Ixthusdan

From the command line, "ndiswrapper -l" will give you all the information you need. If the driver is correct, then it will say that the driver is installed and the device is present. If it says the driver is installed, but no device present, you are using the wrong driver. If it returns nothing, you have not installed ndiswrapper.

Wow. An actually decent article. By an ISP. Gasp!!!!

If you can control the card and see the network, then your issue is encryption. Try turning off encryption to verify the connection. Then carefully apply the correct information for link: double check the passwords/keys/etc. Be sure that you are following the same encryption patttern as the router/server/whatever. I used to compile ndiswrapper, but with Mandriva 2007 onward, the Mandriva rpm has worked well.

Please list the sizes of the current partitions and also state the total size of your hard drive.

Windows is the limiting factor. A windows installation must think it is the primary boot device; otherwise, it will not work. Naturally, this behavior might prevent windows from functioning on any usb device. The best thing is to have a partition available to put windows. If it is the first partition on a single drive, then you are set. Removing data from any partition is of course easy. If you have 2 drives, then switching the boot device in the bios is enough to fool windows.

Linux file systems do not fragment like Windows. So a defrag is not needed. The only "problems" that warrant a look might be the log files and the space used by them, although I have never bothered with it. Linux just does not need the attention that a Windows system requires, including reinstalling it every 6 months! :D

I found a link recommending the GStreamer plugin for Amarok. Here is the link I found.

Yes, Mandriva stays in control of GRUB. Launch into Mandriva first, mount the partitions, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst (Mounting the partitions enables you to see the names of the kernel and image of the other distro.)

It is just as easy to not load a new installed and edit the current GRUB. (You are going to edit anyway!) You can mount the partitions and find the kernel/image names.

Nvidia 6100 on-board video works fine in 3d with Nvidia drivers. But I also do not use on-board as a rule.

I recommend looking for a bios update. As I said earlier and you have guessed, Mandriva is detecting both video cards. But you may have other hardware issues. Installing an operating system does not affect a boot screen. I would try removing the add-on card and installing with just the on-board video first, and then try installing the video card after you have the system working.

If you are suggesting that this was a consistent problem of some kind, you have a rather odd concept of "problem." In the many years that I have used computers, unusual things happen all of the time. A problem in the computer world is something that happens repeatedly, not occasionally. For example, Vista's inability to run is a repeatable issue, making that entire os a problem. (Which is why any IT person with half a brain will not allow their clients to use Vista.) I think that an os that simply does not work is a bigger issue that will drive people away than an odd trash can problem, don't you? :D At any rate, if the command did not work, it is more likely you did something wrong. 90% of the problems I have experienced were of my own making. So, learn!

Couple of things: Be sure that the on-board Intel chip is "off" in the bios. If it is not, Linux will configure the first card it finds, in this case the on-board card. When it flashes and goes blank, try unplugging the monitor from the Nvidia and plugging it into the on-board crad. My guess is you will see a gui.

It would be helpful to know the model/brand of your computer. We can figure out the video card information from there! Did the install finish normally? Normally, inputing a user name is not a step that can be skipped.

Quickly: The drive that windows is installed on must see itself as the primary boot drive in order for windows to work. Linux has no such limitation. But in a dual boot situation, the windows drive will always boot first because that is its position. Changing this in the bios is the only recourse---for windows. The reason GRUB or LILO should be installed to the MBR of the windows drive is to avoid the unnecessary hassle of bios playing. I read where you have been told that the windows MBR can be damaged. This is so rare it is not worth mentioning and it is traceable to other causes, usually hardware issues. The so-called windows boot loader is a protection device, not a true loader. It makes sure you stick with windows. :P The boot loader should be on the windows MBR, and Linux is installed on the slave, so it will run from the slave.

I think you may be right; I just used the same size partitions. My work has generally been more akin to cloning a drive, which would entail the same size partitions/data storage. dd will copy the data to a smaller place, but it is compressed, which introduces new issues with reading it only after decompressing the data. I'll add a note to the above.

Since I have messed this up often when changing drives, I wrote out this procedure and thought it might be useful. This best applies to situations where one is cloning data, same size partition to same size partition. If the partition sizes change, there are other tools that make it easier. dd is quick and easy for cloning. Also, be sure to follow the instructions, as dd can render a drive blank if you mistakenly clone an empty partition over a data partition. Of course, the result would be 2 empty partitions! 1. Install the new drive into the system. (It does not matter if this is ide or sata.) 2. Boot Linux and locate the drive. While you do not have to, I prefer setting up the partitions and formatting ahead of time. Do not name the partitions; simply format them in your favorite fs. Copying the information is done from a console. For an entire drive, type dd if=/dev/source bs=32256 of=/dev/destination where the source and destination are expressed as sda, sdb, hda, hdb, etc. This can take some time. I prefer to copy partition information so I can see where I am. Besides, copying swap is a waste of time. So do dd if=/dev/sda5 bs=32256 of=/dev/sdb4 where the content of the 5th partition on sda is copied to the 4th partition of sdb. With this nomenclature, the data of any partition can be targeted to any other partition. 3. After completing all copying, DO NOT REBOOT YET. First, edit the content of the new /etc/fstab to reflect the new location of the partitions. If you are replacing a drive in the exact same place in the system, this step is not necessary. Otherwise, make your edits. For example, in the above copy, I would edit the function of sda5 to become sdb4 in the new drive. If you forget this step, you'll be making edits with a live distro! 4. Edit the new GRUB/Lilo so that the system will boot correctly. Remember, GRUB identifies its drives and partitions starting from 0, not 1. So if sda was the first drive in the system, it would be identified in GRUB as hd0. But if you are moving everything to sdb, the second drive in the system, then GRUB sees it as hd1. The partitions are also numbered from 0, not 1. So the above sdb4 would be labled in GRUB (hd1,3) if sdb is the second drive in the system. 5. Now shut down and arrange your hardware as you planned. When you boot back up, all should be well.

I run doom3 on my system, but it is all running 32 bit and not 64 bit. I have an SLi setup using 2 GeForce7600 cards. SLi is a bit tricky in Linux, but it does work.

I have been using Mandriva since it was Mandrake version 7.0. I have never used Google as a repository, nor have I found it necessary. Satisfying urpmi does not mean that one won't get unworkable software. As proof, simply use cooker sources and you will get a working and then broken system from time to time. urpmi will use it, but it is the software that is under development that is not working. All urpmi does is assure that the packages that claim to be dependent get installed. It does not mean it will work! Use whatever you wish, but reputable sources are what they are. We can help you trouble-shoot odd sources, but please do not claim that Mandriva has a problem when you are experimenting. B)

Adam, you do a marvelous job. I hope you do not take my criticism personally. Mandriva really needs business help from a marketing perspective. They always have. (at least since the 7.0 days)

Marketing does not necessarily entail lying, although it frequently does. Marketing basically is simply product presentation or product image. You can fault human psychology for that one! :P In modern business, no marketing equals no product presentation. For example, "Linux is user based" is a statement of product image. Assuming that human psychology does not work with geeks is simply wrong. Look at Ubuntu. They have embarked upon a marketing strategy that is working for them. We all know that in reality, Ubuntu is really no different than any other Linux and some, like Mandriva, have better tools for gui users. But Ubuntu is marketing. Mandriva not only does not market, but flies from it in the face of reason. Bottom line, there is simply no excuse for ignoring users or business partners. Denying marketing is not the "high road;" it is a dead end ally.

Could be x or kde updates. Try launching x without kdm. At the boot loader, hit escape and type "linux init3". Once you have gotten to a command line login, type "startx" and see if x launches. If x is good, then double check your updates for kde. If x has problems, check for updates for x. Also, be sure you have not inadvertently mixed sources for a different version of Mandriva. You could install gdm if kdm has a problem. "urpmi gdm"

It is true. The word "marketing" is a derogatory remark in France. (according to Gowater) Marketing is the same as lying. It is also true that the comic farce is a French literary invention!

There is no reason that an Nvidia "built-in" vid chip won't run 3-d with the proprietary drivers. For example, a built-in 6100 does just fine and this is the normal built-in chip.

Pysol is all the card games you will ever need! It has been a standard for me since Mandrake 7.0. :P