L 99 99 99…
Well that was far more difficult than it should have been. This weekend I switched my laptop back from Linux to Windows XP. Strangely, each time I install WinXP it’s more difficult than the time before.
In case you’ve found this page via Google, here’s one answer to the L 99 99 problem, which stumped me for hours…
The problem: After booting your PC it stops, saying simply “L 99 99 99…”, with about half a screen full of the 99s.
The explanation: This is actually an error message from the Linux LILO bootloader, reporting hex error 0×99. Despite removing Linux the Microsoft-recommended way — and wouldn’t you think they’d give you a foolproof method to do that? — I still had a trace of Linux stubbornly clinging on. It seems that removing partitions won’t remove the MBR, which is where the bootloader lives.
The solution: The safest solution is to replace LILO with a Windows bootloader — this assumes you want to restore Windows, as I did. The Microsoft way of doing this (article 247804) is to boot with a Windows XP installation disk, choose the recovery console and run the Windows fdisk /mbr command. Unfortunately my OEM recovery disks from IBM didn’t give me that option, so I had to borrow a Windows 2000 disk and use that instead. Once the Windows bootloader had been reinstalled I was able to continue my XP installation. If you don’t have access to a retail edition of Windows you might try bootdisk.com, but that looked a bit too Wild West for me.
I stumbled across another solution, too, specific to IBM Thinkpads. This involves changing a BIOS setting to so that LILO correctly reads the disk geometry (mismatching geometry is what gives error 0×99). However, when I tried this the BIOS flashed up a big scary warning telling me that this could expose the special IBM Pre-Desktop area of the disk, and make it vulnerable to overwriting by the operating system. I duly retreated, and am glad I did.
The fdisk solution above was right for me because I wanted to restore Windows. If you want to keep Linux you’ll have to try something else.
Apart from the Windows 2000 disk, the indispensible tool I used was a Knoppix CD — a real work of genius. Oh yes, and Google. Never forget Google.
