dm1-4108au boot troubles

[adamkay]

i have recently installed a linux distro (linux mint 13) on my machine (after creating usb recovery image), and since installing linux mint have not been able to boot into windows 7. it will begin the normal loading sequence, but after 2 seconds or so will blue screen and reset. after removing the GRUB bootloader and restoring the windows one, i still cannot do anything (let alone boot into the working linux i had).

my biggest dilemma is that i cannot boot into a live usb, the recovery one i made or into a live mint version. i've re-arranged the bios boot settings, selected to boot from usb after pressing f9 on boot and it just goes to the windows boot loader (which i cannot load recovery, windows, and now mint from)

please any input would be appreciated, i've just bought this machine and don't want to do anything to void my warranty either (ie. taking out drive and manually wiping it). 

[aansi]

use msdos bootable pendrive that having a file fdisk.exe
after booting from usb pendrive
just type FDISK/MBR and press enter and remove pendrive and restart your lapi.

The MS-DOS Fdisk utility usually updates the master boot record (MBR) only if no master boot record exists. Repartitioning with Fdisk does not rewrite this information.

Fdisk has an undocumented parameter called /mbr that causes it to write the master boot record to the hard disk without altering the partition table information.

What is the MBR?
At the end of the ROM BIOS bootstrap routine, the BIOS reads and executes the first physical sector of the first floppy or hard disk on the system. This first sector of the hard disk is called the master boot record (or sometimes the partition table or master boot block). There is a small program at the beginning of this sector of the hard disk. The partition information, or partition table, is stored at the end of this sector. This program uses the partition information to determine which partition is bootable (usually the first primary DOS partition) and attempts to boot from it.

This program is written to the disk by the fdisk /mbr command and is usually called the master boot record. During typical operation, Fdisk writes this program to the disk only if there is no master boot record.

NOTE: The fdisk /mbr command only re-writes the MBR on the system drive (DISK-0) using BIOS calls. You cannot specify any other drive for the fdisk /mbr command to operate on other than DISK-0.
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Why is the MBR Changed During Setup?
During the installation of Microsoft MS-DOS Upgrade, Setup replaces the master boot record on the hard disk with code to display a message similar to:
The MS-DOS 5.0 Setup was not completed.
Insert the UNINSTALL #1 diskette in drive A.
Press the ENTER key to continue.
This message should be erased and the master boot code rewritten before Setup is completed. If a problem occurs during Setup and you return to the previous version of MS-DOS, Uninstal should also remove this message. However, if Setup or Uninstal does not remove this message, or if the master boot record becomes corrupted, a new master boot record can be written to the disk using the following command:
fdisk /mbr

[adamkay]

hi aansi thanks for the response, 

currently i'm heading off to school and will give your suggestion a shot after my exam. the first problem i think i'll encounter is that i cannot boot from ANY usb. i have the recovery partition on one, live linux mint .iso (which booted before), and gparted-live .iso. 

i'm going to attempt to install a newer bios today, but i'm not sure if that must be done from windows also? (which isnt booting)

[adamkay]

no luck, cannot boot from anything. cannot perform bios update (as suggested by hp tech) because that is done from windows too. i have an 11" paperweight at the moment. i don't understand how it can't be booting from the usb drives i insert (considering one worked on this very machine before!). ARGH!!