I accidently deleted one of the openSUSE 12.1 KDE partition using Windows XP disk management tool and now I’m getting GRUB error. I can’t go past that screen to get back even to my XP. I’m so screwed, ****!
I looked up online for a quick fix. Many suggested that I boot using XP installation CD and go to repair and on Command Prompt type “fixmbr” and “fixboot”. well, I tried C:/>FIXMBR and there was no output. Then I tried C:/>FIXBOOT and the message displayed as something like unable to access the drive… I know I’m in a deep trouble and since my computer is like a living dead now, I’ve to use my phone to use this forum… I’ll really appreciate any helpful suggestions and your time. Thanks.
Ouch deleting a partition is a big problem you just can’t “fix the MBR”
the testdisk program is probably your best bet. It can be found on several different Linux utility type distros. I’d go for Parted Magic.
You will need to download and burn on another computer obviously
Instructions for testdisk can be found from command line
man testdisk
also here
TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity
good luck and be sure the gun is empty before shooting your foot next time.
On 2012-05-10 05:06, Aero2012 wrote:
>
> I accidently deleted one of the openSUSE 12.1 KDE partition using
> Windows XP disk management tool and now I’m getting GRUB error. I can’t
> go past that screen to get back even to my XP. I’m so screwed, ****!
You either recover that partition using testdisk, as gogalthorp said, or,
reinstall Linux in that same partition and in the same manner as it was
installed previously. I’m assuming that you had a generic MBR, that the
Linux partition was marked bootable, and that grub was in it. And
assumptions can be wrong.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
Thanks gogalthorp for your helpful reply… I’ll try it when I get home this evening. I’ll burn this testdisk program on a CD/DVD from my computer at work. Will update what happens next!
@caf4926: I had tried the “repair” thing using my windows xp installation cd, before creating this thread yesterday, it didn’t work! At the command prompt, I typed the number “1” and pressed enter. The output was that it opened a command prompt screen to select a language and after that it went back to C:>
One funny thing I noticed is that everytime I try to do a repair with a WIN XP installation CD, at the end after I press “1” and enter I get a “C:>” instead of “1: C:\WINDOWS” and it does not even ask “which windows installation do I want to log on”. So, I know I’m in a deep ****! lol
But hey, thanks guys for all your inputs and time. Please keep checking this thread, in case I have a question and you have an answer for it! Thanks again!
@robin_listas: I also tried the Linux re-installation. It failed! I think I still remember deleting the smallest of the three openSUSE partitions, and I suspect that GRUB was in it. When I put in the openSUSE disk, during re-installation it shows two partitions: one for windows, which shows the correct hard disk space and the other for Linux and this one has 1KB as the hard disk space… so I don’t know what’s going on and I’m not a big computer expert!
On 2012-05-10 19:46, Aero2012 wrote:
>
> Thanks gogalthorp for your helpful reply… I’ll try it when I get home
> this evening. I’ll burn this testdisk program on a CD/DVD from my
> computer at work. Will update what happens next!
Don’t try anything else till you do this, because each thing you try makes
things harder for testdisk.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
So, I know I’m in a deep ****! lol
Indeed
Get your stuff backed up with a live cd
@caf4926: I’ve everything backed up on my external hard drive before I decided to mess with Linux partition! So, all my stuffs are now secure. Is there a way I can format the whole **** out? I would willingly spend my time in re-installing the Windows than trying to find a solution to fix this problem! This thing is giving me a nightmare, jeez! Thanks for your continued advices and help. I really appreciate it!
On 2012-05-10 23:56, Aero2012 wrote:
>
> @caf4926: I’ve everything backed up on my external hard drive before I
> decided to mess with Linux partition! So, all my stuffs are now secure.
> Is there a way I can format the whole **** out? I would willingly spend
> my time in re-installing the Windows than trying to find a solution to
> fix this problem! This thing is giving me a nightmare, jeez! Thanks for
> your continued advices and help. I really appreciate it!
If my guess is right, your Windows is intact, but grub is completely lost,
so it can not boot. You could copy here the result of “fdisk -l” from a live.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
I’m trying to run the test disk on Command Prompt, but no success yet!
C:>E:
(since I’ve my testdisk cd is on E:, which is my cd drive)
E:>testdisk.exe
“The command is not recognized Type HELP for a list of supported commands.”
So, it’s not cooperating at all!
@robin_listas: Do I run the command on the rescue thing when I insert openSUSE installation CD or in Windows repair mode in C:>? And yeah I’m pretty sure that my WinXP is intact, just GRUB is lost!
Which version did you download? There are Linux/mac/dos/Windows version.
You should really read the instructions about Testdisk. It is extremely powerful and as such it is easy to do more harm then good if you do not understand how to use it.
How did you get a command prompt. I was under the impression that the machine was not bootable.
On 2012-05-11 03:46, Aero2012 wrote:
> “The command is not recognized Type HELP for a list of supported
> commands.”
List the directory first, to make sure it is there.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
On 2012-05-11 03:56, Aero2012 wrote:
>
> @robin_listas: Do I run the command on the rescue thing when I insert
> openSUSE installation CD or in Windows repair mode in C:>? And yeah I’m
> pretty sure that my WinXP is intact, just GRUB is lost!
If you downloaded the windows version, run it in windows. If you downloaded
the linux version, run it in linux. If you downloaded the CD, boot it.
How can I know?
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
@robin_listas:
Whenever I turn on my computer it displays Dell startup screen then it goes to a command prompt like screen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78288882@N07/7174334836
so on the
grub>fdisk -l
Error 27: Unrecognized command
Download this and burn the image to a cd
http://www.su2root.ukfsn.org/files/programs_zips/pmagic-4.5.iso
Boot from it. Open the RoxTerm and do
fdisk -l
Test Disk is part of the tools in Parted Magic
Guide: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/LXF%20Articles/LXF128.feat_testdisk.pdf
I agree with @Carlos
Windows will be intact. All that’s needed is a little knowledge…
Is there a way I can format the whole **** out?
Probably ok to leave windows
Delete everything else and reinstall. But better we see fdisk -l first!