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Laptop will install Linux but not Windows

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  • Windows
  • Laptops
  • Linux
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
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January 21, 2014 6:45:33 PM

I have an Acer Aspire 8730g that had a 250 Gb drive that had problems so I replaced with a 1Tb drive. I have been able to install Linux Mint 16 with no problems but I cannot load Windows onto it. I have tried several different Windows OS and they fail each time at the same place...after the first restart it never comes back, it either gives me a cursor in the top left corner or it shows the Windows progress bar. Either way it just sits there after that. Any suggestions?

More about : laptop install linux windows

a b D Laptop
a b 5 Linux
January 22, 2014 12:09:14 AM

Your computer has become allergic to Windows after a taste of Linux?

Seriously, always install windows first in a dual install, Linux is more flexible about sharing. What's probably happened is that you split the hard drive into 2 very large partitions. The MBR does not like being half way to the next county, just how far from the start of the disk it can be I'm not sure. That said start over and create a small 150mb FAT16 partition at the beginning of the drive, you can use Gparted in your mint installer for that. Make a partition for Windows NTFS then leave the space for Mint blank. Install Windows then install Mint and you should be good to go.
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a b D Laptop
a b 5 Linux
January 22, 2014 1:07:27 AM

"The MBR does not like being half way to the next county, just how far from the start of the disk it can be I'm not sure."

The MBR is always the first sector of a hard disk. Partitioning it doesn't alter that.

What version of Windows are you trying to load? XP needs special drivers to handle a SATA disk, which could be your problem. And what size are your current partitions?
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a b D Laptop
a b 5 Linux
January 22, 2014 3:16:00 AM

Quote:
"The MBR does not like being half way to the next county, just how far from the start of the disk it can be I'm not sure."

The MBR is always the first sector of a hard disk. Partitioning it doesn't alter that.


Excuse me, I should have said the bootmanager rather than MBR. Same repair suggestion.
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January 22, 2014 4:23:28 PM

stillblue said:
Your computer has become allergic to Windows after a taste of Linux?

Seriously, always install windows first in a dual install, Linux is more flexible about sharing. What's probably happened is that you split the hard drive into 2 very large partitions. The MBR does not like being half way to the next county, just how far from the start of the disk it can be I'm not sure. That said start over and create a small 150mb FAT16 partition at the beginning of the drive, you can use Gparted in your mint installer for that. Make a partition for Windows NTFS then leave the space for Mint blank. Install Windows then install Mint and you should be good to go.


This is not a dual install. It wouldn't let me install any windows os so I tried Linux with no problems. After I got Linux to work I reformatted the hd made one partition only and tried windows again with the same results. I did this 3 different times just to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong. Not sure where the boot manager is located but I would imagine after formatting and creating a partition it would be up front.
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a b D Laptop
a b 5 Linux
January 22, 2014 4:47:14 PM

load linux live cd
use gparted to delete/create NTFS partition.
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a b D Laptop
a b 5 Linux
January 22, 2014 11:02:25 PM

So you want only windows? What windows? As has been pointed out used gparted from your mint disk and format the drive ntfs. When you said various windows you imply xp, 7, 32 bit 64 bit a combination of them, what exactly? Did you try them before mint?
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January 23, 2014 3:44:35 PM

stillblue said:
So you want only windows? What windows? As has been pointed out used gparted from your mint disk and format the drive ntfs. When you said various windows you imply xp, 7, 32 bit 64 bit a combination of them, what exactly? Did you try them before mint?


I'll try gparted (never heard of it). I was using partition magic. The windows os I tried were xp, vista basic, vista home, 7 home and I tried all 32 and 64 with the same results.
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January 23, 2014 3:44:35 PM

stillblue said:
So you want only windows? What windows? As has been pointed out used gparted from your mint disk and format the drive ntfs. When you said various windows you imply xp, 7, 32 bit 64 bit a combination of them, what exactly? Did you try them before mint?


I'll try gparted (never heard of it). I was using partition magic. The windows os I tried were xp, vista basic, vista home, 7 home and I tried all 32 and 64 with the same results. Yes, I did try a few of them before I loaded Linux. After I loaded Linux that's when I tried both 32 and 64 bit windows os.
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