Accidently botched a Linux Distro on my laptop - need help

Windows7forever on 04/06/2016 - 17:13
Last edited 04/06/2016 - 17:15

My laptop running windows vista has been giving me nothing but problems so I decided to find a funky linux OS to replace it with but with the intention I would try out first by dual booting or running off a usb in a 'live' mode before committing.
I stupidly copied the /boot files of the linux distro(Porteus) onto my C:/ which is the only partition on the laptop not thinking anything would happen.
Now I am no longer able to boot into windows and the machine attempts to boot into the linux distro which is corrupted because it turns out the distro was not installed correctly.
I have tried booting another linux distro but it is saying "usb not recognised" or something to that effect and won't let me overwrite it.
I am now thinking of purchasing a copy of windows 7 and starting all over again, if I can even get it to boot up!

PS: The hard drive inside the laptop is an SSD so I can't swap it into another laptop to delete the distro/linux boot files as I don't have the facilities to do that!

If anyone has any ideas for the easiest and quickest way to get my machine running again that would be much appreciated. I don't have any personal data to back up.

Computing

Comments

  • Blitzfx on 04/06/2016 - 17:52
    +1

    USB no recognised? Try another usb stick and make it bootable and load a new distro image onto the stick, which you'll need another working computer to do.
    Set the boot priority of your USB stick to #1 and you should be fine.

    The fastest way to get your laptop up and running is to just download DSL (dam small linux) and run the OS off the USB. Not ideal in the long term though :P

  • ceebee on 04/06/2016 - 18:23
    +1

    You can't get into your BIOS either? If you can get into your BIOS, change boot priority from HDD to either USB or CD then use either a Windows image on USB or Linux bootable. You can also use a Windows recovery CD if you have one. You probably won't be able to recover any files you had, but you will be able to reinstall from scratch, partition and start again.

    • scrimshaw on 05/06/2016 - 01:38

      You can also just press F12 at boot. On many machines, the F12 button lets you override the default boot priority and choose a device to boot into.

  • t_c on 04/06/2016 - 19:25
    +4

    Well there's no going back now, install ubuntu , I find it the easiest and best for beginners and most similar to windows.
    http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop

    • Windows7forever on 05/06/2016 - 05:08

      I love Ubuntu. I am actually usually an older release (10.04 LTS) on my backup laptop (T60) right now. Unfortunately, I can't get this machine to play DVDs and have tried the various work-arounds posted online but can't seem to get the repository files. I've tried the newer releases of Ubuntu but unfortunately they run very slowly on old hardware.

      I've always hated Vista. I just acquired this other laptop (X300) and it's BSODing every 5 minutes. I intend to keep one windows machine or maybe a dual boot combo, if I feel like experimenting.

  • mskeggs on 04/06/2016 - 20:15
    +1

    This is how I learn about computers! Fixing my screw ups.
    I think you might be best off trying to boot from a Windows disk and repairing the install. This will rewrite the master boot record to point to the windows partition and should allow you to boot into windows again.
    Another avenue is to use unetbootin to make a bootable usb stick.
    I wouldn't bother buying a windows disk, just pirate a torrent copy - you have a legitimate licence after all.

    • kywst on 04/06/2016 - 20:34
      +1

      I wouldn't bother buying a windows disk, just pirate a torrent copy - you have a legitimate licence after all.

      Why not download the legit ISO from Microsoft is that's the case?

      https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows7

      • Windows7forever on 05/06/2016 - 05:20

        I didn't even know you could download backup ISOs from M$, and free too it seems!
        I will keep this in mind if I ever lose access to my backups.

    • Windows7forever on 05/06/2016 - 05:11

      I have legit W7 ISOs and license keys on my backup hard drive. They were from OEM installations. So no need to purchase again.

  • kywst on 04/06/2016 - 20:30

    Surely the Live USB image still boots? If it booted the first time there's no reason for it not to on subsequent attempts. I'd go for Ubuntu cause Debian's retarded little brother and aptitude has super cow powers. sudo apt-get moo.

    • Windows7forever on 05/06/2016 - 05:16

      As much as I love Ubunutu I feel I would need to stick with GNOME as UNITY is slowwww!
      Consequently, I would be using out of date software from 5-6 years ago. My other machine is running Ubuntu 10.04LTS but already some of the repositories are outdated and so is firefox(websites constantly nag me to upgrade for the 'best experience'), etc. Why do they need to screw up perfectly good software? My T60 only has 2GB ram and it flies with Ubuntu 10.04LTS - great for all the basics - web, word processing, study etc. Absolute 0% bloatware, 100% streamlined.

      • terrys on 05/06/2016 - 11:15

        "As much as I love Ubunutu I feel I would need to stick with GNOME "
        The go for the Minty green goodness with the MATE or cinnamon desktop, or Xfce if you want a lean green machine.

        • Windows7forever on 05/06/2016 - 13:01
          +2

          I just saw a distro called "ubuntu gnome". Has all the modern features of ubuntu etc but in a classic shell. Gonna look it getting that installed.

      • retiredfeline on 05/06/2016 - 11:27

        some of the repositories are outdated and so is firefox(websites constantly nag me to upgrade for the 'best experience'), etc. Why do they need to screw up perfectly good software?

        If you were using the machine without the Internet then fine but web browsers need to be patched constantly to plug security holes as they are discovered.

  • robertbruce on 04/06/2016 - 20:40

    try another distro install, boot it, console, su, update-grub

  • scrimshaw on 05/06/2016 - 01:33
    +1

    Microsoft Windows 10 link if you want it
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench

    Win Vista images if you want it
    https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-burn-downloaded-windows-v…

    Now if you want to dual boot Windows 10/Vista and Linux (let's just try Mint), this is what you'll need to do:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxepmtjmilQ

    • Windows7forever on 05/06/2016 - 05:21

      Cheers mate.

    • terrys on 05/06/2016 - 11:45

      Unfortunately the Digital River Vista files were removed some time back at the request of Microsoft :-(

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