dan88's picture
dan88
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serious help needed asap

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Some of you are very tech savvy and help is needed...2day I installed ubuntu onto my pc,i like it.But whilst installing software,i rebooted.Well now I dont have a dual boot menu to choose vista or ubuntu,what I get is a black screen with writing at the top.It say hit ctrl alt del to restart,i do this to the same result.Basically I cannot boot a operating system at all,neither can I remember which F key to tap to manualy restart windows.I know my dell says F2 Setup and F12 for boot menu,but F12 takes me to boot hard disk with the 3rd master option and cd rom.This doesnt work anyway.Ive had to type this on my brothes fone,hence bad grammar and long task...Arghh help sum 1

BFG's picture

When you installed ubuntu, you overrode Vista's boot manager with the linux boot manager software called Grub.
When you rebooted while the system was updating, Grub probably got fucked.
-You can fix Grub by reinstalling it. You can use your Ubuntu Live CD for that. More info here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows
If you manage to do this, you'll be able to choose what system to run from the grub menu again.

-You can reinstall Vista (but will lose your profile probably, not sure tho, haven't used windows in years...)

dan88's picture

Thanks for getting back to me buddy,the link is useful as well cheer's

Greg's picture

F8 is the selective start up I think you are looking for but based on your description it sounds more like your boot sector has been corrupted. Meaning F8 isn't going to be an option.
Use repair option on the vista install disk to do a repair.

The following link is a bit more involved but worth a try if the above does not work. You will need a vista install disk.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

dan88's picture

Yeas that was the problem Greg,my pc had no boot manager so I could'nt boot up anyway.Pm'd with Rod's and he give some guidance and did the repair option,thank's for the info though that was the right solution you gave.Pretty new to all this stuff...

Greg's picture

Glad to hear it. Vista doesn't play nice in a dual boot environment. The best solution would be to install ubuntu first then vista

dan88's picture

Yeah I'm making sure I've got a guide and studied it for a while before I do it,if all I have to do is repair the driver issue when dual installed through vista it's not that bad tbh.Took 5 or 10 min's to do once I knew what to do,unless it's gonna cause actual damage to anything...

dan88's picture

Yeah I'm gonna back up all my vista file's and reinstall it tomorrow I think,so I'll get ubuntu onto usb and sort it

dan88's picture

Thanks 4 the help rods,im sorting it now

dan88's picture

Yeah am sorting this out now

Mekanik's picture

funny tread - agreed!