laptop wont boot up

kduffy101

just a update....
guy in pc repair shop says laptop needs windows reinstalled as its corrupt,the hard drive is fine,
the price for this is £55.00.
i was wondering if i got the laptop back could i install windows my self?or one of the free OS systems?(unbunta/linux).
thanks

Lokolo

kduffy101 wrote: »

just a update....
guy in pc repair shop says laptop needs windows reinstalled as its corrupt,the hard drive is fine,
the price for this is £55.00.
i was wondering if i got the laptop back could i install windows my self?or one of the free OS systems?(unbunta/linux).
thanks

You can but unless you have another drive to install it on, then you will lose all your data.

Lokolo

Actually I tell a lie.

The computer you are using now, does it have a CD/DVD Writer?

If so, you could put Live CD of Ubuntu (if you are feeling adventurous!) and use this to get data off of the computer.

kduffy101

yes my pc has cd/dvd drive. whats the easyist way of getting the live cd? he is not worried about losing data,
will i have to remove the corrupt windows before intalling a new OS?
if so any advise on how to do this would be great.
thanks.

Lokolo

Ah if hes not worried about it he can format the drive, which basically removes everything.

However, if you/him want to have Windows on, then you'll have to buy a Windows CD.

If you want Ubtunu you can download it here: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

Then burn the file to a disc (follow the instructions), put that in the machine, and boot from CD.

---

Did the repair guy say what Windows he would put on there?

kduffy101

how do you go about formatting the drive?
when i go to pick up laptop i was going to ask what windows he was going to install,

Lokolo

If you choose to put Windows on it will ask you if you want to format before reinstalling.

I have never put Ubuntu onto a drive though, only ever ran the Live CD.

kduffy101

he still has the xp disc that came with laptop+the serial number is on the bottom of laptop,can we use that to reinstall windows?

Paul_T_3

Hi, depends if the disk that came with the computer is a full XP disk or a recovery disk. Do not see that you have much to lose by trying the disk.

You may have to alter the boot sequence to make the Laptop boot from the dvd/cd drive first. Watch the screen and it should display what key to press to enter the BIOS / Setup - Delete or F3 etc.

Enter the bios and search for an option to change boot sequence and change to first boot = Dvd/cd drive.

Save and re boot with the disk in the drive. See what options are present when the disk boots, it may give an option to restore to factory default, either way you are going to lose your data (not necessary true and think you have already said loss of data no problem).

Paul