ThinkVantage Maintenance software froze my OS

[Slippenos]

I hope this is the right section to post to ...

I have a Lenovo Z60m and a dual-boot environment. I have an NTFS partition (XP) on /dev/sda1, swap on /dev/sda2, and Ubuntu Hardy Heron on /dev/sda3.

I recently downladed and installed the "ThinkVantage Maintenance Manager" (scrubbed XP a few months ago). One of the steps was it wanted me to update my BIOS.

Anyways, after it installed the BIOS my machine powered down. When I restarted I saw a black screen with a prompt that said "GRUB" and a blinking cursor (that did not allow me to type anything).

Naturally I thought I should just run "fixmbr" from the Windows Rescue prompt as Lenovo screwed up my master boot record. I did this on C:/WINDOWS and C:/minint. No luck.

I reinstalled GRUB from the Live Ubuntu CD. Luckily I can still use LINUX. More luckily, I can still view the contents of this partiton (mounted on /media/ntfs_1).

I cannot, however, boot into Windows. GRUB shows "Starting up ..."; but just hangs there.

I am so frustrated! I do not want to reinstall the OS and reinstall/reconfigure everything. All I want to do is pick up where this installation left off.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Mike

[blue]Go to work to learn. Don't go to work to earn.[/blue]

 

[linney]

The hard drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software to thoroughly check the condition of your hard drive.

These may or may not be of help, but the link to the Linux Forum might be worth following up.

winxp pro and redhat. help with boot manager.
thread779-861514

multi boot edit help
thread779-1219064

Linux Forum

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=619

HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP(Q305595)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

 

[BadBigBen]

answered in the OTHER thread!

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[linney]

ThinkVantage Maintenance software froze my OS (Z60m)
thread602-1531439

 

[Slippenos]

Hi linney,

Ultimately I decided to wipe everything clean and start over. Thanks for the helpful tips.

Mike



[blue]Go to work to learn. Don't go to work to earn.[/blue]

 

[linney]

When you get it running correctly, fully updated, etc., you might like to consider backup/imaging the operating system's partition (plus any data only partitions, if you have them), and saving it on another partition or on DVD's? This, while time consuming, is only a fraction of the time it takes to wipe and reinstall XP.

Restoring a partition of about 50GB takes me about 8 minutes, there are probably others around who can do it faster. Reinstalling XP (manually) usually takes me a day and a half (8 hour ones) to get everything loaded.

Terabyte Unlimited

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/prodgrid.html

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

Acronis True Image 10 Home

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

 

[Slippenos]

Definitely something to consider. I bookmarked those links. I can't justify rebuilding Windows and Ubuntu again and reinstalling software, drivers, etc. again when this could have been backed up!


[blue]Go to work to learn. Don't go to work to earn.[/blue]