Recently, I've had a few problems with my PC thanks to something very stupid I did. I bought and successfully installed a new motherboard and redid the thermal paste(since the temps were near 90 C), but Windows will not boot. It doesn't surprise me because the new motherboard is an ASUS board and my previous one was a Gigabyte, so there must be conflicting drivers. I've been wanting to reinstall Windows, but it seems I cannot do it without losing my data. I'm fine with losing things like programs and games, but I do not want to lose personal data. I have no spare drives to install Windows 7 on, and I cannot make a new partition on the hard drive Windows is currently installed on when I'm in the installation screen. I really do not have money for a new HDD right now, so I'm looking for alternates. I was thinking about installing Linux. Can I install Linux on the current drive Windows is installed on, access the information on that HDD, and then back it up to an external hard drive?

What happens when it doesn't boot? Can you boot in safe mode?

When it gets to the starting Windows 7 screen, it lockups and restarts about two or three seconds in. When I try to boot into safe mode, it hangs at classpnp.sys and restarts.

Better than that; you can run it from a CD or DVD. http://www.linuxmint.com/ should do the job (as would almost all other distributions). http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=94 it and burn it as a disk image (iso).

EDIT: Do you have a full retail copy of W7, or an OEM one? If it came with your computer, it's probably OEM, if you went out and bought it separately it's likely to be retail.

If I do this, I can definitely access the files on the HDD Windows is installed to?

*insert comment about how if you had a proper backup this wouldn't be an issue*

Anyway, 1Samildanach nailed it, just create a live CD and you'll be able to back up straight from there. I'm partial to http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm for this job as it's small so it boots into the live mode really fast, unlike heavier distros which may take longer to offload to memory



Due to people not having a proper backup (like you ) I make part of my living doing just that

I was going to suggest this as well, but it also might be good if he could just get Windows to boot instead. If the mobo is all that's changed it might not be a huge feat to just fix it.

FalloutFTW, do you have your Windows CD? Have you tried booting from it and using any of the repair options?

My dad has been telling me the same thing.


Should I use Puppy Linux or Mint? I don't really know much about Linux, so I really just want to use whatever will get the job done quickly.


Yep, tried using the repair option. It found nothing wrong.

Eh, unless it's improved due to handling of HAL in Vista (haven't done this since XP), it's a huge PITA to go from one mobo to another without doing a reinstall. Have to enter the console and manually disable drivers and slip new ones in for it to boot (XP's firewire drivers were a major stumbling block because I didn't think of disabling them for so long BECAUSE A STUPID PORT UNRELATED TO THE BOOTING PROCESS SHOULDN'T CAUSE THE WHOLE OS TO HANG)
It's not like it's hard to do, and if your dad's been telling you I'm certain he'd help you out. Just do it! (like Nike )

I find Puppy well suited for this as it'll quickly boot and includes icons to your drives on the bottom of the desktop for easy access

He's already helped me by buying me some stuff I needed and letting me use his laptop during this mess.


All right, downloading it right now. I think I'll backup my stuff today and install Windows 7 tomorrow. About time I reinstalled Windows anyway.

Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it.

Startup repair?

Sometimes it just works. Win7 has a lot more (and newer) included drivers than XP does, so you typically don't need to add any drivers...just update them once Windows boots again. It sounds like it's trying to load a driver for which the hardware doesn't exist anymore and it's not failing very gracefully.

The best thing to do before changing hardware is to uninstall it in Windows before you power the machine down prior to doing the hardware change. That way it doesn't look for the missing hardware when you start it back up. There are ways to force Windows to revert to a base driver set, but it is a bit of a pain. I'd say if none of the repair avenues work a reinstall might be the easiest.

Yes. Found nothing.


I'm thinking the problem is conflicting mobo drivers, but I could be wrong. Also, I wasn't expecting to have to do all this. Like I said, I did something very stupid and I had to buy a new mobo.

Yeah, it's most likely trying to load a driver that depends on your old mobo, and that driver svcks at failing. Another thing that has worked in the past for me is booting from the Windows CD and rolling the system back to the oldest available restore point in System Restore. This is potentially destructive, though, so I'd back up your data beforehand if you're going to try it.

I'm not sure that would be the best solution, since the only time I didn't have the mobo drivers installed was immediately after installing Windows. So, that would be before I had any of my personal data on that HDD.

I think the worst part about all this is that I had all of last week off, but no PC or internet. Quite a boring vacation.

System Restore won't make changes to data outside of the OS and programs, so you shouldn't lose your data. You should back it up first just in case, though. The idea behind using System Restore isn't to revert back to when you didn't have your mobo drivers installed. The idea is to force Windows to re-evaluate the driver situation in hopes that it will fix whatever the issue is.

Oh, I thought System Restore completely restored everything including personal data. Still, I'll play it safe and backup my information.

When I switched from my AMD 955 to my Intel Core i7 I missed the boot menu and Windows 7 booted. It didnt BSOD.....but it was very buggy. Interesting nonetheless.

I just got Puppy Linux working, and my mouse and keyboard do not work. I have a Logitech G15 leyboard and Logitech G500 mouse. Any ideas?

Edit: Keyboard works. Mouse does not.

I've never had a problem with a mouse in any linux distro, but then again I've never used a gaming mouse.

I'd try LucidPup instead of SlackoPup. I'm still rocking 4.11 Puppy myself (not had a need to upgrade yet since I only use it for fast file copying)

Just tried LucidPup... same problem.

Logitech must be doing something seriously esoteric with their mice if it's not working with basic functionality out the door. You can try another distro like Linux Mint, but seeing as how Linux Mint and LucidPup share the same heritage, I doubt it'll work in there and are better off trying a different mouse if you need a mouse.

Edit:

Did you select the right connection type for the mouse when prompted? Are you using a USB-to-PS/2 adapter?

Don't have access to another mouse right now. I'll have to wait for my dad to get home. Oh well.

That's a good point. Last time I played with Puppy was... multiple years ago , so it wasn't at the forefront of my mind (and I'm not up to date on how it is to use). I keep a RIP CD around for when something needs un-screwing, but I figured that'd be excessive for this situation in both power and complexity, so I suggested something that focuses on ease of use .

None of this is particularly relevant to FFTW's problem, but I figure it doesn't hurt for him to understand why we suggested different things.

EDIT: Mint might include special drivers that Puppy doesn't. Puppy aims to be easy to use and lightweight, Mint aims for easy to use and 'just works'.

I'll try using a different mouse. If it doesn't work, I'll try Mint out.

For some reason this made me laugh. The story of a boy who never paid attention to his dog and only realized it was still alive years in an afterthought