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Windows Failing to Boot

ThemistakenoneThemistakenone
edited November 2008 in Technology
I normally wouldn't ask the forum a question about Windows, but I'm really stuck. I booted into my Ubuntu 8.04 Partition to do some work. I installed a few updates, but I still haven't upgraded to the new Ubuntu. There was a kernel update, so I had to change my GRUB menu.lst file so that the default was 12 so it would boot into Windows by default. I attempted to get back onto Windows, and I was prompted with the "Windows failed to start properly" screen. Regardless of what I select, even safe mode, Windows won't boot, almost as soon as I select something my computer restarts and my POST goes again. The only thing I can get into is Ubuntu. I'm not really sure what's causing this, but I can't seem to get into Windows at all. I can read the partition Windows is on fine from Ubuntu, but I can boot into it. I popped in my Windows installation disc, and the option to repair my current windows installation wasn't being displayed, the only thing I can do is a fresh install, which I really don't have time for right now. Help would be great, thanks.

Edit: I forgot to mention, it's Windows XP Media Center Edition.

Comments

  • Mr. EricMr. Eric
    1. Take out hard drive.
    2. Place hard drive in microwave.
    3. Reinstall Windows
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    edited November 2008
    1. Take out hard drive.
    2. Place hard drive in microwave.
    3. Reinstall Windows
    Stop being stupid and talking out your ass. If you aren't going to put at least a modicum of effort in helping, just sit down, shut your mouth, and let those who have more than a gram of brains between our ears do the talking.

    *ehem* I'm no Linux guru, but check grub and see if the windows entry is pointing correctly. If that's not the problem, go to GRC.com and purchase a program called Spinrite. Its a bootable disc maintenance utility that I use often on cases like yours. If you cant afford it, check Isohunt or TPB and download. It'll be a quick download, just a megabyte or two. Once it downloads, run the EXE and it will generate an ISO. Burn the Iso and reboot your PC with the disc in the drive. Once spinrite starts, I would suggest you select the whole drive and run spinrite on level 2. Depending on your Hard disk size, it might take some time, so I would suggest you leave it to do its work overnight. What it will do is it will try to read every sector on your drive and if its unreadable, it will try to recover the data, move it to one of the drives "Spare" sectors, and update the SMART tables to point at the spare sector.
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • AprecheApreche
    Why did you change anything? You shouldn't have to change grub on a kernel update. Leave it alone! Don't go buy any programs like Sonic says. That's just not necessary. Obviously you just went and unnecessarily messed with things.

    Also, if and when you do edit your grub configuration in Ubuntu, make sure you read the documentation. You should never edit it directly. Instead, you should only edit the configuration options in the comments, and then run the update-grub script.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Well, Scott is probably 100 times more Linux than I am, so he's most likely right. Still, I stand by my recommendation to get (not necessarily buy) spinrite. It's a great utility and I use it once a month to keep my drives in shape.
  • fluxflux
    Well, Scott is probably 100 times more Linux than I am, so he's most likely right. Still, I stand by my recommendation to get (not necessarily buy) spinrite. It's a great utility and I use it once a month to keep my drives in shape.
    Isn't spinrite just for corrupted sectors ?
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    edited November 2008
    No, but you'd be surprise how many problems corrupted sectors can cause.
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • Nine BoomerNine Boomer
    edited November 2008
    Well, Scott is probably 100 times more Linux than I am, so he's most likely right. Still, I stand by my recommendation to get (not necessarily buy) spinrite. It's a great utility and I use it once a month to keep my drives in shape.
    Isn't spinrite just for corrupted sectors ?
    #ssssssWell, it's always worth a shot if you've exhausted all your options. You also fail because you suck. Go die in a painful fire you stupid piece of grape flavoured chicken (with ketchup) YO NOOB I'M A BREak your face. WHAT ARE YOU DOING GET OFF HAHAHA DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS Err, that's what happens when you type something without posting it, and your friend comes along to have fun.
    Post edited by Nine Boomer on
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Man, you have some weird friends.
  • ThemistakenoneThemistakenone
    I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I managed to solve my problem. I think that for some reason, when my installation tried to boot, Windows couldn't recognize itself or something. Which is why when I booted my reinstall disc, there wasn't any previous Windows installations detected. After a few hours of looking around the web I went into the recovery console, and used bootcfg to set up my installation again. Then I was able to do a repair. Now it boots, and I'm really confused why this would happen. I did make a backup of my menu.lst file before I changed it, but that didn't work either. I'm pretty new to linux, but this is a learning experience. Thanks for your help, and sarcasm...
  • CHOIS CHOIS CHOISCHOIS CHOIS CHOIS
    Windows Failing to Boot? Go figure.
  • LusankyaLusankya
    Windows Failing to Boot? Go figure.
    Morio-Kun making a poor attempt at sarcasm? Go figure.
  • CHOIS CHOIS CHOISCHOIS CHOIS CHOIS
    My first post in months, thought I'd start out with a classic.
  • TyashkiTyashki
    Your second post in months, not so useful.
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