I tried to setup a dual-boot system on our home pc. unfortunately, the cd was corrupted and the installation failed. i then rebooted the system to make sure it was ok. It wasn't. "PBR error" or something like that. so i natually assumed the bootloader was corrupted so i used a windows installer disk to try and fix it. however it asked me for the admin password (which is blank). i entered the correct (blank) password and it said the password was  INVALID?!?! anyway , i went with a =reparatory install. i tried the ubuntu installer again and discovered that the window's partition's bootable flag was off. i fixed that and rebooted. But windows STILL wanted to go through with the install. there was no choice and i had to do it. in the end, no data was lost.

feel free to laugh at me if you like.

Not a backup. we have about 48gb of data on that hard drive.lucky nothing got destroyed.

yeah, i'm a real download freak, never mind i haven't cleaned up my stuff for a year.

Aahh - serial troffer! At least it would all be re-downloadable.

48gig would be about a dozen DVDs, half that if you use Dual Layer. Or one small portion of a new HDD.

My CRITICAL data totals less than 10 gig. Customer info, reports, etc. Everything else is re-downloadable. The critical data is copied to three network locations and is backed up onto tapes. One is in my fire safe, one is in the fire safe off-site.
My MP3s are /not/ critical data!

Finally resolved! i have a new cd that i burnt the xubuntu installer unto. It works perfectly now!!