Alright, here goes nothing. You'll be back working on no time.
Insert your Linux boot disk into the drive, and start up the laptop.
Press [whatever key lets you choose boot media] and select boot from CD drive.
Once linux is loaded, go to My Computer and select your Vista partition.
Connect a flash drive, usb hdd, etc., and copy your important files that you want to keep over to that device.
Now as I see it, you've got 3 choices. Your description was a little vague though.
Choice 1: Repairing Vista
Insert the Vista install disk and boot into that using the same way you did for the linux disk.
Once loaded, accept the T&C and stuff, and when it's at the "Install Windows" screen, there will be an option or two under there in smaller writing.
Click "Repair windows".
Select the partition that Vista is on and click ok.
Select the first option which should be an automatic repair.
It SHOULD find a problem (mainly with the bootloader) and it should repair it (most likely reinstall the bootloader).
If this works, continue on to Choice 2.
If it doesn't work, continue on to Choice 3.
Choice 2: Booting into Windows
Congrats, you're able to boot into Vista, either from the start or after repairing it.
Boot into Vista and connect to the internet.
Go to
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 and download the latest version of EasyBCD.
Install that and start it up.
Go to the edit configuration tab (I think).
At the bottom, there's an add new entry box.
Select Linux and choose your type and install partition and click add. You can also go into the other tabs on the left and find the edit timeout box and change that. Higher is more time before auto booting.
Close everything and reboot, and you should be able to select and boot into either Vista or Linux on startup. It will take you to the Vista bootloader instead of auto booting Vista.
If that still won't work, choose Choice 3.
Choice 3: Reinstalling
Let's hope you backed everything up from Choice 1.
You've got 2 choices based on this. Choice 3.a and Choice 3.b, all based on which bootloader you want.
Choice 3.a: Using Vista's bootloader with reinstalling
Boot into the Linux install disk.
Choose "install" on the desktop.
Go through everything, but when you get to choosing where to install, format the
whole harddrive and only install on [however much space you want] of the harddrive. You're going to need to choose Manual Configuration to do that. Delete all partitions and create new ones for Linux, etc.,etc..
Once you're done, shut down Linux.
Boot into the Vista install DVD.
Install everything as normal, and on your other partition that you left blank for vista.
No special options to hit, or CMD promt commands, just install it normally.
Restart the computer, you're going to automatically boot into Vista.
Follow the steps in Choice 2 for downloading and using EasyBCD to add the Linux entry to the bootloader.
Restart, choose your OS.
Choice 3.b: Using the GRUB bootloader with reinstalling
Boot into the Vista install DVD.
Format the
whole harddrive.
Install on [however much space you want] of the harddrive.
No special things to select, jsut install normally.
Once done, insert the Linux disk and boot into that.
Select install and go through everything, and when you get to choosing how to install, select Manual Configuration.(YOU MUST SELECT THIS. No other option will work!)
Choose the other half of your harddrive that you kept clean for Linux and hit Ok/Enter/Whatever the button is.
There's going to be more screens for settings, account, etc.. KEEP AN EYE OOUT FOR AN "ADVANCED OPTIONS/SETTINGS BUTTON"!!
Click that Advanced Settings/Options button when you see it.
Tick the box saying install the GRUB bootloader on [this] partition/drive.
Choose the actual drive and then hit ok.
Continue with the install and when it's done, reboot.
You'll be able to choose between your Linux and Vista.
Congrats!
Man, that took forever to type! I've been dual booting for a while now and know a bunch about it. I'm dual booting OSx86 and Vista atm. Will be triple booting on my laptop with OSx86, Vista Ultimate, and Ubuntu later on today.
