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Cannonfodder

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Posts posted by Cannonfodder

  1. ChrisM, if there is terminology or concept you don't know or don't understand even if its been explained, start a new thread on just that term or concept. We wil edicate you :) (did you know that edicate only has one D? :) )

  2. If you are smart, you won't depend on PM or Windows Disk manager to make changes to your partition table for a drive containing linux. You just don't know if they are bug free or whether your version supports it. You are much safer using the disk manager in Linux.

  3. Sure..

     

    Here's what you do.. boot off of Mandrake CD1, hit F1 and type rescue. When the menu appears, you can select the option for going to the console. Do not attempt to install LILO again since you haven't checked the configuration. Once you get to the command line, you can type

     

    chroot /mnt

     

    The reason for this is since you are booting off of a CD, the root is the CD. So your root partition is actually in /mnt where /mnt exists on the CD. By typing chroot /mnt, you are pushing the root down one level and making the CD invisibile. Now you are operating at the level you would be if you booted off your hard drive.

     

    Now you can use vi or some other editor to modify your /etc/lilo.conf for example. If you didn't use chroot, you would have to type

     

    vi /mnt/etc/lilo.conf

     

    but now you can type

     

    vi /etc/lilo.conf

     

    Saves a lot of confusion. If you don't get it, try sketching the paths on a piece of paper.

     

    There is a program cfdisk that will allow you to view your partitions. Then you can modify your /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf files to match.

     

    Additionally, you can boot off of CD1 and proceed with a reinstall. When you get to the step for partitioning, you can select custom partitioning. At this point, you can view your partitions graphically. Might make it easier. Afterwards, you sijmply turn your computer off without proceeding with the install. Just don't save anything.. ;)

  4. Sure, you need to check your /etc/fstab file and insure the partition entries are correct (as compared to your new setup). You also need to check your /etc/lilo.conf file and make sure that the entries in there are correct as compared to your new partition setup. Then you need to execute the lilo command and install it to the mbr using any changes you made.

  5. Since you seem very partition savvy, I would recommend that when you do the install, you use the custom partitioning feature and insure that you know exactly what is going on. Otherwise, mandrake may make some decisions that do not suite you... some other cavaets..

     

    1. Backup backup backup first. Especially if this is for a business. If you need image your paritition, you can check out partimage.

     

    2. After you install linux, DO NOT use Windows Disk Manager on the hard drive that shares both windows and linux. You stand a good chance of destroying your partition table. Use Mandrake's Disk Manager instead. The issue is different definitions for extended partitions.

     

    3. If you can swing it, buy a second drive for Mandrake. I'm not really RAID savvy so this may not be a good suggestion. But you can install Mandrake on the second drive and prevent issues with RAID or with Disk Manager or even possibly messing up your windows installation. This mess up usually occurs because you don't know something not because there is a software issue.

     

    Good luck!

  6. If you still have the 10.0 cd's, it will be easy.

     

    Install Windows as you normally would, then pop cd1 of 10.0 in your drive.  When you get to the "Press Enter to install or Press F1 for more options", press F1.

     

    Once you get a prompt (almost immediately) type rescue, then choose the option to reinstall the bootloader and all will be well.

     

    Before you continue though, are you using any linux extended partitions? If so, you may want to create the Windows XP partitions ahead of time with the Mandrake Disk manager.

     

    Also, you may want to consider a second drive. Always nice to have and they tend to be cheap nowadays. Prevents issues where linux and windows clash! (extended partitions).

  7. Just backup /etc/lilo.conf (boy I got the slashes right that time!)

     

    cp lilo.conf lilo.bkup

     

    Now make all the changes you want, strip out the other kernals leaving yourself with windows and linux..

     

    Then open a console and run the lilo command

     

    lilo

     

    PAY ATTENTION TO THE OUTPUT OF THIS COMMAND!!!!! :)

     

    Did it work? If not, do not reboot until you have no issues..

  8. Well, each entry is used by linux to load a file system. It defines the partition location, the type of file system (ext3, ntfs, reiserfs, etc) and additional parameter information such as permissions.

     

    Remember, you can google this board and of course google.com for terms such as partitioning and fstab and learn rapidly.

     

    So look at win_d2. Located at hdc5 and mounted into the file system at location /mnt/win_d2 (this is a actually a folder) as an NTFS file system. The IDE controller board in your computer supports 2 IDE devices (hard drive, cd writer, whatever) each. So, the first board's devices are going to be HDA and HDB. If you have a second IDE board, those devices are going to be HDC and HDD (or some variant based on the device).

     

    The question is what would happen if fstab thinks hdc5 is NTFS, but in actuality it is ext3 (linux file system)? It's gonna have an issue because it tries to mount it with the NTFS keyword and logic.

     

    If you have linux up and running, you can open a command terminal and type

     

    diskdrake

     

    or, if you don't have it up and running,

     

    you can start up your PC with the Mandrake Install CD. Do an install and when you get to the partitioning screen, you can select CUSTOM install.

     

    Now you should be looking at a visual image of your hard drive(s). Compare the file system types to what your fstab file states and make sure they match.

  9. You may also want to examine your /etc/fstab file. This file contains a list of all mounted partitions and their file system types. Maybe some partition got shifted and its now attempting to load a NTFS file system from a linux partitions or something like that.. Run diskdrake to get a visual display of your partition layout..

  10. There is also a command that you will find useful.. Open a console terminal window and type

     

    locate <somefilenameOrpartofsomefilename>

     

    for example:

     

    locate firefox

     

    This will immediately give you a list of all file and their locations with firefox in the file name..

     

    if the list is long and the screen scrolls, you can type

     

    locate filefox | more

     

    more is a program that accepts text input and then pages it for you. Hit spacebar to get the next page. The | symbol, called a pipe symbol, tells the locate command to send the output to the more program.. kinda cool huh?

    B)

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