note: Those of you who are finding this information via Google and other search engines, please take the time to read the comments below as well as reading this post. They include some tips that may help you fix this “L 99 99 99″ issue… may.
After installing Linspire the system now does not boot. I’ve burned two discs to insure that the disc wasn’t the issue. Most frustrating of all, I just checked their support forums and this is apparently an issue that has carried over from previous versions.
An explanation of my situation follows.
Originally I chose a duel boot option. The installation itself goes fine, but at the point that the boot loader is supposed to ask you which system to boot (Windows or Linspire) I instead encountered a screen that was spammed with the number “99″. The screen looked like the following:
Verifying DMI Pool Data …..
L 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
Including the letter “L” at the start.
I reinstalled, again choosing a duel boot setup and again encountered the same result.
I then decided to give the entire hard drive to Linspire. It formatted the system and installed as it should, but it stalls at the same step (“Verifying DMI Pool Data”). If the BIOS is set to boot from CD first then the system will print that it’s trying to boot from a CD even though there is no CD in the drive. As expected it hangs at that point. If I choose the hard drive as the first and/or only boot device then it simply hangs at this point with no further text displaying on the screen.
As I’ve mentioned above I have since perused their support forums and learned that this is a returning issue. Apparently, Linspire has problems with a version of GRUB that it uses to boot the system. There are some technical steps that I can take to try to get around the issue but this doesn’t change the fact that the system is not booting as it should.
Linspire ran wonderfully from the Live CD. The person from their company that I originally spoke with was polite, helpful, and responsive. I had high hopes for Linspire and was really, really wanting to write a positive review for it. Yet I have no real choice; this is the experience that I’m having and, good or bad, I have to be honest with my readers.
Not to be totally negative. This is an issue related to installing the CD from a (legally) downloaded copy. I manually tried to change my computer to Linspire from scratch. This is not an experience based on a preconfigured system.
So, buying a preconfigured system will probably work wonderfully, but at this time I would caution someone against buying Linspire to change their existing system to this O/S. Duel boot or otherwise. Once they get this problem with GRUB fixed then I would love to give Linspire another go.
~Mysk
Technorati Tags: Linspire 5.0, Linspire five-o, Linspire, Linux
December 15th, 2005 at Dec 15, 05 | 12:14 pm
I think that the MBR on the hard drive has some how been affected by the Linspire install attempt. In reloading Windows I am receiving an “error loading operating system” message when booting after installing Win XP.
I will be generally offline for awhile as I trouble shoot the issue or otherwise address the problem.
~Mysk
December 15th, 2005 at Dec 15, 05 | 3:02 pm
The fixmbr and fixboot commands did not fix the problem. I’m still encountering the “error loading operating system” when attempting to boot the PC.
Both Linspire and Windows have been installed multiple times now. This is a situation that I have not previously had to resolve and I may have to simply buy a new hard drive to the system working again.
~Mysk
January 3rd, 2006 at Jan 03, 06 | 9:00 pm
I have noticed some Google searches for “L 99 99 999 99″ finding this post. So let me update you random folks on exactly what happened.
As mentioned above, Linspire corrupted the hard drive’s Master Boot Record (MBR). Apparently its boot loader has a long standing bug and I can only assume that my computer was hit by it in a very big, unfortunate way. I’ve since purchased a hard drive to replaced the damaged one.
Here are some tips that may help you fix the problem. These did not help me, but they may help you.
For one, formatting your hard drive will NOT fix the issue. So do not bother reinstalling the operating system.
Second, if you have your Windows XP installation CD then here is something that you can try.
Boot using the Windows XP install CD. When you are finally presented with the option to do so, use the (R)epair option. This will drop you to a black and white text box.
In that black and white text box, type the command fixmbr and then press enter. It will ask you if you really want to do this – at this time you have no choice, so choose (Y)es.
Reboot the system normally and hope that your computer starts as it should.
If not, you can repeat the process and try the fixboot command. Same routine here.
If that does not work then you will need to create a bootable floppy. The name “floppy” is a misnomer and actually referss to the smaller, squareish diskettes.
Once you have a bootable floppy made, put that into the drive and make sure that your Windows XP install disc is NOT in the CD drive. At that point, restart your computer. It should use the boot floppy to load you into the black and white text area.
At this point, type the command fdisk /mbr and allow it to do whatever it is that it needs to do.
Once this is finished then remove the “floppy” diskette and restart the computer as normal, and hope that your computer boots as it should.
If none of these suggestions work then you, too, may need to buy a new hard drive. Keep the old drive around however. It is not damaged beyond use. Theoretically you could still use it, if you could just get beyond the MBR issue. The data on it is probably still good.
After installing the new hard drive, if you have to do that, you MAY be able to install the old drive as a slave drive. From that point you may be able to access it. I don’t know, sorry. If not, then, well, best of luck. If anything, perhaps a low level format will allow you to make use of that drive again.
Good luck.
February 23rd, 2006 at Feb 23, 06 | 2:48 pm
The problem with the ‘corrupt’ mbr is actually due to the larger than normal size of MBR created by Lindows (aka Linspire).
There are several ways to fix this from Windows and from Linux.
But since the audience reading this is presumably a Windows user just trying to get Windows back on the drive try this:
Go into the BIOS and change the hard disk parameters (funny, because Linux never uses HD parameters in the CMOS..just DOS or Windows uses them). Change the drive type from AUTO to LBA or LARGE (whatever it is, change it).
Reinstall Windows on the drive. It should work without a hitch.
Why? it can no longer ’see’ the pre-existing MBR to contend with. The MS provided fdisk, fixboot and fixmbr actually will try to look at a preexisting MBR to load. That’s why it will fail with the larger than normal MBR. When you change the drive parameters, it pretty much makes everything on it invalid. So with a new slate, you can put a brand new MBR in place.
Good luck.
February 23rd, 2006 at Feb 23, 06 | 3:23 pm
Interesting and very useful information. Thank you for posting it, Randall.
March 22nd, 2006 at Mar 22, 06 | 10:45 am
ok, I just bumped onto the same problem when I tried to install a slackware distribution…. is it possible for perry randal or anyone to post how can I fix that from Linux?????
thanx anyway!!!!
April 18th, 2006 at Apr 18, 06 | 4:00 pm
I was just wondering if a fresh version of LILO would fix the problem. Or if it will at least get me to where I can fix it.