[bigdogc23]

Ok... so I deleted a partition on my harddrive that had Ubuntu and XP on it. Thought I could just delete it and free up all the hard drive space I had dedicated to it so deleted it.

Now I keep getting a grub error. It won't let me do anything what so ever. I can't even get to the recovery partition.

How do I get a thumb drive to load my hard drive? I just need to get it to boot in xp. If you can give me detailed answers I would be more than grateful. I have a term paper due in two days and it's on this hard drive.

I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do so maybe you can get a laugh out of this but please help. Thank you in advance.

Additional Details
Ok so there is an update to this problem. Right before I left the office I changed my boot sequence to start with the usb drive first then work it's way through the rest of the boot options. Now I turn it on and I can hear the fan kick on but I get nothing else. No screen, no prompts, not even the slightest indication that the screen tried to come on, nothing. I hooked it up to an external monitor and didn't get any thing that way either. I am truely at a loss here on what I can do. If I can't get a screen to come up what could the possible reasons be behind it and what possible solutions? I thank anyone that can help me.

Edited by bigdogc23, 29 November 2010 - 05:06 PM.

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Connect the hard drive either externally or as a slave and recover your data that way or if you have a CD drive burn an ISO of Sea Monkey Puppy Linux 2.16 and use that to boot on ram.

There are a number of ways of recovering your data. One is below and probably one of the best.
Puppy Linux
See this link and http://ftp.nluug.nl/...fulldrivers.iso
Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
http://www.snapfiles...t/burncdcc.html

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start
make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....
• Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.
Make sure the cd you burned is in the cd drive before clicking Y and then your system will reboot. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..
after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to
your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will
mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...
now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...
your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive.. and download to another computer.
Ensure the other computer can read them...
now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..
Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption.

POSTED with acknowledgement Happyrock

Edited by Macboatmaster, 29 November 2010 - 05:28 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

Connect the hard drive either externally or as a slave and recover your data that way or if you have a CD drive burn an ISO of Sea Monkey Puppy Linux 2.16 and use that to boot on ram.

There are a number of ways of recovering your data. One is below and probably one of the best.
Puppy Linux
See this link and http://ftp.nluug.nl/...fulldrivers.iso
Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
http://www.snapfiles...t/burncdcc.html

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start
make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....
• Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.
Make sure the cd you burned is in the cd drive before clicking Y and then your system will reboot. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..
after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to
your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will
mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...
now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...
your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive.. and download to another computer.
Ensure the other computer can read them...
now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..
Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption.

POSTED with acknowledgement Happyrock

Edited by Macboatmaster, 29 November 2010 - 05:28 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

Further to the above and having read your post CAREFULLY, I am NOT certain this will work.
It would if ALL you had done was to delete the boot grub partition, which is what I read it as at first.
AND being aware of the rush due to your deadline, I posted.
Having now read it again I do not hold out a lot of hope, as I now read it as you have deleted not just the partition reserved for the grub but the whole lot.

Will the computer boot to BIOS setup

Edited by Macboatmaster, 29 November 2010 - 05:42 PM.

[rshaffer61]

You can fix the booting problem using the Recovery Console by doing the following.

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
  Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
• When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:
  

  fixmbr

• When done type Exit then click Enter
• System should now boot into windows

[Macboatmaster]

bigdogc23

Please follow the advice given by rshaffer61 and NOT mine.
He is far more experienced than I am.

[rshaffer61]

If it doesn't work Mac your instructions would be needed to get to the data.
You took the precaution to make sure the data is safe which is always good to do.

[bigdogc23]

If it doesn't work Mac your instructions would be needed to get to the data.
You took the precaution to make sure the data is safe which is always good to do.

I really wish I could use rshaffer61's version but unfortunatly it will not work. I believe I am going to be forced to slave the drive. I forgot to put in a really important detail. It's not just a computer, it's a net book. It doesn't have a cd/dvd reader. Also, even if I could use his method the computer screen will not light up. I don't think the computer screen is from a mechanical malfunction, I am certain it has something to do with me deleting the partition.

The screen worked just fine until I changed the boot drive sequence in BIOS. I did this knowing I was going to have to boot from the USB drive so I changed it when I was in BIOS. After that, the screen would not come on.

I am a bit confused though. I thought going to the BIOS was a fail safety. So long as the hardware was working, I thought I could just go to BIOS and go to the recovery section. It never gave me this option. It gave me very basic options. I could his F2 to go directly into BIOS or F10 to go to boot order (or something like that). There were only two options.

Well I thank you guys very much. I am in school for computers and have to learn this stuff one way or another. Now I get to learn all about slaving a drive and getting it to work. If you have any more questions regarding this that might help just let me know.

[Macboatmaster]

The recovery partition, if it still exists, originally on a hidden partition of the hard drive is unlikely to assist even if it can be accessed AND if it was so equipped.
Some laptops/netbooks come with a recovery partiton, some come with recovery procedures where you are supplied with recovery software and can the make a recovery DVD to ensure it has all you need rather than the basic operating system and what was installed when it was sold.

Those with a recovery partition sometimes have a soft recovery where it is supposed to retain all your personal data - this is basically equivalent to a repair install of Windows. OR a destructive recovery where all you have is what was there to start with, this is basicaly a fresh install of Windows.

Certainly the second type of recovery would NOT assist you, All your assignment data would be lost.

Go to setup - in BIOS there will be an option to load defaults or similar. - try that there is no risk of any further loss of data.
You can of course always connect an external optical drive. Puppy runs in ram, so providing the hardware is OK, it should RUN.

In your situation, I would take out the HDD place it in an enclosure, connect it to a Windows computer and see if it is found and accessible

Edited by Macboatmaster, 30 November 2010 - 02:57 PM.

[calvert]

as you have access to a pc, then here are some other options,

make a bootable usb drive - using knoppix (a linux live cd) and a usb/pen drive

http://www.pendrivel...sb-knoppix-510/

this will allow you to access your data

or

you could try a bootable usb/pen drive recovery console

http://www.instantfu...drive-with.html

this will remove grub and replace it with ntldr, using the commands

fixboot
fixmbr

Edited by calvert, 30 November 2010 - 01:33 PM.

[bigdogc23]

My biggest issue is the fact that the screen will not come on after I changed the sequence of the drive selection during boot. Don't know why it decided to no let the screen turn on but it did. So, I got a buddy letting me borrow a hard drive en closer tomorrow. I got a short extension on my assignment so luckily I bought a little time to work this issue out. Thanks again. I will keep this updated to let you know how or if I get the situation solved.

[rshaffer61]

I don't think this is related but just happened at the same time.
Changing the boot sequence only tells the system what device to look at first when starting. It has nothing to do with the video part.
BTW if your system is capable of booting to a USB device you may try a external USB cdrom drive and you can use my instructions then.
If not then post 9 is a very good explanation on how to use a USB flash drive to use a linux live cd to gain access to your data.

[bigdogc23]

@rshaffer... That is what I thought and what I was afraid of. I'm just going to concentrate on getting my data then worry about the rest of it. I don't know if it's worth replacing a screen on a Acer net-book. The netbook won't do anything but surf the net so I might just ditch it anyway after I get my data. If the screen happens to come back on after I re-image the drive I'll let you know but like I said, I'm agreeing with you so I don't have much hope. Thanks boss I can't tell you how much I appreciate this site and appreciate your assistance. Once I get through computer science school I will try and donate some of my time on here as pay back. This site save someone that has a little computer knowledge and the ability to follow instructions money, time, and headaches.

[rshaffer61]

No problem and I hope you do great in school. Just a friendly FYI from me to you. IMHO you could probably learn a lot just hanging around here and reading some of the topics and the suggested resolutions.
I my self never took a day of computer courses and learned everything from hands on training instead.
Also you might take a look at ebay for a replacement screen for your netbook. They should be less then 50 USD and there are lots of sites that give step by step instructions on how to remove and replace the screen.

[bigdogc23]

@rshaffer I have learned that in life. I am starting to compare working with computers like being a mechanic. I learned all of what I know about working on vehicles from watching my dad and making mistakes. I pretty much believe in life that experience gets you more places than school. I only decided to go to school because I have 5 years left before I retire from the Army and have 5 kids to ensure I take care of when I get out. I'm going back to where I'm from and that's Houston Tx, so there should be plenty of IT opportunities. Military retirement at age 39 is not that bad but it doesn't pay all the bills when you have a big family like mine. So in essence I am just getting the BACH degree to get my foot in the door. I'm also teaching my self web design on the side hoping maybe I can turn a hobby into a side job. We'll see though. Thanks.

[rshaffer61]

Earning the degrees is what employers are looking for and honestly it does pay more then with someone like me that never got any of the formal training.
I applaud your willingness to learn it and to take care of your family. Hopefully just hanging around and maybe even offering some help with others here will help you also.
Being all volunteers it is never mandatory to help here so if you don't have the time now that is ok.
Do what is going to pay the bills first and use this as a learning tool and helping those who may not have the money for professional help or shop fees.
We have all been there and we're here if you want to learn more.