PartitionMagic 7.0 hosed my hard drive

I attempted to use PM7 to resize an existing XP partition on my HP laptop so that I could install Linux on the same box. Everything seemed fine--the process cranked on and on, ultimately getting to 100% complete. THEN I got this:

"Error 1518: File attribute does not fit (EA3905EE) "

and it said to reboot. So I did. The first few attempts yielded the 'doze screen saying that it had failed to load properly, and with options to boot normally or into various safe modes. I tried all options, with the same result: NOTHING, just recycling through attempting to boot, followed by that screen, followed by an error screen that flashes by too quickly to read. I waited a few minutes and tried again...only now it won't boot AT ALL.

I tried booting from a Linux CD but that doesn't work either.

I don't have PartitionMagic rescue disks because this laptop doesn't have a floppy drive.

Any ideas on what to do to resuscitate my laptop?! I went to Symantec's knowledge base and their 'solution' for error #1518 is to run chkdsk /f. That'd be great except I can't even boot up. And note that PRIOR to this fiasco, I had already run chkdsk /f.

Thanks for any advice!

 

That has nothing to do with the HDD. Try entering BIOS Setup to reorder boot priorities to floppy, CD, and HD0, or CD, floppy, HD0.

You may not have a floppy; the above is for the general reader.

PeteC I've been afraid to use PM on NTFS, so never tried it, but have lots of oportunities, with new computers comming out with 40GB and larger NTFS partitions. Have any recommendations?

 

Unless I am thinking/guessing wrong ( again ) that says an OEM machine is invloved. And PM may just not be sutible for use on it.

And also I tend to think PeteC had a so called home built machine.

Also I can learn from this too as I have been asked about this sort of thing by a Family member. And so far I have FLATLY REFUSED to even try

BullyBob

 

First, thanks everyone for your advice/suggestions. I want to update, and also clarify, the situation.

At the time I posted, the laptop in question was completely unusable because there was no display. Since it's a laptop, I considered the remote possibility that the backlight had chosen this exact moment to go out, so I plugged in a real monitor, but with the same result: nothing. So it didn't matter what CD I tried booting from (and I already had it set up to boot from CD first, HDD second), because NOTHING was showing on its display.

I set it aside until the next day, at which time I tried again; voila! the display was back. I used my recovery discs to reinstall XP and make sure everything was working again.

Today, I'm using the XP OS disc to partition the drive, reinstall XP on one partition and install Ubuntu Linux on the other.

FWIW, this is an HP laptop and it did come preinstalled with an OEM version of XP, and I now firmly believe that PartitionMagic is not only NOT usable on it, but downright dangerous.

 

XFRT16A

Thanks for the info. Glad to read that things turned out OK.

Between you and PeteC I am VERY PLEASED with my decision to NOT TOUCH my Family Members Laptop.

In fact I would not even THINK about messing with her Desktop PC for the same reason. It is an OEM ( HP I believe )

BillyBob

 

Thanks for that suggestion, Pete. I'll do it...as soon as I reboot with XP. Yes, I'm on the very laptop that got so messed up, and I'm happily posting this from my new Ubuntu Linux installation.

Just in case anyone searches the boards for something about installing Linux/using PartitionMagic/resizing hard drive/partitioning under XP, I'm going to give a synopsis of what I did when it worked right:

1) I used the XP OS disc to boot up

2) At the 'welcome to setup' screen I hit [enter] to install, then [f8] to accept the license agreement, and [esc] to bypass 'repair'ing the existing XP installation

3) I deleted the existing partition (WARNING: For those who don't know--this WIPES OUT EVERYTHING on your hard drive! Be sure you've backed up important data before doing this.)

4) created a new partition; my drive is 40GB, so I made this partition 20GB

5) formatted the new partition as NTFS

6) installed XP on the new partition

7) after completing the XP installation, I booted with the Ubuntu installation (not Live) CD

8) from there, it was a simple matter of following the Ubuntu install process, including choosing to install it on the 'largest continuous free space' (or something like that! I've already forgotten the exact wording), NOT on the existing partition I just put XP on

As a final warning, let me reiterate that PartitionMagic (version 7) hosed my computer and rendered it completely useless; this is an HP xt4316wm laptop preinstalled with an OEM version of XP.

BTW, Ubuntu is absolutely awesome! I'm an OLD *ix person--and I really mean that! I started programming and system administration on Tandy Xenix back in the mid-'80s. I'm most comfortable at a UNIX command line. This version of Ubuntu, 5.04 (also known as Hoary Hedgehog), is easy enough for novices. EVERYTHING works--all hardware was recognized and configured automatically. I highly recommend it!

Thanks again for the help.
Grace