[The Infinity]

I installed Ubuntu on an older computer and decided to try and take it off by using the Windows XP CD and trying to format it that way.... but my Windows XP CD won't work. I tried looking online and everything for a fix but I can't figure out how to just completely remove it off the computer. Is there some kind of command or series of commands I need to type in the command prompt like area? I'm not really sure what to do on how to get this off. If someone could please walk me through how to do it so I can go back to Windows I would really appreciate it.

- Thanks

[engti]

Do you already have windows installed on your machine, i.e. is it a dual boot box?

[The Infinity]

No it's not dual boot its a full Linux partition. The whole hard drive currently consists of just Ubuntu.

[qldit]

Good Evening The Infinity, occasionally you will find situations where the drive partitioning is difficult to remove by other tools.

There are a lot of really good free tools avaiable but the most useful one for you is probably the Madboot floppy disk. This can be made from an image located here..
http://www.tucows.com/preview/345398
Ensure you use a perfect floppy. Download the free program into a windows machine and operate it from there to create your bootable floppy.
You can make a bootable CD with it also.

This is a very useful technical tool, when you boot to it, simply run the low level format, this will write zeros to the entire drive and no further problem will be experienced with any of the partitions or files that were on it.
You can also do a few drive tests, fdisk or Gdisk with it or initiate installations.
There are some other programs on it that should not be operated, like clearing BIOS settings and stuff like that.

Once your drive is zero written the Windows disk and it's format should operate normally.

If you were interested in a very fast Linux version, Puppy 2.0 has just been released.

qldit.

[CouchMaster]

XP should have booted up allowing you to format the HD. Try again, and if that doesn't work you can always use a Win98 boot floppy to wipe the HD clean.

[lynch]

A low-level format is a bit of overkill; boot into Ubuntu and just delete the partition from there. Then use the XP cd to run fixmbr to clear the boot sector.
lynch

[The Infinity]

Originally Posted by lynch

A low-level format is a bit of overkill; boot into Ubuntu and just delete the partition from there. Then use the XP cd to run fixmbr to clear the boot sector.
lynch

I'm not sure how to delete the partition from within Ubuntu. If you could explain this a little more I would really appreciate it.

I'm going to try all these ways to try to get the drive clear, I just wanted to have my options open.

[lynch]

Open a console and type this(I am assuming Ubuntu uses cfdisk) :

sudo cfdisk /dev/hda

Enter your password and hit Enter.
Cfdisk is fairly easy to understand. Use the up/down arrow keys to select partitions and the Tab key to toggle through the options; delete in your case.
When you toggle to the Delete option, hit Enter.
Be sure to use the Write option and hit Enter when you finish deleting partitions. Then go to Quit.
When you reboot, you'll probably get the Grub prompt. This is where you reboot with the XP CD and run fixmbr.
HTH
lynch

[The Infinity]

Originally Posted by qldit

Good Evening The Infinity, occasionally you will find situations where the drive partitioning is difficult to remove by other tools.

There are a lot of really good free tools avaiable but the most useful one for you is probably the Madboot floppy disk. This can be made from an image located here..
http://www.tucows.com/preview/345398
Ensure you use a perfect floppy. Download the free program into a windows machine and operate it from there to create your bootable floppy.
You can make a bootable CD with it also.

This is a very useful technical tool, when you boot to it, simply run the low level format, this will write zeros to the entire drive and no further problem will be experienced with any of the partitions or files that were on it.
You can also do a few drive tests, fdisk or Gdisk with it or initiate installations.
There are some other programs on it that should not be operated, like clearing BIOS settings and stuff like that.

Once your drive is zero written the Windows disk and it's format should operate normally.

If you were interested in a very fast Linux version, Puppy 2.0 has just been released.

qldit.

Well I tried this and it got rid of Ubuntu... the only problem now is it won't boot from CD now. No matter which way I make the boot selection and everything else I have thought of it won't boot at all. The only thing it tells me is "Invalid Boot Disk: Please Insert A Valid Boot Disk Into Drive A:"

Any ideas? All I did was the low-level format.

[CouchMaster]

Sounds like a bad HD to me.

[engti]

ummm.... sorry if i am being presumptuous

you formatted the disk......so all your data in the disk is gone.

you cannot boot from it, you would need to install a new os.

[GripS]

If i am understanding you correctly you have made sure your boot order in the bios is set to boot from cd-rom first and it still won't boot off your windows install cd? If your getting that error then it seems your disk is either "not a valid boot disk" meaning if it's a burnt copy of windows xp and you burned it wrong or you have a floppy still in the drive and it's trying to boot from that instead of the cd.

[qldit]

Good Morning The Infinity, yes you have completely cleaned the previous information entirely from the drive and all memory blocks are filled with zeros.
The hard drive is once again "virgin", no viral stuff or anything.

The message you are currently getting simply confirms the drive is clear and that your BIOS boot setting priority is A: then C: quite obviously the CDROM is not in the current boot order so the CD won't boot.

This could be reset, by entering BIOS and altering the order but is not neccessary if you use your Madboot floppy, just place it in drive A: and let it boot to the Madboot screen.

You can then place your Windows CD into the CDROM and simply click on the install button onscreen for the system you wish to install, this will initiate that CDROM installation.

If you are using W-XP you will be presented with various screens and NTSC format selection type will be preferable when you are asked.

Just going back for a minute or so there are other considerations.

If you wanted to do a drive surface inspection there is a tool on the Madboot floppy, but the drive would require to be setup with Ggisk and formatted as FAT, then the scandisk program could be run. This does not present any problems.
This is a good exercise but a better hard drive surface scan can be done with the Shareware HDDRegenerator program scanner. Use the trial version from
http://www.dposoft.net/
This will make a bootable floppy or CD and has the advantage of repairing one bad, simply follow the defaults hitting enter and it will begin a scan with a simple DOS kind of screen and a moving "worm" which indicates progress and status.
This program might be run more than once, it may fix more than one bad block if needed.
It does not affect anything on the drive and can be run with a system installed without affecting it.

One thing not so far mentioned is drive partitioning. (dependent on the size of your hard drive)

With an enormous hard drive it is not the best idea to have the entire drive as one large partition, there are many reasons for this including technical benefits.
So generally a partitioning scheme is adviseable, for instance having the operating system on the first 30gigs, then a 60gig general files area and maybe a third partition for other stuff after that. (maybe a backup copy of the operating system or whatever)
Give your requirements some thought and make a plan for this.
Remember you have 4 basic partitions you can make on any hard drive without making sub-partitions.
Everybody has different ideas about this kind of thing.
You may even want to have a Linux system available and dual boot to it.

If you might have W-XP SP-1 and intend installing it, it can be a good idea to slipstream a copy of SP-2 with W-XP prior to installation, this has benefits with some AMD systems, and appears to reduce many odd problems.
This makes a new integrated windows install disk which integrates SP-2 and avoids problems from errors with an over the top later install of SP-2.

Before attempting a clean system install I always like to do a comprehensive memory test, this not only confirms the available memory but also tests every possibly memory address. This program can be gotten here http://www.memtest.org/
There are different methods of applying this tool to media, I prefer to use a CD but you will require a bootable Floppy with the program on, so follow the destructions to make that . (if you might give it a try)
Leave it run for at least an hour, accept no errors.
Having confirmed decent memory makes for better smoother ruuning systems.

So there are some considerations that need some thought before you begin.
The good foundation of a decent reliable system is worth the effort.
qldit.

[The Infinity]

Thank you qldit. I will give all of that a try.

I think I gave the impression that I don't know what I'm doing. But believe me I tried everything. I also tried installing all of my Windows OS's I own with MadBoot but it keeps telling me it can't find some file on all of my CD's I tried a legit Windows XP CD, a Legit Windows ME CD and a Legit Windows 98 CD and it kept giving me hte same error... Something to the affect of "Could not find WinNT.exe on Disk" or something to that affect.

I tried changing hte boot order also on the computer to where the CD-ROM and the Hard Drive were the only things the computer was allowed to boot on. But it still wouldn't boot from CD even though it was doing it earlier, obviously, since I was able to install Ubuntu and such. The only thing it seems I can boot from is the Floppy Drive, even when I make the Hard Drive the only boot device it still give me the Invalid Boot Disk Error.

Never-the-less, I will give what you said a try and see if it changes. I sincerley thank you all for your help thus far.

[qldit]

Good Evening The Infinity, Yes I have been there myself.
It commonly happens when a "read error or file not found" happens with an install that you will find it is a "muddy" reading CDROM or cantankerous memory. (RAM)
I always have a decent spare available to use in cases like that and after the load simply place the old unit back, they usually appear to work well enough for general operation and music.
If you find this problem just be wary of that drive.
Any install CD always has more intricate files than a general data CD.

Most often if you use Madboot as an initiation floppy you don't need to have the CDROM in the boot sequence, it simply loads a CDROM driver and hands over to the CDROM and then the whole thing proceeds without problem.
Same for W-95 or whatever.
This is very useful for older machines that don't have the boot from CDROM capability.

I also have a nice little floppy with a simple handover to any bootable CD which becomes handy for some Linux distros.

In that your problem is general with the CDROM, it kind of indicates something odd.
Circumstantially it would further indicate the CDROM has a problem.
It is common for older less than 30X CDROMs to have these kinds of problems.

There are work arounds for everything, I recently had a laptop that didn't have a floppy or a useable CDROM and it was a pain to install W-XP on. Kept giving massive file read errors.
You don't wan't to know how I eventually achieved the install!

It involved using a one gig flashdrive and removing the hard drive to a desktop with a drive adapter then installing a different interim system, then replacing the drive in the laptop and sliding XP across onto it, then initiating the XP install from the actual drive that had the copy of it's CD files back in the laptop. This was the same hard drive!
I never would have believed it was possible to install Windows XP to a drive that actually had it's own files on, and format the drive itself without affecting the install or the files.
So I have formed the opinion that any kind of workaround is possible!

I personally rarely use windows these days I nearly always use this Puppy Linux, it suits me down to the ground. It is very quick.

All the best with your efforts there, it is a really good learning curve you are enjoying.

qldit.