hp vista and linux

[moheganer2]

I have a hp1240n computer that came installed with windows xp.I always enjoyed trying out various linux distros.I have since switched to vista ultimate but can no longer use any linux distro or even go back to xp.It will boot from the cd and go thru 99% of the process of loading but in the end it will not run.I have even nuked the hard drive but it will only run vista or windows7 beta.Any ideas?

[guapo]

It could be the way you have the HD partitioned. Windows has always wanted to be king. You could probably repartition your HD and make it work.

However, if you have the money, I would suggest that you get another machine for Linux. I no longer bother with dual boot. I bought a repack Lenovo laptop for $400, wiped Vista and installed FreeBSD. I use it as an in house FTP and SSH server and for backups. It's really a lot better than dual boot.

[RicheemxX]

Quote:

I always enjoyed trying out various linux distros.I have since switched to vista ultimate but can no longer use any linux distro or even go back to xp.It will boot from the cd and go thru 99% of the process of loading but in the end it will not run

Are you using a separate partition with plenty of space or are you trying to over write Vista. If you aren't against formatting the drive I'd completely wipe it and create two partitions (1 for vista, 1 for linux)

Quote:

I have even nuked the hard drive but it will only run vista or windows7 beta.Any ideas?

[KarmaKiller]

Or you can use Virtual Machines or VmWare. That way you get best of both worlds at the same time.
But I do the same as Richeem. I have my main OS drive, then a backup drive with different partitions for various saved stuff, with a larger one for sandboxing OS.

[EXreaction]

It does sound like you are not doing something correctly when formatting it to install something else.

Optionally, you could try something like killdisk to wipe all data from the disk and then reinstall the OS's, but remember that all data will be deleted from the hard drive.

[moheganer2]

thanks for your replies.I have wiped the disk completely and the only thing it will install is vista or windows7.Nomatter what distro i use it will not run linux whether installing or live disk.It will run in vmware but thats not really the same thing.

[RicheemxX]

How are you wiping the drive? What program?
There shouldn't be nay reason you can't run from a live CD, did you change your boot options and are you sure you've got them set correctly? Does it boot from the CD? If so do you get any errors?

[#43 fan]

I thought I had a similar problem.
Tho wiping the disk fixed it, IIRC.
You were able to install linux on the computer before, correct? Try putting on XP again, and see if that fixes it. Or try installing Linux by itself, without Windows.

[RicheemxX]

I'm just curious I've never messed with BitLocker, could this be related to that??

[moheganer2]

I used Dariks boot and nuke.I tried xp but it gets treated like linux now.Only vista will work-reinstalls with no problem.Will boot from live cd but dies before the linux program actually runs.Vista must have changed some kind of settings but how to figure out what?