Formatting boo-boo in Toshiba Tecra S2 laptop

[bobpur]

I was given this laptop and wanted to set it up as a dualboot with linux and WinXP. I formatted the 40 gb harddrive with a Gparted live cd. After I finished and removed the cd, I restarted the laptop. It went thru the normal BIOS checks and stopped at a black screen with this message:

Yukon PXE v4.11.1.3 (20050614)
(C) Copyright 2003-2005 Marvell (R) All rights reserved.

Pre-boot eXecution Environment v2.1
(C) Copyright 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM
Invalid partition table_

This message shows up in the BIOS checks and will not go past this point no matter what OS cd you try to boot from. I've tried to boot from Windows 2000 and XP. Also, a variety of linux distros. Among these are: Knoppix, Ubuntu, Fedora 6&7, SUSE 10.1 & 10.2, plus others I can't think of at the moment. The Gparted cd I formatted with won't even boot it up.
Again, this shows up in the BIOS checks and won't let me access the hdd and nothing goes past this point.
I think it is an attempt by Toshiba to tell me; "We support MS and if you remove windows, we won't let you use anything else:)"
Can anyone tell me how to fix this or point me somewhere that will tell me how to fix it? I've tried Google and the forums for Toshiba with no results.

Thanks.

[scorp123]

Yukon PXE v4.11.1.3 (20050614)
(C) Copyright 2003-2005 Marvell (R) All rights reserved.

Pre-boot eXecution Environment v2.1
(C) Copyright 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM
Invalid partition table_

PXE? Why are you trying to boot via the network? Do you even have a PXE-Server setup? If not I suggest you change the boot order in your BIOS

You could have come to the conclusion yourself if you had looked up what 'PXE' means
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment

[bobpur]

PXE stands for Pre-boot execution environment. That much is written on the third line. Beyond that I've never heard of PXE
However, as this laptop had an OS before I reformatted it and it worked (Kind of) I must place the shape of the BIOS on the previous owner. I will check it out and get back to the forums about that.
All seriousness aside; Linux Gurus are in no danger of having me swelling their ranks anytime soon:)

Thanks for the info

[scorp123]

However, as this laptop had an OS before I reformatted it and it worked (Kind of) I must place the shape of the BIOS on the previous owner.

It was probably a 'company' laptop or something like that? Some companies do that so that people who accidentally removed the pre-installed OS just need to connect to the corporate network again and they automatically get the latest OS image again, e.g. you come back from vacation, plug your network into the corporate LAN ... you go to the coffee machine while it boots, you come back ... and whoah! There is a shiny new OS with the latest patches on your laptop.

.. Or something like that.

Probably you just need to change the boot order, e.g. get into the BIOS, search for the location where "Boot Order" is defined, and then make sure the order is something like e.g.:

- Removable Media (Floppy, USB)
- CD-ROM
- Harddisk
- Network
...

Depending on the maker and the version of the BIOS the options you can choose from may differ.

[bobpur]

WOW! That was easy Scorp123.
I went back to the BIOS and fixed the boot order to boot from cd and spent the rest of the afternoon (and most of the evening) getting this Toshiba to dualboot Celena and XP. It runs great!
You were right about the laptop belonging to a corporation at one point. there is a sticker on the lid for : http://www.govconnection.com (or .org it's faded). They are from New Hampshire (I'm in West Virginia) and that website looks like they handle computing and networking for Corporations and the government.

Thanks Again.