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In January I bought an HP computer: AMD64 at 2.3gb, 7gb RAM, 600gb SATA harddrive, Vista Home Premium. Most of the hard drive is given to the operating system; there is a 13gb restore partition at the end of it.
I wanted a place to store some files from Linux live cds that I use to access the internet. (Vista can't see my external modem). I used Gparted from a live dvd to make a 20gb partition at the end of the first partition. A very bad idea, I see, because Vista will not boot.
Although I made restore disks according to HP's instruction, and these appear to boot, load files, etc. it only takes me to a blank, blue screen with a mouse pointer.
Same for Vista boot iso I downloaded from neosmart --- that gives me a pretty blue and green screen. like the background of the Vista log-in screen, but with nothing on it. I bought an OEM disk with Vista Home Premium sp1, which is what my computer has installed. Vista boots it to the same empty blue and green background (I was hoping to get to a repair screen.) F8 gives me a menu: safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, etc. All of these "load files, please wait", and then give me either a completely black screen or a dark blue screen with a mouse pointer, but nothing else.
It looks like I am going to have to reinstall Vista. Can I do this in a way that will save my restore partition? Do I have to give the entire hard drive to Vista, and then repartition it? (I don't think much of the Vista partitioner, or Vista, for that matter.)I think it would be nice if, out of 600gb I could have a little peice of my hard drive that is mine. I also have WinXP Pro that I could install, but it is 32bit and would not take advantage of all my RAM.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I have partitioned and repartitioned many hard drives, and installed and reinstalled various operating systems many times, with no problem. I have to admitt that this is probably my fault for not researching Vista first; I had no idea that it would have such a strangle hold on my computer. If I could find all the drivers I need for peripheral hardware, I'd install Linux and throw my Vista in the trash, which is, in my estimation, where it really belongs.
I wanted a place to store some files from Linux live cds that I use to access the internet. (Vista can't see my external modem). I used Gparted from a live dvd to make a 20gb partition at the end of the first partition. A very bad idea, I see, because Vista will not boot.
Although I made restore disks according to HP's instruction, and these appear to boot, load files, etc. it only takes me to a blank, blue screen with a mouse pointer.
Same for Vista boot iso I downloaded from neosmart --- that gives me a pretty blue and green screen. like the background of the Vista log-in screen, but with nothing on it. I bought an OEM disk with Vista Home Premium sp1, which is what my computer has installed. Vista boots it to the same empty blue and green background (I was hoping to get to a repair screen.) F8 gives me a menu: safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, etc. All of these "load files, please wait", and then give me either a completely black screen or a dark blue screen with a mouse pointer, but nothing else.
It looks like I am going to have to reinstall Vista. Can I do this in a way that will save my restore partition? Do I have to give the entire hard drive to Vista, and then repartition it? (I don't think much of the Vista partitioner, or Vista, for that matter.)I think it would be nice if, out of 600gb I could have a little peice of my hard drive that is mine. I also have WinXP Pro that I could install, but it is 32bit and would not take advantage of all my RAM.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I have partitioned and repartitioned many hard drives, and installed and reinstalled various operating systems many times, with no problem. I have to admitt that this is probably my fault for not researching Vista first; I had no idea that it would have such a strangle hold on my computer. If I could find all the drivers I need for peripheral hardware, I'd install Linux and throw my Vista in the trash, which is, in my estimation, where it really belongs.
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