Linux uninstall problem...

Guys,

The thing is that i installed Mandrake in one of my PC's but i don't know why it has a problem with the video card or the monitor. Well, i proved many ways to fix it but i couldn't so i decided to install it in another PC and reinstall Windows here. Now i have erased all partitions in the hard disk, i have created an only DOS primary partition (in FAT32), and i have formated the hard disk to reinstall Windows, but when i reboot the machine incredibly it still finds Linux and it reboots my PC showing the Linux Mandrake options screen. How could this be possible? What can i do? How can i reinstall Windows if it continuously finds Linux in the system?

Thanks.

If it is still finding that, then you haven't completely deleted all partitions. It's just simply impossible for it to find anything like that if you have. Go through with something like fdisk or Partition Magic and delete all partitions, then when you go to reinstall Windows (with a CD, I presume) just let it do the partition-making process, including setting it to Fat32/16 and whatnot.

Jehnny,

Thanks for trying to help, but i'm pretty sure of what i have done and that's the reason i'm posting here. I have used fdisk, and a Windows XP CD to try too becaue XP has his own partition and format stuff. In this PC i have a 20 GB hard disk, and had two partitions of 10 GB each. Now i have only "one" primary partition of 20 GB and i'm sure of it because it says this everywhere, and i have formated the hard disk too. So my C drive now has an only partition with 20 GB free..., but it still finds Linux on the machine. Really weird!!!

Thanks.

What boot manager are you using? It sounds to me as if there is still some evidence of mandrake in the MBR....



To repair the MBR-

Use a windows boot cd, or disk and boot with it. Make sure it has fdisk on it.
Then from the command line from the boot disk enter:fdisk /mbr



Hope that helps....

I have same problem as you last month ..I've deleted everything..but the screen mandrake option still there

Quote:

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my C drive now has an only partition with 20 GB free..., but it still finds Linux on the machine. Really weird!!!

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What I've done is just put it back your windows XP (reinstall once more ..do it again) and the process installation will delete problem automaticly <<< that's work for me..

Guys,

Thanks for your help but i have already solved the problem!!!. I have used a tool from my hard disk manufacturer that restore the hard disk "body" to factory stage, just as new.

Thanks again.

Just for future reference, this has happened to me before, and I would be willing to bet money that I know what you did.

You probably did a quick format of your hard drive, which doesn't really erase the data on the drive. It just marks the sectors as usable by the system and your data is actually still there - just invisible. Some Linux boot loaders boot the kernel by calling directly the sector where the kernel is written. When it does so, the kernel is still there and will boot.

You can do 2 things to prevent that from happening. Run "fdisk /mbr" to clear the boot sector and get rid of the Linux boot loader, and use a long DOS format instead of a quick format to erase the data on the drive.

iv had a a buncha stuff like this happen before, the other members pretty much told you what to do to fix it, but yea, lol for me, i couldnt use my restore CDs cause it said it couldnt find my HD, it was cause i had NTFS on there from 2,000 pro. So i remembered i had a regular windows 98 se CD and i booted from that, after i said yes to formatting and installing i also did the fdisk/mbr and fixed it...boy iv done some stupid stuff lol.