unusual question about install

snper12345 · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Posts: 14

ok well i tried to install gentoo linux and after a week of failure gave up, so the next step i got a windows cd and booted up good ol windows, but insted i got another even more interesting problem

windows wont even boot up without the cd in the drive and even when it does boot up i don't have a keyboard or mouse. so by process of elimination i discovered what went wrong with linux and seeing how this is a giant forum of computer junkies i turn to you guys (and gals) to help me figure out whats wrong.

yes everything is plugged in, yes it is all fit and snug in its corresponding port, yes i redid the cmos and have reinstalled several times, and yes i took out the motherboard lithion battery and put it back in. though i am still confused as to what would cause this error so if anyone has any idea's please let me know i am up to try anything!

yabbadabbadont · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:50 pm Post subject:

Does the keyboard work for you to get into the BIOS setup? If not, you will need to get another keyboard (borrow one that works) and see if you can get into the BIOS setup using it. If so, you have a bad keyboard. If not, you have a bad motherboard and/or messed up BIOS. In that case, you could try to reflash the BIOS using whatever method your motherboard manufacturer supplies.
_________________

thorpe · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:58 pm Post subject:

steveL

snper12345 · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Posts: 14

ok to clarify, when it starts up yes i see all the numbers and fun stuff. i know the motherboard is working. its showing me the data and saying that it is reading the hard drive and the disks. the hard drives are also working because when a disk is in the cd rom drive i can boot up windows. the keyboard works in cmos and bios and can modify everything in the bios but when windows starts up it magically doesn't work anymore.

this is the problem that i'm having. i have installed several operating systems and cannot get the computer to boot any of them. i know they install properly and it seems that the parts are all working fine but when i go to reboot it says that there is a system error and to start from a boot disk, only after that disk is put in will the computer go any further. i am wondering what is causing my computer to do that. also whenever the boot disk Live DVD is in the drive it wont let me skip the boot to go to the operating system that i just installed.

yabbadabbadont · Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:29 am Post subject:

Is it a USB keyboard or ps2?
_________________

snper12345 · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Posts: 14

ps2 i don't have access to a USB but my mouse is USB and it also has problems

yabbadabbadont · Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:37 pm Post subject:

What, exactly, is the text of the system error you recieve? It doesn't really sound like a keyboard issue to me, but more like the bootloader for whichever OS you've just installed didn't get installed properly.
_________________

snper12345 · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Posts: 14

well if its the bootloader than both linux and windows are doing the same thing, it says

Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter

But there is a windows and linux both installed on my machine so i don't understand what is causing the error

yabbadabbadont · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:03 am Post subject:

Go into your BIOS settings and verify which hard drive is booted first by default. Then boot the gentoo install cd. Follow the instructions in the installation manual for chrooting into your installed gentoo system. Once there, follow the part of the installation manual for manually installing grub. Be sure that you install it to the MBR of the correct drive.
_________________

snper12345 · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Posts: 14

i currently only have one hard drive connected for my computer and a dvd drive, but i will try it and see what i get

davascript · l33t Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 618 Location: Pennsylvania

If you really want to use windows than boot to the recovery console and then run fixboot, if no go then try fixmbr, after that if no avail you could low level format you hard drive and start over with windows. if your keyboard works in the bios and not in windows then its not a keyboard issue. it seems like the many times of trying to install whichever os you were installing at the time was getting installed over information. hwo did you format your partitions in linux and how did you prepare the disks again for windows?

steveL · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:44 pm Post subject: