Kelly Wright asks:
I used your “Ubuntu: Old Computer, New Life” guide and created the disc as instructed on an old Dell Precision 360 Desktop with Windows XP Pro SP2. I then booted the disc and it says boot error and prompts me to strike F1 to retry. This does not work and now when I change the boot sequence back to normal it says the system requires a password that I never setup and now I can’t do anything with that computer.
I am using another computer to ask this question. Can you help me get the Dell booted up at all or even better help me continue with the Ubuntu installation?
Browser: Explorer 9
System: Windows
Tagged: boot issue, install operating system, linux tips, live disc, old hardware, ubuntu
System: Windows
Tagged: boot issue, install operating system, linux tips, live disc, old hardware, ubuntu
4 Answers -
ha14
July 8, 2012if you have windows cd, boot o it and choose a system restore point to revert back to just before booting on Ubuntu Cd.
Computer Does Not Boot to Microsoft Windows XP
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=DSN_173237&isLegacy=true
reset CMOS battery and see if this will help
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws360/en/ug/index.htm
3 Ways to Reset Forgotten Windows Administrator Password
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-reset-the-forgotten-windows-administrator-password/
User and Admin passwords and how to reset them: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.htm
Mike
July 8, 2012When does it ask you for the password? Does it ask you right on start before you can enter the BIOS, when it tries to boot from the hard drive or once you are booted into Windows?
If it is after the BIOS before the boot of Windows it is most likely a ATA password on the hard drive controller.
In that case you could use the UBCD and the ATA Password Tool on it or you can try contact DELL support (they have supported users with such problem before).
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Other options can be found here:
http://www.rockbox.org/lock.html
When I change the boot sequence back to normal, which is the hard drive , and restart with no live cd version of ubuntu it boots past bios and shows the windows xp screen and then changes to another screen and says the system needs a password but it never showed this prior to booting the system with the live cd version 12.04 desktop I386 32 bit but I went back on my other computer and downloaded the 12.04 desktop LTS 32 bit and now it booted from cd/DVD drive. Thanks to all for the other ideas incase installation ultimately fails.
July 8, 2012Kelly Wright
July 8, 2012Thankyou all for the timely responses. I was able to resolve this issue by simply using another computer to download the 12.04 desktop LTS 32bit version from the “official ubuntu site”, burning it onto a cd and booting up the old Dell with said cd. Everything went well with installation and overall the guide I used from this website to give your old dust collecting computer a new life was very helpful, I would just warn others that the links in the guide for downloads are out of date and cause problems with installation.
It’s not so much being out of date thats the issue, more likely you burned a bad image – it’s quite common when burning CDs at high speed.
Thanks for updating us on the issue though.
July 9, 2012EmIlkItoO-sHintetsIIU ParedeS
July 11, 2012amigo creo has movido algo del Bios,asegurate bien en la particion que hiciste con el windows,saludos;)