Laptop not starting after dual booting.. Lenovo Ideapad y510.?

Question

Hi,
I just opened my old Lenovo ideapad Y510 , i needed it to run a VM, seems somebody had already changed the OS to Win XP..The power key wasn't working but the NOVO key worked.
So i installed Ubuntu 13.10 on it, seemed fine at starting but suddenly all hanged.. now all the lights on keyboard are on but the display is not working.. i restarted it thrice,still the same..
Is it because of Vista? i.e the default OS for this system.. or something else..? How can i fix..?

Answer 1

Probably removed Vista which contained the MBR(Master Boot Record). This tells your computer which is the original OS to boot and allows you to select the OS at the dual boot screen

If this is removed (which it probably is), try to have a live cd/usb of ubuntu and try to salvage your files then wipe your HDD. Another way to recover the MBR is by having a Windows CD and opening up the recovery console and input a few commands(can be found on google)

Answer 2

Hi,



It MIGHT be because of the extremely high security features of the Lenovo systems and the fact that You actually opened the case.



They usually include some kind of tamper indicator for when a case has been opened, on both laptops and desktops.



Since the roblem seems to include a screen problem, try using a monitor in the VGA port and booting from a different live linux CD/DVD. (Ubuntu is much happier being installed than running in live mode).



Go to www.puppylinux.org and get a copy of whichever works for Yor Lenovo's hardware - since it ran Vista I'd go for a copy of Racy Puppy. Boot it with that disc and hopefully it will work fine ... it may also be an unsupported piece of hardware with the version of Ubunutu used, and again - they used specialized security chip technology they got from their IBM days. like with their ThinCentre line of desktops.







G'Luck!!

Answer 3

It could be that whoever tampered with it might have removed the vista partition try booting with your ubuntu install disc to see that vista is still on the hard drive.