put in a ubuntu cd and you can whatever you want with the partition from there

which version do you recommend? and is there any guide on how to remove the partition? *I have never worked with ubunto but I have x years of xp, vista, w7 experience.

you dont need any experience at all. just go to ubuntu.com and dl the cd image, burn it and reboot.
then you can either start ubuntu from the cd and run the disk manager or you simply start with the installation where you will get to the partition management in the first steps. its all graphical and you can easily delete, reformat, resize everything

have a look at this guide if you are unsure http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Manuelle_Partitionierung

Start, search Computer Management, right click it and select Run as Administrator.

Open Disk Management under "Storage."

win+r compmgmt.msc

P R O F E S S I O N A L W I N D O W S S K I L L Z!!!!

I had a similar problem when installing windows 7. The installer wouldn't let me delete my windows xp partition (ya big wtf right). The solution was to use a bootable cd with gparted on it such as ubuntu.

That's assuming you are unable to delete it in the disk management posted above.

ok thanks ill try it.

I have another question though. Vista is on the C and W7 is on D. So, does w7 use any boot settings/data/files w/e from vista? Maybe that is why I cannot delete it? I just hope to delete the partition via compmgmt actually works because I have the feeling vista is a bitch.

If you installed 7 on top on Vista, then it most likely does. Do you have the choice between Vista and 7 when you boot?

It is possible to delete Vista files (and free up space on the partition) while just leaving the necessary bootfiles (I did something similar once).
Better to format before installing though.

yes, you have a bootloader where you can choose between both. I cannot start vista though because its fucked up. that is why i want to get rid of it (but wasent able to do so during the w7 installation process)

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

You can edit the bootloader and get rid of Vista with this. Then you'll only have to delete the remaining Vista files by hand (some of them may be protected but there are always ways of getting around that)

Btw since you have installed 7 on top of Vista, deleting the Vista partition will most likely kill 7 as there's a good chance that it has put some files (including the bootloader possibly) on the Vista partition. Be warned.

You can still do it though, but then you'll have to use 7's CD and the repair console to rebuild the boot files (I did it on XP and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible on 7)

actually all you have to do is select "more" on the startup screen from the windows installation disc. Format is one of the options in there.

I know it is but you cannot select it. I am going to make an ubunto disk, along with a w7 dvd so I can repair the boot sector In case I have to.

btw also related to that laptop. It shuts down at 70°C - I tested it with prime95. I cannot change that temp. margin in the bios though. Any suggestions on how to fix that problem?

it's ubuntu ffs x)

ubunto-man, what is 70°C? What hardware etc? Might be a bad idea to try to change the margin as not all parts can go 'that hot'. From experience I can say getting rid of the dust inside of laptops does wonders for the temp.

i mean the cpu. the laptop shuts down over 70°C.

hi german m8, what kind of cpu maybe i ask ehe hehehee e ehehe

dual core, pretty low one like 2.0ghz or so

it is this one: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Pro3...051.0.html

Hmm, a swift google search tells me the max temp should be 90/100°C!1!!! Are you only stressing your cpu with Prime or also the RAM? There are seperate options iirc, thinking it might be something else that overheats. If not, it might be forced and unchangable to "prevent damage" by idiot companies.

ram and cpu. gpu was fine temp wise. mhh

I know it is but you cannot select it. I am going to make an ubunto disk, along with a w7 dvd so I can repair the boot sector In case I have to.

btw also related to that laptop. It shuts down at 70°C - I tested it with prime95. I cannot change that temp. margin in the bios though. Any suggestions on how to fix that problem?

paragon partition manager

1>you rightclick on the partition, and choose delete
2>on the right or left of another existing partition you drag the arraws to resize ir and use the space that the deleted partition was using
3>on the side bar, you press apply changes

(psst, bootmanager, Active, system flag)

I don't really use Windows boot stuff or mess with it much, so I'm not sure, but there are two places the boot sector can be placed, and traditionally Winodws uses the Master Boot Record, which is unrelated to any partitions, thus you could easily delete your Vista partition and this would remain unaffected. I'm sure 7 would overwrite it / install its own boot loader, anyway, so this should be a non-issue.

you may have been unable to delete the partition because it wasn't an actual data partition but an "extended" partition. that would make sense, and you don't really need to delete it, but I guess that's not what's happening considering you claim to be seeing two actual partitions after the fact. I wouldn't bother with Ubuntu or Partition Magic or any of that nonsense; you should just be able to use the MMC Computer Management snap-in (from Administrative Tools, or compmgmt.msc) as the first poster said, which is basically the 2K and onward GUI equivalent of fdisk. it should allow you to remove the partition with no issue, and there shouldn't be any concern about deleting it.

From experience, when you have more than one drive/partitions, especially when you're upgrading an older Windows, 7 tends to put its boot files on several places rather than just on the main drive

That's why I warned him about deleting the partition too hastily as it could break his 7 install (though you can always repair boot files using the Windows CD anyway)

windows adds a menu to the mbr, and reads the boot.ini in the base of the drive for the menu

[boot loader]
timeout=8
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows_install_dir_name

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows_install_dir_name="__MENU ___DISPLAY___OS___NAME__" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

cant remember what multi is.

disk(0) = primary c:\ drive
disk(1) = primary slave drive
disk(and so on )

rdisk(0) = remote disk on a network boot
partition(1) = partition number on the drive

you can edit the boot.ini in the system control panel under startup, if no [operating system] is set, you will not have a menu on boot

its a safer menu to use then opensuse grub or whatever is installed, and partition magic will work on the linux drive, if another NTFS partition exists on the linux drive

Ok, for everyone who cares. I used ubunto to boot and deleted both partitions and re-installed w7. Problem solved.

Still, the laptop seems to overheat - I've opened the bottom of the laptop to see if there is too much dust in the fans or w/e since it is quite old. But not so much the case. The hdmonitor says that cpu gets too hot (or at least 70°C) - I touched the ram - it seemed fine as well. The gpu is also in normal range.It seems to me that there must be some bios settings w/e not letting the cpu go over 70°C. Would that be possible? I can hardly imagine that :x

Any advice would be uberawesome.

Yes it is, by default my bios refuses to let my CPU go past 70°.

Have a look at the bios and see if you can find something (should be in the "pc health status" part)

I was not able to find anything in the bios - last time I checked. There was not much to look at anyway. I may have another look. The last thing I want to do is update the bios - I have never done that :)

Laptops often have a limited bios unfortunately :/

A bios update isn't that hard to do, you don't risk much unless the power fails or something (but on a laptop you should have a battery which can act as an UPS so it should be safe enough).

It sounds like something is wrong with the hardware of your laptop rather than the software.

If you have not updated/changed anything in the bios, that would be my first place to look.

Believe it or not, some manufacturers use those really cheap, awful thermal pads in place of some proper thermal paste/T.I.M, and they can age/crinkle up resulting in even poorer cooling than standard. If you can, I would take off the heatsinks and have a look underneath to see whether this is the case.

Using some decent thermal paste can really make a difference and lower temps by a surprising degree, even if thermal paste is already being used (OEM's use the cheapest stuff going generally).

I say all of this as a few months ago I was disassembling a friends laptop to upgrade the ram and have a look at the coolers (was also overheating). To my horror, underneath the beautiful copper heatsink+heatpipes arrangement were several of these cheap and nasty thermal pads. Couldn't believe it quite frankly. Changed the ram and put some decent brand name paste on (can't remember the brand); stopped the overheating.

The only other thing I can think of is a faulty temperature sensor. It could make the system think it's "overheating" and cause it to shutdown to save itself. All cpu's for a long time have had an internal temperature sensor, and some motherboards (particularly on laptops) also have a temperature sensor; one of those may have failed. I don't know of a practical/cheap method of determining if a sensor is faulty though :S Only thing I can think of is to put a thermocouple/temperature sensor connected to a multimeter onto the heatsink itself and see what temperatures you get during operation; at the very least it would tell you if a temp sensor was miss-behaving.

The last thing (and probably the first thing to do, if you haven't already) is to have a few internet searches for common problems regarding your laptop model; it's most likely the problems your encountering have happened to other people, and hopefully they found a solution other than "warranty/bin".

Hope you get it sorted man :(

thanks for the info man. It is actually a laptop of a friend of mine: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Pro3...051.0.html It is this model.

It is not that bad but I suppose they could have used cheap thermal pads. I just have a feeling it is a problem with the bios or of some sort. I mean, if I copy/install word 07, the pc was crashing usually in the middle of it. It just got too hot - you can hear the fans going crazy.

I, then, opened the bottom and installed word and other stuff and it was fine as long as it idles below 70°C. I assume the laptop is like 3 years old. At most, so I reckon during that time the thermal pads/whatever they used wore down.

Next time I'm gonna have another look at the bios. But last time there was really nothing I could change cpu wise. And then, I guess, I'll have to have a look under the heatpipes. I haven't really done that yet (alone :P) but I think I can manage it. I mean, what can go wrong? :/ Open, wipe it clean, apply paste, add fan/heatpipe done.

Maybe you got some good guides for it? (I might just use google myself ^^) I am not too sure about the amount of paste you have to use - probably not much though. But it would be nice to see it on some pictures so I feel more confident in what I am doing.