Please HELP Trying to uninstall mandriva.. :-(

[eddyg]

Ok so i put mandriva linux on my old old machine but i need to sell it now so im going to put windoz back on but im having a huge problem doing so. I can seem to boot to any windows disks that i put into the machine...Like ill put it in and change the boot seq. then it says press any key to boot....then i see the grub bootloader shoot me back into linux...(wish i could stay there lol)...

what im asking is there any way to manually format a mandriva install using a command line interface? OR any way to get rid of linux? I think this is the reason i cant boot to any other disks.

Kind regards,
eddy

[Chris_C]

You can always format the hard drive using a Linux boot CD (like the Ubuntu install disk or the system rescue disk Main Page - SystemRescueCd)

you can use fdisk to remove the partition table which would be faster.

tbh though I've sold several systems with Linux on, without effecting the price...

[eddyg]

thanks for getting back to me Chris... Yeah ive tried to push linux to these folk but they wont take it... ok ill burn that cd and try it. But wouldnt that just boot me into what ever the CD is ? (like ubuntu)

[Chris_C]

yes then use the fdisk command...

fdisk: Partition table manipulator for - Linux man page
just leave it with a empty partition table and then reboot with windows install cd

and educate your end users :O)

[devils casper]

Ok so i put mandriva linux on my old old machine but i need to sell it now so im going to put windoz back on but im having a huge problem doing so. I can seem to boot to any windows disks that i put into the machine...Like ill put it in and change the boot seq. then it says press any key to boot....then i see the grub bootloader shoot me back into linux...(wish i could stay there lol)...

what im asking is there any way to manually format a mandriva install using a command line interface? OR any way to get rid of linux? I think this is the reason i cant boot to any other disks.

Boot up from SuperGRUB CD and select Fix Windows Boot Loader option from list. It will remove GRUB and Windows OS Install disk will work fine after that.

[oz]

I recommend using the Parted Magic LiveCD. It's a quick download and burn to CD and is a good utility to keep on hand for working with Windows or Linux partitions.

Use it to wipe the drive of all content quickly by going to a terminal and issuing the following command:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

You'll need to replace /dev/sda with your actual device name such as /dev/hda.

Using the dd command above will write zeros to the entire drive giving you a totally fresh start.

If needed, you can use the fdisk -l command to determine your device name:

fdisk -l

Your Windows disks should work fine again after doing this.

Let us know how it goes.

[kenethare]

can't u just boot from the windows disc and format the hard drive and make it ntfs and then just install windows on the drive which should be unpartitioned space after u clear it.

[oz]

can't u just boot from the windows disc and format the hard drive and make it ntfs and then just install windows on the drive which should be unpartitioned space after u clear it.

Some machines refuse to boot from the Windows installation CD once GRUB resides on the MBR, and his machine is apparently one of them according to what he said above.