Trouble with Openelec - Urgent!!!

[sud98]

I am on the verge fo starting my htpc and wanted to experience using Openelec to check how comfortable I am with it.

Now, I used the latest version of Openelec and used the installer to install it into a USB stick.

While it now boots fine (less than a minute), my problem is that my laptop which I used to install openelec has stopped booting to Windows.

Even when I change the boot option to hard disk, it still boots to openelec. I think I might have screwed up the installation but now I have no idea on how to uninstall openelec.

 

[manniraj]

I am on the verge fo starting my htpc and wanted to experience using Openelec to check how comfortable I am with it.

Now, I used the latest version of Openelec and used the installer to install it into a USB stick.

While it now boots fine (less than a minute), my problem is that my laptop which I used to install openelec has stopped booting to Windows.

Even when I change the boot option to hard disk, it still boots to openelec. I think I might have screwed up the installation but now I have no idea on how to uninstall openelec.

Did you disconnect the USB drive with Openelec and then boot your laptop? If it still boots up with Openelec instead of windows I am afraid you might have actually installed the Openelec directly on to your laptop hard drive.

 

[sud98]

Even if I have installed it in the hard drive. Is there no way to uninstall it?

 

[manniraj]

Even if I have installed it in the hard drive. Is there no way to uninstall it?

I do not think so as for the installation it would have formatted your HDD.

 

[sud98]

The formatting of the hdd is fine, as I have backed it up recently. So only way out would be to get a new Windows disk and re-install OS, right?

 

[sam9s]

If you want to run openelec form a USB drive you need two of them to complete the installation, one the installer and the other one on which the openELEC is installed. Did you use two pen drives for the same?? If no then you might have installed it on your laptop.

When your laptop was on windows, how many drives did it have. Just C: or there were more.

 

[sud98]

I thought I had done both.

I did have a c and d drive in the laptop. So I guess only the c drive should have gone.

 

[manniraj]

I thought I had done both.

I did have a c and d drive in the laptop. So I guess only the c drive should have gone.

Try to restore with your windows backup disc/image, but most probably even this would not work as your initial windows OS instance has been completed wiped with the Openelec OS on the C drive. But I think as you have not touched the D drive it might still hold your data provided you wouldn't have formatted with the Openelec installation.

 

[sam9s]

I thought I had done both.

I did have a c and d drive in the laptop. So I guess only the c drive should have gone.

Ok so if you used both, at some point OpenELEC must have asked you where do you want to install the OS. You have to provide the path for the other USB drive plugged in .... do you remember doing that.

Anyway, another way you can check is , if you have another desktop with you. You can connect your laptop drive and see what is left and and what is gone. C drive would not be recognized when you will connect the drive to another windows machine, if that is the case, yes you have installed openelec on the laptop C drive. D however will get recognized, you can then check what all data is there and probably copy it as well to be safe.

Eventually you will have to reinstall the OS if this is what has happened.

 

[avink]

I am not too sure but in my experience, sometimes playing with multi-boot option messes up your mater boot record(MBR). You will find many articles like these on net to fix it. Give it a shot.

 

[sud98]

I am not too sure but in my experience, sometimes playing with multi-boot option messes up your mater boot record(MBR). You will find many articles like these on net to fix it. Give it a shot.

Didnt think of that. I have already formatted my drive and installed Win 7 from the disk that I had got. Unfortunately, my optical drive was not reading dvd's so had to take longer to do the same.

Will be a bit more careful next time i load the OS.