On Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:15:06 -0700, vorange wrote:

> I was running Windows XP on my drive.
>
> I wanted to give Linux a try but I did not want it to mess up my
> Windows. So I installed it on an SD card. Grub installed itself as
> well (god knows where).
>
> After a while, I decided to get format the SD card to install something
> else on it. To my horror after rebooting instead of Windows loading up,
> I get the message :
>
> GRUB Loading stage1.5
>
> GRUB loading, please wait...
> Error 17
>
> How the heck do I get rid of GRUB?? I just want my Windows XP back. I
> want to turn on the computer and boot into Windows.

Boot with a Windows emergency boot disk (if you have one) and run:

fdisk /mbr

or boot with the Windows XP installation CD and from the recovery console
type:

fixmbr

Doing either one should rewrite the MBR (Master Boot Record) allowing you
to reboot directly into Windows.

> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.

Funnily enough I had to reinstall XP recently on a dual-boot box with
Linux. The XP install overwrites the MBR so I could no longer boot into
Linux and had to go through some kerfuffle to re-run GRUB in order to
rewrite the MBR.

Naturally, this left me disgusted with Windows ;-)

--
Lionel B

vorange wrote:
> How the heck do I get rid of GRUB?? I just want my Windows XP back.
> I want to turn on the computer and boot into Windows.

one old trick is to boot a dos floppy and run fdisk /mbr
But if you don't have one handy or don't have a floppy drive...
Have you tried the XP system restore disk?

> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.

Why? Because you didn't read the on-screen instructions when you were
installing. The problem isn't linux in this case. GRUB offers you the chance
to load it onto a partition rather than the drive's MBR, y'know.

You just clicked through without reading the options by the looks of it, so
the only problem here is PEBKAC.
--
| |What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack|
| spike1@freenet.co.uk |in the ground beneath a giant boulder, which you|
| |can't move, with no hope of rescue. |
| Andrew Halliwell BSc |Consider how lucky you are that life has been |
| in |good to you so far... |
| Computer Science | -The BOOK, Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy.|

"vorange" wrote
> I was running Windows XP on my drive.
>
> I wanted to give Linux a try but I did not want it to mess up my
> Windows. So I installed it on an SD card. Grub installed itself as
> well (god knows where).
>
> After a while, I decided to get format the SD card to install
> something else on it. To my horror after rebooting instead of Windows
> loading up, I get the message :
>
> GRUB Loading stage1.5
>
> GRUB loading, please wait...
> Error 17
>
> How the heck do I get rid of GRUB?? I just want my Windows XP back.
> I want to turn on the computer and boot into Windows.

As others have said, you will need to rebuild your hard disk's Master Boot
Record (MBR), using a DOS floppy or a recovery function of a Windows CD.

> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.

Just so you know, this is not at all related to Linux. Every OS, when it's
installed, has to do something to the boot loading setup to ensure that it
can boot.

Linux offers you at least two options (LILO or GRUB), each of which can be
set up in a number of different ways (MBR, partition superblock, etc.). In
almost every case other installed OSs are noted and made available as boot
options. Your case only became an issue when you reformatted the SD card on
which you had installed GRUB - presumably you could choose between Linux and
Windows perfectly happily until then.

Windows simply trashes the MBR, ignores any other OS and sets up your
machine to boot straight into Windows every time.

Other OSs do something in between.

If you had installed any non-Linux OS onto the SD card, you would have run
into exactly the same problem when you reformatted the card.

Regards,

CC

"vorange" wrote in message
news:850457d9-67fd-46c0-92a4-707286a765a4@q35g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> I was running Windows XP on my drive.
>
> I wanted to give Linux a try but I did not want it to mess up my
> Windows. So I installed it on an SD card. Grub installed itself as
> well (god knows where).
>
> After a while, I decided to get format the SD card to install
> something else on it. To my horror after rebooting instead of Windows
> loading up, I get the message :
>
> GRUB Loading stage1.5
>
> GRUB loading, please wait...
> Error 17
>
> How the heck do I get rid of GRUB?? I just want my Windows XP back.
> I want to turn on the computer and boot into Windows.
>
> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.
>


Boot with your XP cd
and from the repair console issue the command fixmbr

or...

boot with a win9x floppy and issue the command fdisk /mbr

On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 18:43:06 -0500, "philo" wrote:

>>
>> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.

Yes well Linux is for thinking people, not Drag'n'Droolers.
>>
>
>
>Boot with your XP cd
>and from the repair console issue the command fixmbr

and perhaps fixboot while you're at it.
>
>or...
>
>boot with a win9x floppy and issue the command fdisk /mbr

Why pass on this crap, no way is that gonna fix a winxp MBR unless
a user is multi-booting Win98 -> Win2k/XP which is unlikely these days?

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.id.au/

Em Sexta, 3 de Outubro de 2008 08:15, vorange escreveu:

> I was running Windows XP on my drive.
>
> I wanted to give Linux a try but I did not want it to mess up my
> Windows. So I installed it on an SD card. Grub installed itself as
> well (god knows where).
>
> After a while, I decided to get format the SD card to install
> something else on it. To my horror after rebooting instead of Windows
> loading up, I get the message :
>
> GRUB Loading stage1.5
>
> GRUB loading, please wait...
> Error 17
>
> How the heck do I get rid of GRUB?? I just want my Windows XP back.
> I want to turn on the computer and boot into Windows.
>
> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.

the world is over-populated with stupid and ignorant people, so as you are
far from been alone, tell yourself and all the people that you know the
next time you wanna try something diferent that winBull, ask somebody that
knows a little bit of computers to install it for you.

"Grant" wrote in message
news:bfcde4desbv8tl250msl5d35al9ila5btj@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 3 Oct 2008 18:43:06 -0500, "philo" wrote:
>
> >>
> >> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.
>
> Yes well Linux is for thinking people, not Drag'n'Droolers.
> >>
> >
> >
> >Boot with your XP cd
> >and from the repair console issue the command fixmbr
>
> and perhaps fixboot while you're at it.
> >
> >or...
> >
> >boot with a win9x floppy and issue the command fdisk /mbr
>
> Why pass on this crap, no way is that gonna fix a winxp MBR unless
> a user is multi-booting Win98 -> Win2k/XP which is unlikely these days?
>
> Grant.



You are WRONG

fdisk /mbr WILL rewrite the mbr even if the machine is using XP

This is NOT speculation , I have often done it to get rid of GRUB or LILO

If the machine originally had XP on it, the original mbr will be restored
and GRUB or LILO will be gone


If you do not believe me,
do a quick test install on a spare drive and give it a try


here is ONE link out of thousands where other have done it

http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com...r-problem.html

Em Sábado, 4 de Outubro de 2008 09:21, philo escreveu:

>> You are WRONG
>
> fdisk /mbr WILL rewrite the mbr even if the machine is using XP
>
> This is NOT speculation , I have often done it to get rid of GRUB or LILO
>
> If the machine originally had XP on it, the original mbr will be restored
> and GRUB or LILO will be gone
>
>
> If you do not believe me,
> do a quick test install on a spare drive and give it a try
>
>
> here is ONE link out of thousands where other have done it
>
>
http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com...r-problem.html

Correct!

fdisk /mbr will set MBR in a way that the search for a OS will be redirected
to the BR of the 1st partition on that disk.
as long the OS is sitting in the 1st partition, it will work, no matter what
win/msdos version is there.
all windows start like this: BIOS reads MBR, MBR redirects do the 1st BR and
the 1st BR has instructions where (fisical sectors) is the 1st file to be
loaded, so this 1st file (old io.sys) can never be moved fisicaly on the
disk, and even if you install windows to a 2nd partition, it will allways
put hidden files in the 1st partition. Vista runs today the same way the
1st ibm-dos did, it only runs if it is installed in the best seat of the
house.

regards

On Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:10:48 +0100, ArameFarpado wrote:

> fdisk /mbr will set MBR in a way that the search for a OS will be redirected
> to the BR of the 1st partition marked active on that disk.

Fixed that for you.

Em Sábado, 4 de Outubro de 2008 11:47, Dave Uhring escreveu:

> On Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:10:48 +0100, ArameFarpado wrote:
>
>> fdisk /mbr will set MBR in a way that the search for a OS will be
>> redirected to the BR of the 1st partition marked active on that disk.
>
> Fixed that for you.

yes... details are important

regards

ArameFarpado wrote:
> Em Sexta, 3 de Outubro de 2008 08:15, vorange escreveu:
>
>> I was running Windows XP on my drive.
>>
>> I wanted to give Linux a try but I did not want it to mess up my
>> Windows. So I installed it on an SD card. Grub installed itself as
>> well (god knows where).
>>
>> After a while, I decided to get format the SD card to install
>> something else on it. To my horror after rebooting instead of Windows
>> loading up, I get the message :
>>
>> GRUB Loading stage1.5
>>
>> GRUB loading, please wait...
>> Error 17
>>
>> How the heck do I get rid of GRUB?? I just want my Windows XP back.
>> I want to turn on the computer and boot into Windows.
>>
>> This has really left me disgusted with ever trying Linux again.
>
> the world is over-populated with stupid and ignorant people, so as you are
> far from been alone, tell yourself and all the people that you know the
> next time you wanna try something diferent that winBull, ask somebody that
> knows a little bit of computers to install it for you.

This is comp.os.linux.setup, not 'comp.os.linux.hire.consultants'. Playing
with things is how we learn.