I think i just Screwed myself over...

[dannye1337]

OK.. so one day i decided to switch from windows vista to linux.

ok so afterall the things i did not want on linux... i decided to switch to windows Xp... then i booted with it... and then it says Setup did not find any hard disk drives during Windows XP Installation. ok so no big deal ill just switch back to vista. i put Vista cd in it... then i click install and then it says i dont have enough memory... but im looking at my hardrive and i have over 120gb's of memory... so ... ok no big deal ill just put my restoration discs in and boot it.. i boot with them... and it gives me an error saying no partition available... so i kept playing around with these and they got me no where. ever since i had linux it has been bugging up on me... sometimes my computer doesnt even start up and it crashes whenever i suspend it and when im not plugged in charging the screen flickers on and somewhat off. and some of my programs been crashing up on me as well... day by day they dont even open...

did i just screw my self over?

i have a ACER extensa 5620 core 2 duo on ubuntu gutsy

any suggestions? ...

[Jonathan183]

Which operating systems do you have on your system now, and which operating systems do you want on your system in future ?

Which OS is not working, one or all ?

Have you backed up your data already ?

[oz]

I'm not sure what you are wanting to do at this point, but if you want to wipe your drive of all content and get a fresh start, go to a terminal in Ubuntu and issue the following command:

sudo 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. You can use the fdisk -l command to determine your device name:

fdisk -l

If Ubuntu is no longer working, download the PartedMagic LiveCD and enter the following command from a terminal:

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

This will write zeros to the entire drive giving you a totally fresh start, making your drive ready for a fresh install of Windows, and/or Linux. If you want both, be sure to install Windows first.

[dannye1337]

woop sorry i want to go back to windows xp preferably OR windows vista if i have to...

[oz]

Ok, the instructions I posted above should get you back there quickly if you have your Window installation CDs on hand and ready to use.

[dannye1337]

ok so all i have to do is put those codes in a terminal and then i just boot with my recovery disks?

[oz]

Only one of the codes is needed. The codes are slightly different, depending on whether you boot into Gutsy, or PartedMagic, but yes, enter the code and the disk will be wiped completely clean and you'll be ready for a fresh install of whatever OS you have the installation disk for.

[dannye1337]

ok i put the code in and got this...


danny@1337N355:~$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=521 count=1
[sudo] password for danny:
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
521 bytes (521 B) copied, 2.0115e-05 seconds, 25.9 MB/s
danny@1337N355:~$

[oz]

Reboot and you'll see there's no OS on the drive. That means it's time for a fresh install using your installation CD.

[oz]

Note that if you are using a SATA drive, you might have to reinstall the sata drivers before you can complete the installation of WinXP.