BIOS Prob - Vista/XP Dualboot Install

[Dusenberg]

Hi

Anyone out there can help?

I have relatively new Philips x66 laptop with Vista Ultimate pre-installed - it has a 'hidden' partition holding the vista 'repair/install' environment. I wanted to put XP on it and decided to go for dual-boot. The laptop is SATA so I created a new install CD using nLite incorporating all the necessary drivers.

I used 'gparted' to resize the vista partition. I rebooted immediately after and the system threw me straight into the OEM Vista recovery screen. I assumed this was because Vista didn't know about the resized partition, and as the XP install was going to scribble all over the MBR which would mean a Vista recovery anyway, I didn't bother to do a recovery. I just went on to the XP install.

I then ran the XP install CD I'd created. It saw the SATA drive no probs and copied everything across. It then restarted the laptop - but unfortunately everything then went pear-shaped!

The laptop hung at the Philips startup splashscreen. I noticed the 'Intel Centrino' logo on the splashscreen seemed lower resolution. I tried to boot from a CD but it wouldn't - I tried several CDs. I tried hitting Del to get into BIOS. In past this got me to a BIOS Setup screen - but not now. All I got was the Self-test output. Everything reports ok, the last message is 'primary sata disk..... status ok'. Then nothing. Tried hitting all the keys and in different combinations. Took batteries out and power lead off, and held 'start' down for 10 secs - just the same. I could get into BIOS Setup before by hitting Del, not now.

BIOS is American Megatrends.

Basically I have a dead laptop. How come? Does XP install/nLite alter the BIOS? If so how, why? How the hell do I get into the BIOS and override any changes?

Any help much appreciated

[Ponch]

I'd try booting without HDD (physically removing it) to se if you can get into Bios then.

Other than that, it seems like a hardware problem, hopefully with the HDD only. Or partitions ovelapping, but that wouldn't keep you from reaching Bios. But this is not nLite related.

[Dusenberg]

I'd try booting without HDD (physically removing it) to se if you can get into Bios then.

Other than that, it seems like a hardware problem, hopefully with the HDD only. Or partitions ovelapping, but that wouldn't keep you from reaching Bios. But this is not nLite related.

Thanks Ponch - I had hoped to avoid having to pull the case apart, but I guess that's all I can do now.

[Ponch]

I have relatively new Philips x66 laptop

I've never opened an Philips notebook ( I can't even find a trace of them on Philips site ) but the HDD is usually (after the battery of course) the easiest part to remove in a laptop. It should be a matter of 2 or 3 screws. Search for a cylinder sign on the case. Good luck.

[tdodd]

I bought the X67 last week - same hardware but Vista Home Premium instead of Ultimate. I wanted to create a new partition so that I could keep my data separated from my OS and programs. I didn't want to dual boot anything.

Before trying aything I thought I'd save a Ghost image of the drive to a USB HDD. Ghost threw up errors, right at the start, trying to image a partition and also the whole HDD. I didn't proceed.

So I then tried running Partition Magic in DOS and PM was having none of it. It was not at all happy with the condition of the HDD. It couldn't see the two partitions (restore and system) (and I think there is another tiny diagnostic partition as well) and just gave an error code for the whole disk.

I then ran another partition manager in DOS - can't remember which (Paragon or Ranish I think) - and that seemed to proceed OK. But when the time came to reboot I got exactly the same thing as you - system freeze during POST. Mine was set to boot from CD/DVD before the HDD but no dice. So it seems Philips (Averatec 15XX? / Twinhead F11Y?) have borked the HDD/BIOS to not allow repartitioning. I have no idea why and I'm afraid I don't have the expertise to figure it out. I've done this sort of thing loads of times on many other laptops and a PC and never had a problem.

I don't know what is up with the "Philips" configuration. I took it back to PC World, where their techs agreed it was dead and got a refund. I've now bought an X66 for my girlfriend and an X59 for me and I'm not going to fiddle with the partitions at all on these babies. So far both are working perfectly. It's probably the cleanest implementation of an OS I've seen (other than my own clean builds).

I should add that the machine was working OK for a few hours while I installed Windows updates etc. and did not go tits up until I tried to repartition the HDD.

Edited October 14, 2007 by tdodd

[tdodd]

I thought I'd update this as I replaced my Philips X67 with an X59. It's a 12.1" screen rather than 11.1" and has a higher spec processor but the whole config looks very much like that of the X67 - same recovery partition etc.. I wanted to try installing Ubuntu 7.10 and in preparation I took a gamble and using the Vista Management Console I shrank the main Vista partition to make space at the end of the drive for Ubuntu. I created a partition ready for Ubuntu and a Ubuntu swap partition and everything went fine.

The laptop still booted OK - none of that palaver that I had with the X67 - but sadly the Ubuntu DVD stalled after a short while into the live boot. So I was not able to install Ubuntu. I booted back to Vista and restored my partitions back to the pre Ubuntu state and it is still all working as per normal. I've since found out the reasons why the Ubuntu live boot hung but that's another story.

I've since installed Ubuntu on my PC and my Dell XPS M1710 notebook and those installs went pretty easily. I was especially impressed by the easy setup on the Dell. Sound and the wireless card worked straight out of the box (with the non supported wireless drivers picked automaticall) and I got my full resolution 1920*1200 display once I permitted the unsupported nVidia drivers to install.

I'm sure I could get all this working now, on the Philips, but I'm feeling that for me there is no point continuing with Ubuntu. So far, while it all seems to work cleanly I don't really see what advantage it gives me over Vista. Vista is already paid for, as is Office and several other important apps. Under Ubuntu I can't run Digiguide, or Lightroom, and I'm not sure if I can process my Canon EOS 30D and 40D raw files at all under Linux. I tried opening up the Gimp but immediately closed it again - it just looks odd as an application. Firefox under Ubuntu is also winding me up. Pages don't render properly and it is a real pain to have to highlight the entire URL in order to replace it with something else. In Vista/IE7 you just click into the URL and it is automatically highlighted for speedy replacement with something else.

So, while it's an interesting exercise to install Ubuntu I don't actually see much point in continuing further. I'm sure for a new user Ubuntu would be just fine but as a Windows user of 10 years or so I may as well stick with what I know and what works already.