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palcal

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Joined: 12/10/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2006

Posted: 12:11am 11 Aug 2019

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Well I've done something stupid again, I saw mention of Linux Q40S in another thread and decided to give it a try. I installed it in a separate partition then decided I did not want it so I deleted the partition but now at startup I get

Error: no such partition
Entering rescue mode
Grub rescue> -
is there a command I can type here to correct my problem.
I have a Win7 repair disk and I ran Startup Repair, no good, then I ran System Restore and still no go.

"It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all"

SimpleSafeName

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Joined: 28/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 351

Posted: 12:16am 11 Aug 2019

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Yeah, don't do that. :)

Probably the easiest thing to do is to create that partition again and let linux boot normally.

Otherwise, you will have to do some editing using the grub command line.

And another way (easier than grub, depending on your distro) is to boot the install media and do a repair from there.

SimpleSafeName

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Joined: 28/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 351

Posted: 12:27am 11 Aug 2019

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You could try this:

https://www.howtogeek.com/114884/how-to-repair-grub2-when-ubuntu-wont-boot/

Please note that you are *not* installing Ubuntu (unless things get out of hand), but only using Ubuntu to get you into a working linix environment.

From there you will want to open a shell and do the apt-get thing to install the repair tool.
Edited 2019-08-11 10:28 by SimpleSafeName

palcal

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Joined: 12/10/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2006

Posted: 02:17am 11 Aug 2019

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I recreated the partition and reinstalled Linux. At least I can now boot into windows. Apparently it is a lot harder to uninstall than to install.

"It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all"

SimpleSafeName

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Joined: 28/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 351

Posted: 03:13am 11 Aug 2019

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It sure can be!

Back in the day, there was lilo, and it never gave me any problem that I didn't create for myself (and you're doing exactly what every new linux user does when they first start out - break their new system trying new things out :) ).

Then along came "grub" "GRand Unified Bootloader". I don't know what problem it was supposed to solve, but apparently fixing a busted system wasn't one of them.

It's all part of the linux learning process, enjoy the ride. :)

For the record, you should be able to go into grub and delete the linux partitions and re-run grub to make the changes permanent. That would in effect remove linux.

palcal

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Joined: 12/10/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2006

Posted: 04:31am 11 Aug 2019

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I am using a Win7 Install disk to upgrade Win7 which should make it boot OK.
Here's hoping.

"It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all"

SimpleSafeName

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Joined: 28/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 351

Posted: 04:42pm 11 Aug 2019

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It will (should). Basically you are letting Windows take back control of your MBR (Master Boot Record). You won't be able to boot into linux without a bit of work.

bigfix
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Joined: 20/02/2014
Location: Austria
Posts: 129

Posted: 05:51pm 11 Aug 2019

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I used Macrium Reflect Standalone Boot to fix problems like this

You should have created a Macrium rescue Stick/CD with the "Other Task" Menue Item
(or do it at some other PC - usually it works at most PCs anyhow)

Then you boot up the Stick and there is a menue item "fix boot problems" or similar

This is of course only in the bootable version, not in the normal program

palcal

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Joined: 12/10/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2006

Posted: 09:11pm 11 Aug 2019

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I reinstalled Windows and all is back to normal. I just wanted to have a look at Q40S, I guess I should not have installed it. I would like to get into Linux, I'm sick of Windows, but Linux is just not as user friendly as Windows is.

"It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all"

al18
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Joined: 06/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 231

Posted: 11:02pm 11 Aug 2019

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It's well understood that Microsoft Windows XP and all later versions will alter partition map when booted into Windows.

The best way to try out Linus is from a Live version - botted from a CD/DVD or a thumb drive. I see Q4OS has live versions posted on it's download page.

If you want to try out Linux by installing on a hard drive, it's recommend by many sites to disconnect your existing Windows hard drive and install a second hard drive just for Linux.

SimpleSafeName

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Joined: 28/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 351

Posted: 11:16pm 11 Aug 2019

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The easiest, and safest, way is to download the distro of your choice - which must support "live boot" - and use one of the Windows versions of a .iso writer to copy it to a USB and to make it bootable. "Rufus" is one tool that you could use.

While you are doing this, make the remainder of your USB (the part not taken up by the linux OS) "persistent" meaning that any programs that you install while trying out linux using your USB drive will remain on the USB.

You can then play around and get some experience using linux. Be sure to leave things like your hard drive alone until you get a bit more comfortable using linux.

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