Mandrake 10 Community install wrote to BIOS killed XP and prevents XP reinstall

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i installed mandrake 10 community ed. to dual boot with win xp home (already installed). it changed my hardrive geometry from lba to chs wrote to the mbr and kept xp from booting. in attempting to restore mbr i produced a screen that simply said xp trick. i am unable to reinstall xp on harddrive. i checked harddrive with many utilities my harddrive has no bad spots per scandisk after i managed a win32 install. my memory checks out fine with memtest. win xp install hangs with usb probe so does white hat linux enterprise install (redhat clone) also cannot install gentoo hangs on usb probe. can only install mandrake 9.2 and 10 on harddrive even mandrake 9.1 hangs on install attempt. have used microsoft fdisk, fdisk from linux and several utilities. is my harddisk ruined? what can i use to repair it? i'd like the freedom to use a dual boot system, it is a shame that some indivuals make code that destroys other operating systems and now usefulness of harddrives, i'm sure these same indivuals would be quick to comdemn this if it happened to them. i'm willing to send original cds of community install of mandrake 10 that did damage to reputable company to determine code used. if anyone knows how to repair this problem please help me.
 
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/index.php?s

Dual Boot Linux and Windows
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/linux/story/0,24330,3397093,00.html

Dual booting Linux Mandrake 8.1 and Windows XP
http://www.linuxbeginner.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26

How to Remove Linux and Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314458&Product=winxp

How to Remove the Linux LILO Boot Manager
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315224&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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|i installed mandrake 10 community ed. to dual boot with win xp home (already installed). it changed my
hardrive geometry from lba to chs wrote to the mbr and kept xp from booting. in attempting to restore mbr i
produced a screen that simply said xp trick. i am unable to reinstall xp on harddrive. i checked harddrive
with many utilities my harddrive has no bad spots per scandisk after i managed a win32 install. my memory
checks out fine with memtest. win xp install hangs with usb probe so does white hat linux enterprise install
(redhat clone) also cannot install gentoo hangs on usb probe. can only install mandrake 9.2 and 10 on
harddrive even mandrake 9.1 hangs on install attempt. have used microsoft fdisk, fdisk from linux and several
utilities. is my harddisk ruined? what can i use to repair it? i'd like the freedom to use a dual boot system,
it is a shame that some indivuals make code that destroys other operating systems and now usefulness of
harddrives, i'm sure these same indivuals would be quick to comdemn this if it happened to them. i'm willing
to send original cds of community install of mandrake 10 that did damage to reputable company to determine
code used. if anyone knows how to repair this problem please help me.
 
Here are a couple of things I would try. Since your already lost your
data. Insert a restore cd.

Now if that fails.
Get a windows 98se bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com with fdisk on it,
Now Fdisk.
Delete all Non-partitions and all dos partitions.
Create one whole partition. (Don’t create other partitions)
Set Active.
Reboot with floppy in drive.
Format C: /U /V:Win_xp

Remove floppy

Reinstall xp or restore from ghost image
If reinstalling don’t activate until all hardware and Linux is
installed.
Now install Mandrake. Let it do what it thinks is best.
(Make a repair boot floppy-while in mandrake)
If you can’t boot to xp after installing mandrake.
Insert the windows 98se bootdisk again.
Set partition where the xp is located to active.
Reboot with 98se floppy still in drive
Type fdisk /MBR
Remove floppy.



Good Luck
 
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