HELP: Difficulties creating a dual boot machine Vista/Ubuntu

Hi all,
I've created several dual-boot machines before, but I've never encountered a machine that will not boot from the Ubuntu live CD, nor the Ubuntu ISO loaded on a USB stick. This is a new T61p from Lenovo with Vista pre-loaded.

I've used the Vista disk manager to partition the disk. The first ~6Gb partition is dedicated to the Lenovo rescue & recovery resources, the second partition is ~78 Gb Vista, the third is ~75Gb unallocated. I'm beginning to think I need to blow away the Lenovo rescue & recovery, as I think it's interfering with the ability to install Ubuntu and the GRUB bootloader. BTW, I've switched the BIOS from AHCI to Compatability mode to no avail.

If I blow away the Lenovo r&r, can I safely reclaim the space by expanding the Vista partition? Or, can I use that 6Gb as swap?

Any suggestions? Thanks,
-g8

 

what you could do is clone the first partition so you always have it just in case u want to go back with that setup.. i use disk snapshot here at work.. u can reset the partition structure and everything.. i usually do this for dell/hp recovery partitions.. just run disk snapshot in windows and then burn the snapshot files to dvdr or move them to another hard drive/pc..

then you could redo it and have vista as the first partition and ubuntu as the 2nd partition.. i used to have on my home box.. vista.. xp.. then ubuntu.. i installed xp on the 2nd partition.. then ubuntu on 3rd.. then vista on 1st and it saw them all.. and then in vista.. i used Easy BCD and it lets u recreate boot loader however you want..

Easy BCD http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

Disk Snapshot http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

 

I second the EasyBCD recommendation. Follow their instructions and it works quite well. Just don't do what I did and get lazy at the end and not restore the Vista bootloader as the primary bootloader. I found out the hard way that it isn't as stable as would be expected with GRUB as the primary bootloader and Vista's as a secondary one within GRUB. Had to reinstall to recover that debacle.

You should be able to use the R&R partition however you like after you blow it away. Especially if you've got a ghosted image or Vista CD in case you need it, there shouldn't be any problems.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm using Disk Snapshot to make an image of the R&R partition now. I also created a set of discovery disks in addition to the R&R CD's that came with the computer. (Safety first, right?)

Thanks also for the EasyBCD recommendation. It looks like it's *exactly* what I need, so that's the route I'll take.

Cheers,
-g8

 

yep.. always cover your bases.. just in case something messes up..

 

A couple more questions...

Although I've created rescue disks, I'm still a little wary of blowing away the EISA partition. I have no other media from which to re-install Vista should things go horribly wrong. (I have copied down the key in a safe place, as another precaution.)

1. If I blow away the EISA partition AND things go wrong, will I still be able to restore Vista?

2. Once I blow away the EISA partition, I'm left with a small, unallocated partition (~6Gb) at the head of the disk. What should I do with it? Can I add it to my Vista or Ubuntu partition? If so, how?

Thanks again!
-g8

 

use wubi, the utility that installs Ubuntu within Windows, it works quite nicely, and all activity is constrained to the current windows partition. It comes with Hardy Heron, and is accessible by running the Ubuntu CD in Windows

 

if u have the recovery cds.. u can reinstall from them..

u can use partition magic to use up that 6gb of unallocated space..

another good thing to have is hiren's boot cd.. it has a bunch of tools we in the industry use on a daily basic.. it has partition programs that allow you to set partitions up.. make them smaller.. larger.. add together.. etc..

 

Have you tried any other bootable CD/DVDs ? Do they work? Have you selected the CD/DVD as the 1st boot device in the BIOS?

 

Dumb question... did you check the MD5sum? It just seems unusual that the live CD wouldn't boot at all. I know that sometimes the CD quality or the burn speed can also cause hiccups. I just hate to see you blow out the R&R partition if you don't need to, it's nice to have that extra safety net.

 

DID you put the controller in "COMPLATIBILTY" mode?!!Try it.might help.
having the procedures on how to install a clean pre-activated vista on this site,there is no need to keep that partition once you make recovery disks of it.also backup any folder on your C drive starting with SW* so you would easily install the drivers once you do a clean install.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Yep, I've tried 'em all; -switched to 'compatability' mode, checked the MD5 sum on wife's computer, and made the CD/DVD the first boot device. All to no avail.

So, I wound up blowing away the R&R partition using diskpart, and re-partitioned the disk into two ~75Gb partitions. Using Stallen's Vista Clean Install Guide, (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783), I've successfully re-installed Vista. (Reclaimed ~17Gb disk space by doing so!) Now I'm in the process of updating all the drivers and reclaiming a couple of the Thinkvantage apps (Fingerprint reader, AccessConnections, which I much prefer to the Windows wireless manager.)

Once I get a good install, I'll install Ubuntu, and then the EasyBCD to configure the bootloader. Thanks again for all the suggestions!
-g8

 

I forgot to add that before I blew it away, I cloned the R&R partition at Gmaster's suggestion. You never know...it might be nice to have again.
-g8