[ltp] t21 won't boot after aborted install

Fri, 19 Oct 2001 09:05:45 -0400

Hi Phil,

I'd boot to the Windows 2000 CD-ROM and re-install Win2K, which will get
your laptop up and running in *something*, then give Linux another go.  On
a T21, you can set the Boot order from the BIOS, telling it whether to
start with the floppy, the CD-ROM or the hard drive.  I'd tell it to boot
to the CD-ROM first, then the hard drive.  It sounds like it's set right
now to boot straight to the hard drive, so it's never giving the CD-ROM a
chance.

If you have trouble getting into the BIOS, just turn the computer off, hold
down the space-bar and turn it back on.  That will give you a keyboard
error, which will take you into the BIOS.  From there, you can change your
setup or boot options.

When you finally get into the Win2K install, just choose Repair Current
Installation.  That way you'll get the OS back but won't lose any data.  If
that doesn't work, however, you'll have to do a New installation.  You
still won't lose any data, but you'll have to re-install all applications.

It's possible you hosed the partition, which means you'll have to re-format
in the Win2k install.  You'll lose all your data, but at least you'll get a
useful laptop back!

T. Brian Hare

                    Phil Suh                                                                                   
                    <phil@filsa.net>             To:     <linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com>                      
                    Sent by:                     cc:                                                           
                    owner-linux-thinkpad@b       Subject:     [ltp] t21 won't boot after aborted install       
                    m-soft.com                                                                                 

                    10/18/2001 07:17 PM                                                                        
                    Please respond to                                                                          
                    linux-thinkpad                                                                             

Ah yes. I'm a newbie and I'm afraid I've screwed things up.

I have a Thinkpad T21, with DVD drive, and 20 gig HD, Windows 2000.

I've been looking at installing linux for a long time, so after Mandrake
8.1 came out I decided to take the plunge.  I cleaned off the T21, backed
up
all the data, and had a friend burn the Mandrake install disks.

The goal was to dual-boot win2k and mandrake.

I had a really old copy of Partition Magic (4.0) but rather than use it, I
assumed that I could use fdisk/disk druid to repartition the drive. I
didn't realize that creating new partitions, and resizing the one big
win2k partition, would wipe the drive.

Looking back, this seems like common sense. But when Disk Druid put up the
dialog, 'will wipe current data on partitions, are you sure?', i
inadvertently pressed 'OK'. I realized instantly what I had done, and in a
panic, disconnected the power and unplugged the battery, turning the
machine off.

(Yeah, stupid, I panicked.)

Anyway, I now have a Thinkpad that, when turned on, shows:
  1. the Bios screen (F1 for settings, F12 for alt-boot-device)
  2. then shows the "Loading Windows...  Press F8 for boot options"
  3. then shows in VGA the Windows2k splash screen.
  4. then blue screens to:
      *** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x814574B0, ......)
      INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

It's obvious I have some sort of hard disk problem. I'm puzzled by the
fact that I can start booting into windows, but then it dies part-way. If
the master boot record was screwed up, I don't think it would even start.

I've attempted to fiddle with the BIOS so I can boot from my "Product
Recovery CD-ROM (IBM Thinkpad T21 MT 2647)". I can't get the BIOS to boot
from the DVD-ROM.

So my questions: if you were in my shoes,

  1. how would you go about getting the laptop fixed so it could boot
     into Win2k,

     1a. how does one get the bios to boot fro mthe recovery cd-rom?
     1b. will that enable me to run some sort of drive check
         ('CHKDSK /F')?

  2. and then subsequently, how to get this machine dual-booting linux?

Thanks for your time.

Phil

lrf v srry yvxr na vqvbg

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