AmEyeMad?

Hi, Well I've been running my PC with Mandriva '06/Windows XP for about a week now without any hassles at all. It's been a positive learning experience thanks mainly to ianw1974 and arctic , both of whom I am extremely grateful to, for giving their time and for helping me understand knowledge that I had already encountered but due to inexperience, was unable to interpret. Thanks to their consideration, I am now able to look back at the information I had compiled to help me with the dual-booting task but couldn't understand, and laugh at the logical simplicity of it all! The experience has improved on how I feel about problem solving my PC, both from behind the keyboard and under the bonnet/hood. Many Thanks, ameyemad

.................. Thanks guys, appreciate your help .................

There is 1 thing remaining and when solved I hope it will see me finally set and running with my new Windows/Mandy '06 dual boot PC: 1. When shutting down there is a "Failed" in red after the following....Stopping NF Locking....(Failed) Thanks in advance for any advice....

OK I selected Grub with graphical menu boot device is /dev/hdc and enable ACPI has a check in it's box......... Installation completed...System is rebooting....fingers and legs/arms etc crossed........SUCCESS!!! Arctic...if you only knew how happy I am after spending days at the keyboard of 2 computers and hoping that someone would be able to help me at the level I can relate to and ianw1974 and yourself have done that! I have learnt so much an have gone from being tentative to mess about with things I knew nothing about....Master/Slave, bootloaders, consoles, jumpers, disc partitioning etc... I thank both ianw1974 and yourself and of course MandrivaUsers.org!

When I tried to install the lilo bootloader via rescue console I got this error: run_program cannot output in /root/tmp/ .drakx-stderr .1222 (mode '>') lilo failed: at usr/lib/libDrakX/boot loader .pm line 1238, <STDIN> line 1. As you can see it's an uphill battle but I love the learning experience it's giving me... What advice can anyone give me???

arctic....tell me about it....it was supposed to be soooo easy, and it probably is - just not to everyone. I did say I was a total noob...I meant it! But for the help of ianw1974 I would have probably stuffed things right up! I originally installed many 9.2 onto hdc [3 very small partition] but needed to delete them and install Mandriva 2006 onto my 2nd HD, which was windows2, according to linux install disk, this I achieved, or so I presume. Windows booted up eventually, not from any disc but by me changing where the jumper was and re-arranging which disc booted up in what order. Either the Mandy bootloader was overwritten or it's still on the secondary Master {200gb disc} and maybe it shouldn't be in the spot it's in????? In that case the jumper is in the wrong disc and I should then move it to the 80gb Windows XP disc. {quote}Once this is done, set the machine to boot from the master-harddisk in BIOS. Once this is done, you can boot into windows.{/quote} I achieved bootup into Windows with both HDiscs hooked up and all my drives are showing and Windows appears to be functioning properly. It's just that now there is no option on what OS I care to boot from, ie: Linux or Windows. Windows is set to boot 1st in the Hard Disk Boot Priority in Advanced BIOS features, but the windows/linus HDisc is the IDE Secondary Master. Is this the right way? {quote}The Windows bootloader will not recognize Linuxes, nor will Windows show you any Linux partitions. In order to boot into Mandriva, you need to replace the bootloader on the Windows drive (=Master) with lilo (or grub). This can be done with the rescue mode on the CDs. I think you were already at that stage. That rescue mode also allows you to restore the windows bootloader, if needed. Thus, if hdc is set to master and boots up correctly and you want to add Mandriva to the bootoptions, boot from the CD again, go to advanced/rescue mode and reinstall the Mandriva bootloader. Then reboot. Hope that it ends this odysee. :) I understand your advice and already suspected that inserting the Mandriva DVD and restoring the Lilo bootloader would be the next logical step. Odysee isn't the half of it from where I stand..... On the positive, I'm learning heaps about what isn't really as simple to all as it's made out to be....but I chose to dabble, didn't I....that's what I do....dabble, and hope for the best. Thanks for your post, it's been a bit barren out there.....or else I'm flooded with info overload. Your post was sweet! Ta.

OK, I fiddled around doing a trial and error thing, got a bit confused then managed to get Windows up and running but don't ask me how it all works... This is what I did.... I disconnected the 200gb (Windows/Mandriva) drive completely for the time being. I pulled the jumper plug out of the 80gb (Windows OS) drive and left that drive still connected. Then I went to BIOS and looked hard. I changed the boot process from CD, Floppy, Hard disc etc to the 80gb drive having 1st priority at bootup. Windows booted! Then, I powered down and connected both HDisks with the jumper in the rear of the 200gb disk and after a successful boot into XP, all drives/partitions were recognised, but no Mandriva! In BIOS the IDE secondary Master is set to 200gb HD and secondary Slave is the 80gb. The HDisk Boot Priority is the 80gb 1st and 200gb 2nd. So Windows seems to be functioning properly but I can't acces Mandriva 2006 at this stage in time?????

Ian, before we started working last night or this morning for you, I had performed this task: To restore Dos/Windows MBR with an installation CD Note : MS systems have a common MBR. A Dos-based system's MBR can also be restored by a NT version Windows installation CD. Any Win2k or XP installation CD will do the job. Just boot up the installation CD, choose recovery console and type the command below. Code: fixmbr When I was about to finalise the process Windows asked me this at the command prompt: Caution: This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record. FIXMBR may damage your partition table if you proceed. This could cause all the partitions on the current hard disk to become inaccessible. Are you sure you want to continue? After I rebooted the 99's were still present. I thought I should tell you in case this is relevant. *********************************************************** RE: Mandy, Windows in on the 80gb and I have installed Mandriva '06 to the 200gb HD. I have since looked in BIOS and notice that the 80g was set as secondary slave and so I changed the order by removing the jumper from the back of the 80g and placing it on the back of the 200g. This had no effect, so I disconnected the 80g altogether and booted up just with the 200g, which also had no effect on those pesky 99's. Then I disconnected the 200 and tried with just the 80g, also to no avail. This is as much as I could try.

Ian if the HD that's set in BIOS to boot 1st isn't the one that Mandy is on then do I have to reverse the order of booting? CD ist option Floppy 2nd option 200gb hd 3rd option 80gb hd 4th option????

Ian I checked and it was /dev/hdc. I finished install and rebooted to see the 99's all over again.......... :o I know you're due for work but what did I do wrong...

install bootloader in first sector of drive (mbr)??

OK, Ian I started the process all over again and deleted my new partitions and created: swap 1gb, / 5gb, /home 10gb what of the huge 5gb empty partition space on my 80gb hdc? The above are on 200gb hdd. I'm now up to the installation of System....fingers crossed?! Ian, will you still be online in 12 mins?

I'm so over Advanced Modes..... I started over with the create partitions and I chose /, /home then clicked continue it then said I dont have a Swap so I created that. I ended up with my Swap part last....oops now I'm continuing with installation....

I can't find the option to choose this ext3 type... I attach 2 screenshots before I move on.... I found the file system type, it's in advanced mode and it's in the same drop down menu where I selected Linux swap and Linux Native. Should I re-select Journalised FS: ext3 for both partitions?

Ian, When I am creating the partitions there is 1 for windows and 3 for linux on hdc, when I delete these linux partitions there is an empty 5gb or so space? I am now in the hdd tab and resizing the last windows partition, creating 2 linux partitions; linux and Swap. 10gb for Linux and 1gb for Swap.... I only found the option to select Linux Native...I hope this is the right choice, there was a preference pull down menu which I couldn't understand the options on offer... Extended, Primary and Extended _0x85 Should I enter an option for prefs in the 2 partitions I created??? They are also listed as Not Formatted. Do I format them in the Custom Partition section or will the installation format them?

I rebooted after removing the media but no luck... when I type the chroot command and press enter, all that happens is another command prompt appears on the next line...is this right? When I umount the hdc5 the response given is hdc5 not mounted....does this qualify for an unmounting of the drive or is it saying that hdc5 was never mounted in the 1st place...? Be honest...I've stuffed my PC....and it was supposed to be an easy task.....???

This is the latest update on your advice...... /boot/boot.1600 exists - no /dev/hdc backup copy made The Master Boot Record of /dev/hdc has been updated. then the flashing cursor, waiting for my entry...

Ian, I am unsure about what I see when I type lilo -M, so I attach a screenshot....I hope the rotation came thru in the upload... I greatly appreciate your help!

I noticed I made an error by typing lilo -m I returned to console and typed lilo -M I got the same info so I then typed umount /dev/hdc5 exited and rebooted....as the pc was rebooting I removed the disc from the drive and all the 99 99 99 99's came back......

I recall when I installed Mandy 9.2 I created 3 partitions for some reason and probably goofed up somewhere. Getting back to business: I mounted hdc5 and say boot, root, bin etc....and when I typed: lilo -m, a stack of lilo usage info appears, about 13 lines all starting with lilo etc....ending at the command prompt again.... I need to know if this is what I should see or should I unmount hdc5???

Ian, I presume you mean Linux here and not Windows... Does this help: hdd5 3.36gb, /, hdd6 494mb, /mnt/win_e, hdd7 2.1gb, /usr,

I just followed the whole install '06 process up until Custom Partitioning and see that the partitions for linux that I thought I deleted last night are still there and are as follows: hdc1 windows_c 68gb (92%) hdc5 Journalised FS ext:3 3.3gb (4%) hdc6 Linux Swap 494mb (0%) hdc7 Journalised FS ext:3 2,1gb (2%) I hope this is the info you wanted....

WooHooo....go ianw1974!!!! which by the way was the year I left school and started my working career, all at the age of ........not so fast with the age calculations.... Thanks Ian, I looked in BIOS and Floppy was 1st, CD was 2nd so I reversed them, even though CD was still ahead of HD's and now am looking at the Mandriva Install language screen......!!!! Now all I have to do is get my Windows back in order..... Well, I just went through the rescue process and when I pressed Enter to reinstall bootloader this message came up: run_program can not output in /root/tmp/.drakx-stder.1223 (mode '>') lilo failed: at /usr/lib/libDrakX/bootloader.pm line 1238, <STDIN> line 1. It now wants me to hit enter and return to Rescue GUI...... Any thoughts on what my next move should be?

OK, so I hit the reboot button and ejected the dvd only to find that Mandrake 9.2 booted up and worked! I thought I had deleted those partitions but I guess I hadn't. Then later on I booted up the PC and the bios started displaying info as it does, then about 10 rows of 99's appeared followed by a horizontal blinking cursor. I tried booting up from Mandrake 9.2/Mandriva 2006 discs but couldn't get past the 99's. I need some further advice...please.

Hi, well I popped the DVD of Mandriva PowerPack 2006 into the drive and rebooted.....when prompted I chose Install instead of Upgrade. I soon arrive at Custom Disk Partitioning and at first feel confident then quickly realize that I'm unable to continue and just want to quit the process but there is no back/exit installation option other than to hit the restart button on the tower.... This is the info displayed on screen: There are 2 tabs; hdc and hdd 1. hdc: Mount Point: /mnt/win_c Device: hdc1 Dos drive letter: C Type: NTFS Size: 68gb (92%) There is a block representing the windows partition which is coloured blue for Windows and then there are 3 small partitions at the end which are the Mandy 9.2 blocks. I select these Mandy partitions one by one and click delete. Now there is an empty block after the blue one and it's size is 5.9gb. I don't know whether to leave this empty block or should I resize the Windows_c partition, which is something I am reluctant to tamper with in case I lose all my data. I click on 'Resize' button whilst the windows_c partition is selected and get this warning: "partition table of drive hdc is going to be written to disc!" Whoah, hang on a 'mo....not sure about going there....??? I then click on the hdd tab and the harddrive partition block is all blue and split into 3 blocks: 2. hdd: Mount Point: /mnt/win_c2 Device: hdd1 Dos letter: C Type: NTFS Size: 39gb (20%) Mount Point: /mnt/win_d Device: hdd5 Dos Letter: D Type: NTFS Size: 58gb (31%) Mount Point: /mnt/win_e Device: hdd6 Dos letter: E Type: NTFS Size: 88gb (47%) When I clicked on the 'Auto Allocate' button at the bottom of the hdd tab 3 partitions were created at the end of the Win_c block in the hda tab roughly about the size of the original Mandy 9.2 partitions. I couldn't create any new partitions using Auto Allocate in the hdd (200gb HD) no matter how hard I tried, if I created them in hdd they appeared in hdc. I wasn't game enough to try any other method than Auto Allocate. I then searched through the help file/internet using my other computer, but was very wary of continuing so I've left the PC at the precise point where I reached a stumbling block. I need major advice here as I'm reluctant to continue with the insallation for fear of ruining the Windows partition!???