GRUB 21 Error amp; Can't Return to XP?

amy

I made an installed of the  OS, version Feisty Fawn 7.04, from the down loaded CD. I installed the  OS to an external USB La Cie HD. After the install I went to boot of the La Cie HD and my laptop will gave a message of quot;No OSquot;. I can not reboot off my laptops internal drive back to Windows XP. I get the quot;GRUB 21quot; Error. I went into the BIOS to try to reset boot sequence back to defaults, but no luck. I still get the same error. I can still run the  CD and run the OS. I could see all the normal files on both HD's so I know I didn't over write the internal laptop HD. Any suggestions on how to get my laptop to re-boot to Windows again?


Originally Posted by rreyesI made an installed of the  OS, version Feisty Fawn 7.04, from the down loaded CD. I installed the  OS to an external USB La Cie HD. After the install I went to boot of the La Cie HD and my laptop will gave a message of quot;No OSquot;. I can not reboot off my laptops internal drive back to Windows XP. I get the quot;GRUB 21quot; Error. I went into the BIOS to try to reset boot sequence back to defaults, but no luck. I still get the same error. I can still run the  CD and run the OS. I could see all the normal files on both HD's so I know I didn't over write the internal laptop HD. Any suggestions on how to get my laptop to re-boot to Windows again?

Windows CDgt;Recoverygt;FixMBR

Original User rreyes with follow up:

I tried everything I could to get my ThinkPad R51 to re-boot back to my internal HD to launch Windows XP. I called Lenovo Support and explained the problem. Lenovo Support confirmed what I thought that the error code quot;GRUB 21quot; is a boot record code for Linux that is looking for the HD with the  OS that was a bad install on my external La Cie HD. The installer for  made a corrupt entry on my internal HD's boot record file during the install process and now my PC cannot find the correct partition to boot off for Windows XP. Lenovo Support now has to send me 6 recovery CDs to re-install Windows XP and I will loose all my data in the process on my ThinkPad. No big deal, but I was hoping for a smoother install because I really like the  OS from what I tried on the CD. I will try another method to use  in the future by maybe getting a PC from Dell or another manufacture who sells it already installed. I still believe Open Source software is the way to go despite my glitch on this first time install.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Robert
Lodi, CA USA

Before you pack it in and reinstall, try:

from : localhost/users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzo...bDiskPage.html

Also, blame Lenovo for not issuing you an OEM WinXP disk when you bought your machine!

-merlin

Don't know if this will help, but here's what I recently did.

1. I have a multiboot Windows 000 system, use the NTLoader for booting.
2. I tried to install ubuntu 7.04, but could not do that because my system does not allow booting from USB drives.
3. I then managed to create two small partitions on 1 of my hard drives.
4. I did manage to install linux on the hard drive and used the NTLOader, not GRUB, to control to which OS I boot.

I did the install from the LiveCD.

Using the LiveCD you should be able to instal;l Linux and edit the Windows boot.ini so you can get ypur multiple boot. My boot.ini is given below.Note do NOT install GRUB to the MBR.
Use the notation (hdx,y) to specify where GRUB is to be installed.

Most importantly, read Give up on Linux????. You'll see the pain I went thru.Code:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)\WINNT=quot;J: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professionalquot; /fastdetect
signature(32a7e53f)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT=quot;G: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professionalquot; /fastdetect
signature(32a7e53f)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=quot;F: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professionalquot; /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=quot;C: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professionalquot; /fastdetect
C:\grubold.lnx=quot;OLD  Linuxquot;
C:\grubboot.lnx=quot; Linuxquot;