the box with all of the games and controllers. Whilst in the box I found the discs that came with the laptop and I thought "Aha, the reinstallation disc! I can do this and then the guy who installed Linux won't have to come round. I'm a genius!"

So in my squiffy state I put the disc in and started the reinstallation process. It was taking ages, so I went to bed and left it running.

In the morning, MrsEKE woke me up to tell me that the laptop now turned on properly, but there was nothing on it at all. It was a brand new PC again! I had reinstalled Windows, not just restored it like I had meant to.
The Linux guy came round later that day and had a fiddle, but to no avail, all of the stuff on the machine was gone.

I was not in MrsEKE's good books. Films, Music, LOTS of photos, legal correspondence, contact details etc all gone.

I was in line for a long period of MrsEKE trying to do something on the laptop and not being able to as the data she needed was gone and me getting the blame. I was not looking forward to this.

However, fortunately for me, MrsEKE's dad is a genius. Strangely, he has a degree in physics from Oxford University, but works as a builder?! He is a very clever and determinded man who loves a challenge. MrsEKE explained what had happened and he said take the laptop to him and he'd have a look.

I week later he returned the laptop with the vast majority (~95%) of the data back!!!
I've noticed a few missing things, but even things like the cookies, history and bookmarks in Firefox are there. A few months earlier he had backed up most of the photos, but things that he hadn't backed up had been restored.

I don't know what he did, but I bought him a bottle of Whisky to say thanks.

The moral of the story: Drinking a few pints of beer does not suddenly mean you know how to fix broken computers. Wait until you are sober, or better yet, let someone who knows what they are doing fix it.

veronese68

You are one lucky ***. Glad you got most of the stuff back. Bt then hearing about all the grief you got could have been entertaining in a perverse kind of way.