ITGuy
New Member
Here's my situation:
I have a Gateway T-6836 running Windows Vista Home Premium. A couple days ago I installed PCLinuxOS on the primary drive, partitioning about 60 GB of the drive for the Linux file system, the rest reserved for Windows (250 GB total HDD capacity).
After successfully installing Linux, I rebooted and logged into PCLinux via the GRUB boot loader, everything worked fine. I restarted the computer again and selected Windows from GRUB to boot into Vista, here is where the problem starts: Windows appears to be loading, I see the HDD activity light and the Progress indicator graphic on screen, Windows then begins the transition from the progress bar as if it is going to take you to the login screen but instead of the login screen, it goes to a blank (black) screen with only the cursor visible and nothing else and no HDD activity.
I had created two sets of recovery discs from the Gateway recovery center application, one- a set of four CD'S and another a single DVD. I have checked and rechecked that the recovery image exists, but the computer refuses to recognize the discs as bootable (yes, the CD/DVD drive is set to search for bootable media before the hard disk) and loads the GRUB interface. I have tried several methods of recovery, even by attempting to boot into the recovery partition, which was untouched by my linux install. I can still access Linux just fine and I see the windows partition in the manager.
The tricky thing about all of this is, the laptop did not come with a Vista disc to allow me to get into the recovery console and attempt to repair the MBR. But my hunch is that this is not an MBR issue since I can actually begin loading Vista and then it just haults. I do believe a disc came with my laptop, but from what I recall, it was just an application reinstall disc. I'll have to check when I am back home. Any thoughts with this little problem?
I have a Gateway T-6836 running Windows Vista Home Premium. A couple days ago I installed PCLinuxOS on the primary drive, partitioning about 60 GB of the drive for the Linux file system, the rest reserved for Windows (250 GB total HDD capacity).
After successfully installing Linux, I rebooted and logged into PCLinux via the GRUB boot loader, everything worked fine. I restarted the computer again and selected Windows from GRUB to boot into Vista, here is where the problem starts: Windows appears to be loading, I see the HDD activity light and the Progress indicator graphic on screen, Windows then begins the transition from the progress bar as if it is going to take you to the login screen but instead of the login screen, it goes to a blank (black) screen with only the cursor visible and nothing else and no HDD activity.
I had created two sets of recovery discs from the Gateway recovery center application, one- a set of four CD'S and another a single DVD. I have checked and rechecked that the recovery image exists, but the computer refuses to recognize the discs as bootable (yes, the CD/DVD drive is set to search for bootable media before the hard disk) and loads the GRUB interface. I have tried several methods of recovery, even by attempting to boot into the recovery partition, which was untouched by my linux install. I can still access Linux just fine and I see the windows partition in the manager.
The tricky thing about all of this is, the laptop did not come with a Vista disc to allow me to get into the recovery console and attempt to repair the MBR. But my hunch is that this is not an MBR issue since I can actually begin loading Vista and then it just haults. I do believe a disc came with my laptop, but from what I recall, it was just an application reinstall disc. I'll have to check when I am back home. Any thoughts with this little problem?
