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yes I do. Immediately after installing win2k, I installed the mobo drivers from the CD, which has sata/raid drivers, ethernet, sound and all the other necessary drivers. Then I installed my video card drivers, as well as my printer software and drivers, and my DVD burner software and drivers. What a pain!! I must have gone through a half-dozen reboots. That's why I was surprised win2k doesn't show the sata drive. The sata drive was formated, partitioned, and named (G: and H:), under my previous win2k install. Then my IDE drive with win2k on it went bad, so I bought a replacement IDE drive (sorry aussiejohn ;) ) and reinstalled win2k on it (and mandriva). I expected the formerly set-up sata drive to be "known" to the new win2k install, but it is not.

by previous suggestions, I gather you mean when you said: 1. enable sata in bios 2. check back of HD for SATA, not SATA-II yes, I always had bios set to "enable sata". I have NOT done the sata-II check, but I will. The SATA drive is in the machine with ALL my data on it. The new IDE drive just has win2k, and mandriva powerpack 2008. So obviously I want to get the sata drive recognized. Then I guess I need to do aussiejohn's comment about the ntfs reading thing. By the way, the new install of win2k does not recognize the pre-existing sata drive either. My Computer shows Drive C (the IDE drive) and the cd and dvd drives, but no Drive G and Drive H (previously formatted sata drive). I suppose I need to go into Disk Management or something. no big hurry on this stuff. I will ask about things as they come along. I think I will like mandriva. Internet, sound and whatever else seems to work nicely so far. I have a Canon printer connected to this win2k/mandriva machine but I haven't checked if mandriva has it or not. Oh yeah, another post-install mandriva thing. When I installed, it asked me if I wanted to copy the entire DVD to Hard Drive. I said no. Now, after install, if I want to install some more stuff, it sometimes asks for the "mandriva powerpack disk" and ejects my CD tray for me. Well, its a DVD not a CD. I have a DVD burner and a CD burner.

I was kind of surprised that during the install, the default (ie: pre-selected) answer to What Do You Want To Do With Windows?, was "wipe it out". Since windows was on the entire disk, I selected Resize Windows. If you do that, then the next time you boot into windows, after installing mandriva, it will go thru a Chkdsk utility automatically, but then it will reboot normally into windows after that.

yes I know. Last night I already had gone into terminal and run mcc. Last night I already went into mcc and selected Display and looked around at the settings. Then I went to bed. Anyway, this morning I see that Resolution is set on 1280x768 24 bppp. don't know what 24 bppp is, but I changed resolution to 1280x968 24bppp. then did startx and it looks good ! So I guess mandriva is installed correctly. I thought the install was very nice. Except for the sata non-recognition, and the incorrect display, it went fine. Thanks for the help. Now I have to get ready and leave for work. If I have any other questions later, I'll start new threads in software, hardware, or wherever.

mandriva install is finished. All I see is the bottom part of the screen. The top half of the screen is just blank. It's an LCD monitor. So I'm not able to do anything. All I have access to is the Session Type button and the Menu button in the bottom left of the screen.

sata was enabled in bios. I got another H-D anyway since I like have 2 separate drives in my machines. I'll use the IDE for OS and programs, and sata for all data. I've been researching installing windows on sata, and found out how to burn a win2k bootable CD that has drivers and stuff already on it. I could have done that. Also, today I realized why the floppy disk that I copied the sata driver files to did not work when I pressed F6 during win2k install. Found out there is an oem txt file that you also need, that supplies info to the driver files. I did not copy that txt file to floppy. Oh well, live and learn. I wasn't really ranting about mandriva. I'm installing it right now on my other machine. I think I will like it. It looks nice so far, and the install has been very user-friendly, especially the partitioning part.

I bought an 80GB IDE H-D this morning, and win2k is being installed on it now. Then I'll put mandriva 2008 on it. The SATA drive has all my data on it already (mp3s, videos, etc). I'm hoping I can get mandriva to recognize the sata drive. Regarding my video playback problems, one site that never playback at all is NBA.com. They have a lot of broadband videos you can click on, but when I do, mplayer comes up, says its loading or buffering or whatever, then some code shows up on the mplayer screen, then a blank screen... and "stopped". http://www.nba.com/ there are several videos listed up on the top right. None ever play on my debian machine.

my main machine (this one) has been linux-only ever since I had it (couple years). My secondary machine has been win2k, which I don't use that much. The screen on it is really an LCD 23" TV, so it mostly gets used as a TV, and not as a computer/monitor. my son likes to play some of his military shoot-em-ups on my win2k machine since it is a better machine than what my son has. I would like sometime in the near future to be linux-only. I just have to bite-the-bullet and sit down and learn audio stuff and video stuff on linux. I like to burn dvd movies (back up), record my vinyl LP collection, and then do some lightweight editing (fade-ins, fade-outs, etc) and burn a nice CD. one complaint I have with my main linux computer (debian) is that while I'm browsing the web, many videos or audios don't play. some do, some don't. usually a video or audio player will come up, and actually start to do something (like for 1 second) then just stop and show a blank window. sometimes it just doesn't ever start to play video, just shows a blank window. I have installed every plug-in and video player there is. Frustrating. I'm hoping mandriva 2008 out-of-the-box is a little more multi-media friendly than my debian system. I'm sure it will be.

yes I knew windows would be a problem, since win2k is an old release. I had never done the "F6" thing during a windows install, so I was unhappy that it is only for a floppy. And since all the necessary drivers are on a CD, I'm not sure which ones to put on a floppy. I did copy a couple drivers that had "sata" in their names, but no go... regarding mandriva, I just assumed it would recognize what I had. Linux installs in the past have always detected what I had on different machines. Maybe I've just been lucky. The computer is a couple years old, I put it together myself. Its a gigabyte mobo with an amd 64. the new sata HD is a W-D. Actually, I usually prefer 2 hard drives in my machines... so I think today I will buy a 60 or 80GB IDE drive to install mandriva & win2k and whatever programs I install. The SATA drive (160GB) will be for all my data. After I get mandriva installed I'd like to experiment with emulaters like wine or whatever else there is. I've never tried an emulater. thanks for all the tips and info!

mandriva 2008 does the same think that win2k (1999) does. "there are no devices to install to" this new sata drive was definitely a waste of money. An OS that is 8 years newer than win2k still doesn't know what to do with a sata drive. It asks me for "what driver should I try..." and lists hundreds. I choose (just a guess) sata-nv low-level driver for nforce, and say OK. Then it goes back to where it says: Found nvidia parallel ata controller, nvidia serial ata controller, blah blah, silicon image [sil 3512] sataLink / sataRaid Then it has: do you have another - Yes, No I say no, and it just says "no devices to install to", just like win2k. If I say yes, it just shows all the drivers again and "what driver should I try?" The mobo is a gigabyte, with an amd 64 on it (but I bought the mandriva 32-bit). The driver/software CD is titled Nvidia nForce3 250 Series Utilities CD. I tried a couple diff drivers listed. sometimes it then goes to a screen with "Autoprobe" or "specify options". I choose autoprobe, but just end up with "no devices to install to"

yeah, I tried booting from the mobo CD a while back... and while it started like it was going to do something... it just ended up saying something like "sorry your Hard Drive is not HPI compatible...". It was something like that, I can't remember... will check on the CD for something to write a driver floppy. Thanks for that suggestion, I did not think of that. If not, I guess I'll just install mandriva for now, and ask questions here later when I'm ready to install win2k.

In the past, when I dual-booted, I always installed win first. The problem with installing win2k now, on my new sata drive, is that windows doesn't know what the heck sata drives are. It thinks there is no H-D in the system. I know windows gives you the opportunity to stick in a floppy disk with drivers if you need to, but I have not had a floppy disk in a computer for over 5 years. So anyway, I pulled the floppy drive from my wife's machine, and connected it to my machine. I got the CD with my mobo drivers on it (sata, etc). The CD has 59MB of drivers and software on it. I am not sure which drivers win2k needs for sata. I found 2 drivers with "sata" in their names so I copied those to a floppy disk. When installing win2k and after it asks for a driver disk, I put in the floppy... but then windows says "error... can't find so-and-so file...". The file name that it lists is NOT on the CD anywhere, I looked and looked. It's stupid that windows won't accept a CD for a driver disk instead of a floppy. That's why I'm thinking about installing mandriva first, even though I know it's easier to install windows first. The sata drive has been previously partitioned into G: and H:, both NTFS. G has around 30GB and H has around 125GB. I originally intended to reinstall win2k on G: and use H: for data. Since I have a separate linux machine (debian), I was not intending to install linux on this machine. Maybe I can email my mobo company and ask them how to install win2k on my sata drive (which files I need to copy onto a floppy). Really the only reason I want win2k on my machine is that I like Nero Ultra 6, and a couple other progs. Also my son like to play win games on my machine since it is a better machine than what he has. Crashdamage - that's good to know about nerolinux. I'd like to try it out.

I received my Mandriva powerpack 2008 dvd in the mail today. Will install it on my new sata drive. In post #4, by John, he made some recomendations regarding partitioning in case I want to install windows later. Hope I can figure it out during install. If not, I'll be back!

I'm going to install 2008 powerpack. Then I can check these things out myself. I MAY attempt to install win2k sometime later, but if 2008 does whatever I need, maybe I can forego windows, for the first time ever.

well, I've used grip plenty, and CDex, I just like CDex better. Maybe I'm just more familiar with it. I didn't even need to mention winamp, I know linux has xmms (which I also like), so winamp isn't really a consideration. I never found k3b to do as much as nero... maybe that was just my k3b ignorance. I have used it plenty though, and I like it fine. I'm talking about Nero Ultra, which is the expensive boxed version. what does cedega do? I read that you can run windows games under it. does it come with powerpack ? what is the emulator of choice these days? I never messed with wine in previous years.... so I'm not familiar with emulators at all. Has it gotten better? Are emulators free? edit: well, I guess since Ixthusdan called them, "commercial emulators", they must not be free...

wow, interesting!! maybe I don't even need win2k anymore! how does running win progs under linux work these days? as mentioned before, I like a couple of freebie win progs - winamp and CDex. I also like Nero (full "Ultra" version). I also play DVD movies with powerDVD, which came with my DVD burner. Does anybody know about games such as medal of honor, battlefield 1942 and Half-Life 2 under linux? Does linux have a good DVD movie player? I need a full-featured player, such as the windows ones. I'm 75% deaf, so I sometimes watch movies with Closed-captions turned on... The windows players all have that feature, also subtitles, and etc.

ok, will do. I know windows doesn't play well with others, that's why I always used to install win first, then linux. I plan to buy another SATA drive soon... I like to have 2 HDs in my machines. As mentioned before, my new SATA drive already has 2 partitions... G: & H:, both ntfs. The old IDE drive, which has been removed, was C: and D: If I install mandriva, of course I would like to read & write my existing data (on H:), but it is ntfs. I can re-partition the empty G: space as Fat32. It is 30GB if I remember. I was planning to install both win2k and linux on G: but I think I'll wait till I buy another sata drive. linux still doesn't write to ntfs, correct? Also, how does linux work with external usb hard drives (just for data)? I'd like to buy one.

I pulled the IDE drive, so there is just the SATA drive in it now. After I install mandriva 2008 powerpack on it... I'd like to try sometime later to put win2k on it also... but I'm sure that would screw mandriva... I have always installed windows THEN linux. nothing to lose by buying mandriva powerpack. What about the windows games questions in the first post? Thanks!

My win2k machine has an IDE HD, 160GB, and a new SATA HD, also 160GB. The IDE drive is a few years old, and it has been "going bad". I have to reinstall win2k about every 2 weeks due to "drive errors". I bought the new SATA drive to replace it. I have already partitioned (in win2k) the new sata drive into G: and H: partitions, both are ntfs. H: has all my data copied over from the old IDE drive. G: is still empty. I tried to reinstall win2k on the new sata drive G: partition... but of course win2k does not know what sata is... doesn't recognize any drive. I know I can do stuff like slipstream sp4, and also the sata drivers... this got me to wondering about just installing mandriva 2008 on the G: partition of the new sata drive. Will 2008 recognize it? There's a few windows progs I still use, such as CDex, winamp, Excel and Nero. I know there are linux equivalents... but I'm used to CDex and Nero and I like both progs. I don't mind using oo Calc to work with my excel files though. I own Nero Ultra Edition 6.0 and I would like to be able to use that under linux... oh well... (or can I?). My son likes to play Medal of Honor, Battlefield 1942 and half-life 2 on my windows machine also. Not sure if Mandriva 2008 has the capability to run those games. If I got the 2008 mandriva, I would get the biggest and best powerpack. Any advice appreciated, expecially regarding sata installs, and running windows programs and games. (ie: what is cedega?). thanks as always!

The Jem review made a point of complaining about the "Beagle" resource hog. I would also want to turn it off. The other review didn't mention anything about it, IIRC. Wasn't there something a while back called "kat" or "cat" that was a resource hog also? The last powerpack DVD I bought (2006 I think) was $10 from an online linux CD vendor. $89 is quite a jump. Windows XP costs $95. Is there any software difference between the $89 box version versus the $59 "slimpack" DVD version? It's just a manual and "no manual" probably... I notice on the mandriva website, about an "activation key"... taking lessons from MS ?

I read the entire review. I also read this review: http://www.linux.com/articles/119783 Stuff the first review complained about, the other review raved about. Of course, the linux.com review pretty much sounds like an advertisement from mandriva. Since the 2nd review is so glowing, I'm gonna believe the first one instead. Where do you buy the Powerpack DVD or CDs?

I wonder about a typical wal-mart shopper buying a Dell with Linux, and then going home and wondering where windows is, and why doesn't mp3 work, and multi-media stuff, blah blah... edit: still, its a good thing. I've never owned a notebook, but if I get one, it'll probably be a Dell w/Llinux.

..... .

Problem: printing from this debian machine to an HP printer connected to my win2k box. Both machines are connected to a DHCP router. I was able to get this done once before (under mandriva 2006).

thanks, that must have been it. It works fine now. I installed the nvidia kernel module, and nvidia-glx and then did the xserver reconfiguration (man there were A LOT of questions). Then did a restart, and then ran glxinfo and it reported direct rendering "Yes" so I guess I did everything OK... During the xserver reconfig questions, I told it to use the "nvidia" module, so I suppose I don't need to do modprobe nvidia. In other words, will it load at every boot without doing modprobe? edit: so far I love my "shiny new distro" as arctic calls it. A friend asked me the other day if I was going to buy windows Vista ... ha ha ha... I never bought XP. I still have win2k.