On Tue, Jul 05, 2011 at 10:27:13AM -0400, Felix Miata wrote:
On 2011/07/05 14:59 (GMT+0100) Oliver Kullmann composed:
When starting the machine it says now:
Error No operating system
Apparently that's where the typical boot-choice-menu would show up, but since it wasn't installed correctly (without a chance of doing anything on that), now nothing works anymore.
How do I get rid off that, and enable at least the Windows again?
I would really appreciate some information.
Even though your thread has provided a lot of information, important things have been left out.
Was/is the original installation by HP an EFI type, or PC standard MBR?
I don't know. I have never seen that any such information would be provided by any laptop-provider.
Is/was there a restore partition?
There is such a thing, but when trying to go into it, all what results is just "no operating system available".
How many partitions were there originally?
4
Was there a restore partition that you eliminated?
Nothing was eliminated.
How did you make the Linux partitions in the first place? Did you use Windows' built-in partition resizer first, then create the additional partitions during oS installation?
The installation-process yields, as I think is usual for Suse, that "parted" can not create or change any partitions. So I did shrink the main partition from windows, and created then three further partitions from it.
Did you use the oS installer for all partitioning?
What is "oS" ? All what is there is the Windows system and the Suse DVD. Suse can not partition anything, and so Windows did all. Then with the Suse installation I assigned /, /boot, swap and /home. No warnings etc., and I donn't think there is any principle problem here. (I did the same in the past; it was always like that with Suse.)
Or did you first/only use some other partitioner (what I always do)?
I didn't use any other partitioner.
What is the current output of fdisk -l?
How would I get that? All what is left is - rerun the installation, but that yields always the same - there is some rescue system in the Suse menu, but no information how to use that, so I have no clue what to do with it.
IOW, what type of partition is your new /boot? It needs to be a primary
What does "primary" mean? And shouldn't the Suse installation process tell me, if the partition is not suitable?
to work with standard MBR code, which is the preferred type when using Win7. If you've replaced the standard MBR code with Grub, you've become dependent on Grub working correctly for access to Win7.
But I the old partitions should stil be untouched. The inaccessibility of windows only occurred with using a special /boot-partition. So there should be some way to get it back to the old state, with a working system?
It sounds to me like at this point you have a failed Grub MBR installation,
I guess so
and MBR needs to be restored to standard, along with resetting the boot flag in the MBR to the Win7 "boot" partition in order to restore Win7 bootability. If you can't figure out how to get the oS install media into recovery mode there are multiple varying ways to get standard MBR code back, along with setting the boot flag. A bootable MS DOS or FreeDOS floppy can do it.
The laptop didn't come with anything else except of the usual "your great laptop is here".
DFSee can do it, from floppy, CD or Knoppix boot. Any live Linux CD's fdisk can set the flag. A CD made from http://ultimatebootcd.com/ can do it, and more.
I have another Linux-laptop, and I have a spare DVD. Nothing else. Can one do it with that?
Why you've had the Grub trouble during oS installation I'm at a loss to guess, since I have no hands on experience installing alongside Win7. It should work, though there are bumps in the process possible as a result of different ways different vendors install Win7. The bumps are mentioned in various archived mailing list threads and in the forums, both oS and other distros.
What I can see is that with no newer laptop with Windows 7 on it on can install Suse anymore --- all three other cases I know of the harddisk had to be erased, due to these now standard HP/Dell etc. special partitions. thanks for your help! Oliver -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org