[SOLVED] I have only a Grub prompt. I need urgent help!

[fedra]

I deleted the Linux partition and now my computer cannot boot.
I have only a grub prompt with few undocumented commands available.

My first partition was WinXP and the second partition (the one that I have delete it) was linux. I need to boot up back in Window without installing Linux (<i don´t have the Linux CD anymore).

I tried 'makeactive (hd 0,0)'. The command seems to work since it returned no errors. However, after reboot I still have that dreaded grub prompt.
I really need help with this one cose after visiting 50-60 web pages, nothing works.

[fedra]

Oh... I spent many hours trying to remove that grub blasphemy from my computer. One of the things i have tried was to run Windows' Recovery console and the fixmbr command.
But the fixmbr tells me that my mbr is exotic and that if I rewrite the mbr I may loose the partitions.
Just another nice gift from Grub Linux

[Jonathan183]

Try

rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

that should load Windows bootloader allowing Windows to run, after that you can fix the MBR from Windows. You could also use the SuperGrub CD to fix the Windows boot

[fedra]

I already tried that.

rootnovorify
makeactive

and then chain

still returns to that grub prompt.

------------

Thank you very much for that link. It looks like it may be (finally) the solution I was looking for.

[fedra]

Oh... because it seems that it is something wrong with my partition table, where I can find a program that can backup my partition table.


As my laptop is broken, I need a full solution (free software+flash stick bootable). I use somebody else's computer and I don't want to download/install stuff in this computer.
Also, I cannot burn CD's.

[fedra]

I have found the solution in this page Howto Boot Windows without problems - Super Grub Disk Wiki
Thanks to Jonathan183.

Now, does anybody knows ow can I totally remove grub?

[Jonathan183]

Glad you got things sorted

[fedra]

Glad you got things sorted

Thanks again Jonathan183.



Grub won't be that bad it it will have a help attached.

[Jonathan183]

fedra ... grub is a pretty good boot loader, the problem is the config files for the menu were on the Linux partition you deleted.When you get chance its worth burning a copy of the SuperGrub CD as it can help fix Windows and Linux boot issues. If you can boot from USB then thats an option as well ... available on most new machines these days.

For the partition table issue (if it is still a problem) you could give something like SystemRescue or PartedMagic a try - you can find links to them from the downloads section of the forums.

Ed: I think SuperGrub is the easiest way to remove grub and replace Windows code in MBR ... the option is something like write generic windows code to MBR.

[fedra]

Fixed it in few seconds with Microsoft Windows install CD.

- boot from CD (5 seconds)
- enter recovery console (20 seconds but you only have to wait until Windows is loading the files from the CD which is pretty slow)
- run 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' command without any parameters (5 seconds)
- reboot