Posted in all things geek on 05/02/2009 09:00 pm by Allie
I tried and failed to shake the shackles of the Bill Gates empire. I had my laptop dual booting Ubuntu and Windows Vista. Today is struck me that I never really use my Ubuntu partition, prefering the flexibility of having all my apps in Vista.
Its not easy to dispose of an unloved linux/ubuntu partition. Simply formating the partition from Vista leads down a nasty path with GRUBB not found, Error 22. I know, I went there. I had to reload Linux onto the 20gb partition and start again.
Once there, I found a nifty little app on the net, EasyBCD. Using that, you can put Vista back in charge of the booting process, eliminating the GRUBB.
Using the write MBR and reinstall vista bootloader, I was able to eliminate the GRUBB and put Vista back in charge. This had the effect of that familiar dual boot screen you get when you have two windows partitions sharing a computer, yet you can select Linux as well, with a few additional settings.
Once I put Vista back in charge, a reboot and yes, it was showing me the windows vista and linux partitions. Once in Vista, I deleted the linux partition and remove the linux entries from the EasyBCD, saved settings and rebooted.
Now my system reboots just like a factory vista install.
And whats the reason for all this extended nonsense? See my post tomorrow for more details.
Posted in all things geek on 01/15/2009 10:03 pm by Allie
So I thought I would share tonight exactly what this compaq is. Obviously, its a Pressario and has a black case.
Athlon XP 2500+ (1.83ghz), 1gb ram, 40GB HDD (5400RPM) and CD-RW. Nothing fantastic, but Linux seems to enjoy it.
The main desktop is:-
Athlon 64 X2 2.4ghz , Asus M2N-VA HDMI Mobo, Asus GeForce 9400GT 512mb DDR2 Video Card, 4GB DDR2-800mhz RAM with 1x80GB 7200RPM Sata Drive, 1x 250GB 7200RPM IDE Drive and 1x Lightscribe DVD-RW.
Right now I am researching how to do a dual boot of Windows 7 and Windows XP Pro SP3 from seperate hard drives. Just from what I have been hearing, I think I will upgrade the main desktop and two laptops to W7 upon final release and add a dual boot for linux as well.
If anyone has any suggestions for a good dual-boot setup for XP Pro SP3 and W7 using two seperate HDD’s – please comment and let me know!
Posted in all things geek on 01/13/2009 05:46 pm by Allie
This weekend will most likely be spent testing Windows 7 Beta. After mucking around with Linux and being impressed, I might try and maximise the 64 bit processor in my PC when trying this Beta. Will post news/views when I have something worthwhile to report…
Posted in all things geek on 01/11/2009 02:27 pm by Allie
I have it booting off the HDD now, done it twice today from two restarts. I think the problem lies with the HDD I’m presently using. Will have to locate the 250gb IDE drive I bought home and give that a format and a run. All I really use the Windows XP machine for now is playing The Sims 2, well, The Sims 3 when its released next month (w00t) that said, I haven’t busted a gut to get a half way decent Windows XP machine to spend all my time on the Compaq.
That said, I also have the Acer Laptop as well, which has been very handy indeed with the quick burning of Linux ISO’s to disk.
However, theres one thing I can’t deny. All these 1am finishes are catching up with me, so I am exiting Geekdom for the weekend and having a nana nap. Back to work tomorrow after a long Christmas break.
Posted in all things geek on 01/11/2009 10:21 am by Allie
Last night just after midnight, I turned my Compaq/Linux box off and headed to bed. This morning, keen to get back into using it, I went to boot it up – Boot Failure. But I installed it on the HDD, back to the drawing board. Will find an answer and do a work out on the Wii Fit while it installs or whatever.
