Grub Rescue error taken over

ok had some sleep and can think again.

only trouble is now i'm not sure of the best next step.

ok the partitions /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 we are going to leave alone if we want any chance to get a windows os running or do a factory restore.

now /dev/sda3 is just an extended partition, it's used so you can create more than 4 partitions on a hard drive and doesn't actually hold anything except the extra partitions, and the only thing on yours is a single swap partition /dev/sda5.

it should have had at least one more partition on it where a linux operating system would have been, and it was there a boot file i was hoping to use would have been.

now because there is no linux os on the drive any more we can't boot into it and repair the bootloader which i was hoping would then give you the same options you had before you tried to do a restore from within windows.

so i want to install a new linux operating system on your netbook.
to do this we are going to delete both sda3 and sda5 partitions, this will leave approx. half the hard drive as empty space (it's already empty anyway with just a 2GB partition that is allocated for use at the moment),
then we are going to create a new /dev/sda3 extended partition using all that empty space.
on this we will then create 3 new partitions.
1 for the linux operating system (sda5), 1 for the linux users data(sda6), and 1 for the swap files(sda7).

when we install the new linux os it will add a boot option for the windows partition and with any luck this will then let us start the windows os running, (bit concerned if this will work tho because the windows partition is already set as first boot partition and thought it would boot into windows already.)

anyway now comes my dilemma, i could try and fix the display problem with puppy, no point in installing it if the display problem is going to still be there or we could try a different live usb.

sorry to say i've decided to try yet another version of a linux os, this one is opensuse live kde. mainly because i'm more used to using it's partitioner and install menus.

so please download and create a bootable kde live usb form here please. :- http://software.opensuse.org/122/en
first click on the big box that says Live KDE, make sure the Direct Link and 32 Bit PC options have the dot next to them, then click on the Download KDE button to start the download..

boot the usb drive when done and post back your results..

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE.. let there be a desktop environment.

Thanks so much so far. I'm a basic user and just need the basics on there.

not sure i understand what you mean adasha. you want to stick with the lucid puppy live usb you already have? if so no problems, we can carry on working with it until we fix the display problem so it takes you to a desktop like disply your more used to seeing when you start the netbook. we can then install puppy to your hard drive so you don't always need to plug the usb into the netbook, and see if we can get windows to work also, if windows doesn't you will at least be able to use lucid puppy to get onto the internet and do the usual "basic" things without having the usb drive always plugged in.

If we could do that it would be great.

I put the other iso on my f drive and now get "could not find kernel image: gfxboot" boot: Maybe I wasn't supposed to burn it to the f with the unebootin? HelP

I tied just copying it to the f drive and get this

ok, no problem.

it seems unebootin and suse don't play nice together, so you can either put lucid puppy back on it and we'll use that or you can use a different program to put suse kde onto the flash drive called imagewriter.

full instructions on where to get it and how to create the live usb are here. :- http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Live_USB_stick

it really doesn't matter which one you want to use.
i'd prefer suse kde but you create which ever is going to be easiest for you.

when you first boot the live usb, at the main options page, before hitting the enter key to start booting the live os, please type in

nomodeset

then hit the enter key.

with any luck this will cure the video problem and let you get to a desktop.
soon as we can get you to a desktop, i'll create a full step by step guide using whichever os you've decided to use showing you exactly how to install the os without destroying the 2 partitions we want to keep.

Ok, did the above. Didn't get any prompt to enter the Above. Here is what I have:

great. now you can use it just like a normal os to do things like surf the internet and check you email, etc. you'll find things open with a single click instead of the usual double click on a windows pc. i'll start work on the install guide for you and should have it ready wednesday if not before, got a busy day tuesday so might not have the time to set up a hard drive with your partition table and do the guide tomorrow. before i go tho and i can see your online, i'd like to check a few things, please click on the dolphin file manger (blue cabinet icon near bottom left corner, the green icon in corner is like a windows start button.) and open it to full screen and post a screen shot of it please, just want to double check the extended partition is empty of any data.

My desktop timed out and now says locked by live cd user, Linux, and is asking for a password?

not sure it has a password set so just hit enter and see if that works, if not i'll have to google it, or you can just restart the netbook again. .



it might be

linux

off now, just have a play with it for now, use it to log in here for example and read your topic etc and i'll post the guide as soon as, then we will see if your windows os will also boot.

ok adasha, i've setup a hard drive with similar partitions to your netbooks to test the install process on before giving you the instructions for doing the install.

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 249998918144 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30393 cylinders, total 488279137 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x19fc6e84

   Device Boot	  Start		 End	  Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1			2048	20973567	10485760   27  Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2   *	20973568   253745563   116385998	7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3	   253745564   488279136   117266786+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5	   484107361   488279136	 2085888   82  Linux swap / Solaris

before that tho, can you please boot into the suse live usb os and show me a screen shot of your partitions in yast.

1:- click on the green icon(kickoff application launcher) in corner bottom left.
2:- mouse over to Computer at the bottom in the popup window.
3:- mouse up to YaST (Control Centre) at the top of the window and click on it.
4:- in the new window that opened click on System (on the left)
5:- click on Partitioner (on the right)
6:- a new window will open with a warning box in front of it, just click Yes for the warning.
7:- after a second or so the window will fill with info, just maximise the new window and post a picture of it, please.

change nothing here at the moment just close all the open windows.
later on this is where you'll delete those 2 partitions sda3 and sda5 before installing the suse 12.2 os.

been waiting for you to reply to last post so wondering if you still want help adasha? no probs if you don't and you are happy with running suse or found another way to get windows on the netbook.

Sorry, the flu hit my home vith vengeance.

no probs, hope everyone's well now. looks like you've already installed suse, so did it add a windows boot option and when you start the netbook does it boot into the windows os when chosen?