Help removing linux!

[gezhall]

Hi all.

I have an Acer Aspire One with Linux (was Kuki Linux). I want to temporarily install XP from scratch (don't worry, I'm going to install Linux again later!) but I'm having problems.

I bought a USB CD drive to power my XP CD. I also have a USB stick with Arch Linux on so I can do a live boot up with this to issue commands.

First I tried using fdisk to remove the linux partitions. I'm not sure if this was successful or not (I removed sda1 and sda2).... typing fdisk -l gives the following:

Disk /dev/sda: 8069Mb, 8069677056 bytes
Disk /dev/sdb: 1001Mb, 1001914368 bytes

When I try and boot from the CD drive with XP, I choose the drive as the first boot, but I get:

GRUB error 22

...and nothing else happens.

From here I'm totally lost... any help appreciated!

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome.
I think you need to delete the Master Boot Record too...to get rid of GRUB.

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

*warning* the above code will delete the MBR and it's up to you to know what you are doing here.
HD should be changed to your devices, like /dev/sda

[gezhall]

Thanks for the advice Mike.

I got the following output:

1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes copied, etc...

Does that sound right? Can I try and reboot from the CD now?

[MikeTbob]

sounds perfect.

[gezhall]

Hmmm, it's not going too well... when I boot from the CD I now get this...

For RealTek PCI-E Ethernet Controller v1.09
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key.


I've tried with a couple of CDs which I know work fine in my desltop PC...

[MikeTbob]

Are you sure the machine is capable of booting from USB CD? Have you ever done it before?

[gezhall]

No, though I wasn't aware that CDRom devices may not be capable of booting... is that the case?

[MikeTbob]

No, though I wasn't aware that CDRom devices may not be capable of booting... is that the case?

I think it mostly depends on the BIOS or motherboard. If it supports it, then it should work.
You have checked the BIOS to make sure the CD is booting first, correct? Does it list USB CD as being an option to boot from?

[gezhall]

Yes, I've done all that, but I still get the response I posted above.

[elija]

I have an e-machines netbook which won't boot my USB CDROM from all of the ports so it may be worth trying your drive in different ports.

Also, just to rule out a problem with the disk, try booting a different CD