Old lady lost windows xp

[Rashkae]

Dave Stevens wrote:
> On Thursday 12 November 2009 03:04:55 pm Mark Traceur wrote:
>>> The hard drive has windows xp on it but it won't start and we can't redu
>>> it on account of the lost cd with the numbers.
>>> I tried to install a legal windowsf 98 ( she is familiar with) and then
>>> as an intrduction  e.g. puppy linux, but the computer hangs up and keeps
>>> looking for windows xp.  with it's ID numbers.. John H
>> From what I can gather:
>>
>> 1. The HD has XP installed, but it is not starting.
>> 2. The lady has lost her CD.
>> 3. You installed 98 from a CD she DOES have,
>> 4. and promptly found that the computer still tries to boot to XP.
>> 5. Linux doesn't work either.
>>
>> Make sure you've installed to the correct drive--if you haven't, it'll
>> still have ntldr in the first drive and break the install.
>>
>> If that doesn't work, find ANY XP install CD and (from the recovery
>> console) run 'fixmbr'.
>>
>> Try accessing the files using an Ubuntu live CD, if the drive doesn't
>> mount...it's probably dead. Especially if it once had '98 on it, it's
>> probably a decade old and needs replacing.
>>
>> Good luck!
>>
>> --MarkTraceur
> 
> why is a non-working Windows XP installation a problem for the Ubuntu list?
> 

Because the Ubuntu install cd, which is supposed to safely install a
dual-boot system, broke it?