Booting to a lost root partition

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March 16th, 2006, 10:13 AM
DutchGeek

Booting to a lost root partition

hi, I have two harddisks one 80 GB and one 40 GB, I installed a new motherboard and kept the same processor and installed winxp, win2000 on 80 GB hdd, but my 40 GB hd is left without change, it has winxp winme, and linux installed. I want to boot to the linux, backup my important data on it, and start from scratch (on 40 GB hd) the problem is that it wont boot (that`s obvious) since i installed a new motherboard. Also the winxp and winme on 40 GB hd wont boot. My question is that is there any way to boot to the linux partition and extract the data, or just updating the installation so i can use the linux again normally?
March 16th, 2006, 10:33 AM
Cemetric

Which drive is the first one ? the 40GB or the 80GB ??? Was the 40GB the first bootable drive before you changed the motherboard ??
If it was maybe you can try by putting it back as the first bootable drive.

You installed WinXP and W2K on the 80GB ...before or after the motherboard change ...And can you boot to any of these ??

Did you make a bootdisk (failsafe) for the Linux partition, and if you did, did you try booting with it allready ??

You will need to be a littlebit more clear on what it is you changed and all ...otherwise it will be mostly guesswork from our side.

.C.
March 16th, 2006, 10:38 AM
gore

*Sigh*

Didn't I tell you to read a book on this a while ago? You need a boot app, like Lilo or grub or SOMETHING on the first sectors of the first HD telling the computer where everything is.....The MBR right now on that box has no idea any of those OSs exist, how did you expect it to boot them?

I'm not sure how you got all those installed and made them actually boot without knowing how it works....
March 16th, 2006, 10:48 AM
Cemetric

Quote:

I'm not sure how you got all those installed and made them actually boot without knowing how it works....

"Ooh looky ...a wizard" ... "Click Next, Next, Next and Next" ..."Your Windows is now installed and ready to use" :rolleyes:

The inner workings are not important anymore since the invention of "The Wizard"... Even most popular Linux distribution have these options now ... "Use entire disk ?" .."why yes please do" ..."a partition ...what's that... Just click Next"

Sorry for the obvious sarcasm :D

Anywho ...

.C.
March 16th, 2006, 10:57 AM
DutchGeek

Cemetric: It doesnt matter, I change the BIOS setting to 40 GB hd 1st, but it hangs during booting, because of motherboard change. I installed winxp, win2000 on 80GB hd after the motherboard change (they boot with no prob), and i didnt make a floppy for linux.

Gore: i have boot loaders on both hdds, but the prob is that the winxp winme, linux (on 40 GB one) where installed using the old motherboard, now i changed the motherboard, they hang during booting.
--thanks guys
March 16th, 2006, 11:05 AM
Cemetric

Quote:

but the prob is that the winxp winme, linux (on 40 GB one) where installed using the old motherboard, now i changed the motherboard, they hang during booting

I think you are screwed with the 40gb disk ...the only thing you could do to get your data of, is boot into the other OS'es that boot (the 80gb disk) and get the data of the other Windows partitions on the 40gb disk (if they are accessible offcourse)

... use a Live CD (like Knoppix) to get data of the linux disk ... Or just use the live CD for all partitions ...

.C.
March 16th, 2006, 12:41 PM
nihil

Hmmmm,

This sounds like a Windows XP problem. The XP on the 40Gb drive sees a new MoBo and won't come out to play. You would need to reinstall and reactivate Windows.

Please remember that under the Microsoft TOS, you cannot transfer that version of Windows if it is OEM. M$ take the arbitrary view that a new MoBo is a new computer...............

You might try uninstalling XP from the 40Gb drive?

:)
March 16th, 2006, 12:54 PM
Cemetric

Quote:

Please remember that under the Microsoft TOS, you cannot transfer that version of Windows if it is OEM. M$ take the arbitrary view that a new MoBo is a new computer...............

True ... I forgot about that one ... How could I forget "that" :D

Thanks for reminding me nihil ;)

.C.
March 16th, 2006, 03:39 PM
SirDice

Ok.. Since it's already screwed you might want to try this...

Boot the XP in safe mode on the 40Gig disk.. If that works.. Go to the device manager and remove ALL the hardware there.. Now reboot to normal mode.. XP should detect all the 'new' hardware and it should work again.. You should be able to use this same trick with ME..

Not sure why Linux would hang during boot though.. Did you build a custom kernel? If not it could just be confused because it's now booting from hda2 instead of hda1..