Pzatch

You have tried running xf86config Then picking the vesa drivers. The vesa drivers are the old standby fall back for most all vidio cards. Make sure you know your monitors resolutions first.

Is the moden out of the box? If its onboard make sure its turned off in the bios first.

If you can please do a normal install with out passing any kernel commands. Go ahead and just accept the vidio settings that Mandrake gives you during the install. Let the Mandrake installer do all the partitioning using the whole disk since you no lionger have M$ on it. Make sure you make a 'user' for the system during the install. If you got to a screen with only two icons on it then that sounds like root is running the GUI and you shouldn't do that yet. After all that please post back what happens and any error messages you get. This 'should' get you a workable system just maybe not a GUI one yet.

Alright. For those that think letting the internet do your bios updates for you is fine because it might make the computer boot faster should first think. Just how long does it take for your computer to get past the boot strap and onto the OS loading? 10 seconds at most? Are you willing to let some one pass a bios viri to you for an extra 2 or 3 seconds on the boot? if thats really bothering you then you have more problems than the computers bios. Who has trouble booting their computer now that they will need an automatic bios update in the next week to access their own ports and hardwar? If it didn't work out of the box from the manufacturer then you got robbed. Personally please leave my untouchable bios alone. I'm fine with a 10 second boot strap.

Well updating the bios software is a good idea but I just don't like the idea of M$ or Intell being the owners of it.

In the last four days i've found that urpmi updating my system hoses everything. I loose everything in KDE from the terminal to all menu entries. Gnome works but all of KDE gets fried. For the next week I'll not be updating anything KDE related enmass. Just one thing at a time. Though I will keep testing to find out exactly which app does it. I'll start with things outside of KDE then go onto the base/core KDE stuff if I haven't found it yet. My normal install from cdrom is stable even with the .22 kernel and Nvidia installed. As soon as I find the one that breaks it I'll post.

Sorry to hear about the hardware problem but its great that you got it working now.

Make sure the jumper pins on the drives are set correctly. It also helps to have the cd/dvd drives on the same cable. Make sure plug and play is turned off in the bios. Unplug any externall USB things you have. Well at least as many as you can since most new MB only support USB keyboards and mice.

What trouble did you have with the vidio? And why can't you use it with the default vesa drivers? Can you download the Nvidia drivers in linux?

How is your partitioning for linux? What does your fstab file look like?

That looks like a bios issue. I used to run into that way back in the old days when the bios limited the hard drive size. Do you have the jumper pins correct? I know a stupid question but I just have to ask. i know sometimes I forget to check. Since you installed the new drive and said you had to flash the bios could you reflash the bios and see if that helps? I don't know but its got be something with the computer hardware/bios since other people here are running 200 gig drives no problem.

You should be able to set them up as normal IDE drives if all else fails.

Found this at ZDnet. I suspect it will only be bad for us linux users. I'm posting the whole artical so ZDnet doesn't get the idea its popular now. Will a Linux Bios need to be writen in the future? And just how safe will M$ version be? News Software Writing an end to the bio of BIOS By John G. Spooner CNET News.com December 30, 2003, 4:00 AM PT Add your opinion Forward in Format for Intel and Microsoft are gearing up to move toward the first major overhaul of the innermost workings of the personal computer--the boundary where software and hardware meet--during 2004. The companies will begin promoting a technology specification called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) as a new system for starting up a PC's hardware before its operating system begins loading, a process that kicks in every time a PC is switched on or restarted. The pair will establish a forum to promote the specification as a standard. If EFI-based software is accepted broadly, it could prompt the first changing of the guard in preboot software in the history of the PC industry--even though some critics say the transition may take a while or may not happen at all. Right now, the task of getting a PC's hardware ready to accept the operating system is handled by software called BIOS, or basic input/output system. While the BIOS was once relatively straightforward in its design, over the years it has morphed into a figurative bowl of spaghetti as it's been changed and updated to accept new technologies. Advocates say EFI would make it simpler for companies to add improvements, while also enabling PCs to boot up faster. "We've been through four OS generations and multiple bus generations (a system bus helps move data around inside a PC), but we're still on the first version of BIOS," said Mike Richmond, manager of platform software in Intel's Software and Solutions Group. "It's become, increasingly, a barrier to innovation in the industry." The first EFI computer, a Gateway PC, went on sale in November. Others are expected to appear in 2004, with ever greater numbers coming in the following years. But not everyone is jumping on the EFI bandwagon. PC makers have been historically reluctant to change as their customers, especially businesses, often prefer stability. Hence the resilience of the floppy drive, despite many efforts to kill it off. One of the largest BIOS software companies, Phoenix Technologies, says it's in no hurry to adopt EFI. The company, whose BIOS software is used by most of the world's largest PC makers, says it won't consider EFI until it becomes a standard. Meanwhile, Phoenix has developed its own potential BIOS replacement, dubbed Core Management Environment, for notebooks. It plans to add similar software for servers and desktops in 2004, company executives said. EFI does have one thing going for it. Many industry players agree that something needs to be done, and soon, if PC makers want to continue to easily make transitions to new technologies. "Realistically we're using a BIOS that consists of patches upon patches and extensions that go back to 1982. Something needed to be done to clean things up and to add functionality," said Dean McCarron, analyst with Mercury Research. EFI for dummies The EFI specification is essentially a preboot environment that allows a PC to conduct activities such as scanning for viruses or running diagnostics. Intel has used EFI to create a preboot software framework that can supplant the BIOS. The framework, called Platform Innovation Framework for EFI and sometimes referred to by the code name Tiano, allows PC makers to write preboot software modules, which are similar to Windows drivers, designed to get a PC's hardware up and running before handing off control of it to the operating system. Intel and Microsoft will promote EFI as an industry standard by establishing a forum to assist others in adopting the specification. The forum will be officially announced within the next 90 days, Richmond said. Intel believes promoting the specification as a standard will ultimately help PC manufacturers and please PC users by making computers start up more quickly; by improving the ability to manage PCs and servers remotely; and by helping hardware makers cut manufacturing and support costs--EFI PCs will be able to run diagnostic utilities, for example, before loading their operating system. "We think, in the long run, we can bring boot time down, because (the EFI framework) only has to touch the things it needs to boot. It also helps the overall reliability of the computer," Richmond said. "In the PC world, we put up with that stuff, and we shouldn't." Intel and Microsoft will also promote EFI by supporting it with their products. Microsoft will support EFI in Longhorn, its next version of the Windows operating system. Intel will support the technology in future chipsets--chips that move data inside a PC. The chipmaker has also been licensing its EFI framework to third parties, including BIOS software companies. Despite the efforts of Intel and Microsoft, there's no doubt that EFI, BIOS and potential competitors, such as Phoenix's Core software, will coexist at first. Starting up The speed of any transition should have a lot to do with how quickly EFI is adopted as a standard. Over time, Intel believes, EFI will be broadly adopted because of its potential benefits and also because of a shortage of skilled BIOS software engineers, Richmond said. One Intel EFI licensee, Insyde Software, has already created an EFI-based product, called Insyde H20, that PC makers can use to write preboot software, said Jonathan Joseph, the company's president. H20 simplifies writing the software for customers who are short on BIOS engineers. "It's a dramatically better development environment than assembly language BIOS code," Joseph said. "It's a better way to make BIOS than BIOS." Gateway, which uses EFI in its all-in-one Gateway 610 Media Center desktop, said it chose to do so because EFI proved a more efficient way to code preboot software and can also help to improve the product from a long-term development perspective, a company representative said. Still, some companies might see EFI as a way for Intel and Microsoft to push their own ideas for the future of PC design, McCarron said. There are "some concerns that it's being used to enable features that customers don't want," he said. Intel says such suspicions are unfounded--companies that decide to go with EFI will be able to use it any way they like, by picking and choosing different features. EFI users don't necessarily have to work directly with Intel, either. They can gain access to the technology by working with companies like Insyde, or eventually use technology developed by the forum, once it gets started. Even Phoenix indicates a willingness to evaluate EFI, once the technology becomes an industry standard. "Everybody is looking to this...But only when it becomes an industry standard will the (PC) industry adopt it," said Tim Eades, senior vice president and general manager of corporate marketing and products at Phoenix. "When it becomes a standard, we will investigate it." Despite its potential benefits, no one--including Intel--expects EFI to appear in PCs overnight. Technology transitions such as the move to USB (Universal Serial Bus) generally take several years for the PC industry to complete. Although EFI may take several years to hit its stride, Intel chipsets will offer the EFI framework as an alternative to a BIOS in 2005, Richmond said. The company's chipsets will support BIOS software for many years to come. However, as time passes, some chipset features may be accessible only via EFI. That's the price of progress, Richmond said. "After 23 years, it was time to start from scratch," said Richmond. "There's a certain life span for every technology. You can expand it and grow it, but at some point you have to start over."

http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php This site will halp you find new sources and it tells how to add or remove them. All from the command line. It works better than the GUI of Mandrake in my opinion.

How did you install? I installed and it didn't change a thing. Just ran faster and smoother.

Works fine. The new Nvidia run packages are an easy install anymore. Just half the steps of the old.

lindows. Its all point and click.

s for the nvidia card. If you didn't install the nvidia driver fot it it would opnly work in a basic mode. I'm sure you installed a driver for XP also. AS for the mouse, it works doesn't it? I don't recall you asking about the sound card or gamepad or card reader. You have to remember something. Linux drivers for the most part are not writen by the manufacturers. Some do, but most only write them months after a product is out. Usb probucts are even scetchy in windows. And thats with the manufacturers writing the drivers.

You could always check the VIA site. They tend to have good linux support.

The new Nvidia vidio app and driver from their site has a GUI. In it you'll find a Full Scene Antialaising feature. Just follow the unstructions to install it at the Nvidia site. http://www.nvidia.com/page/home It works nice. It's just what your looking for.

Too good to play the bad guy? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Your only fooling yourself.

Ok! Ok! Then the next week we switch views. Really keep them guessing.

You could try a hard drive install using the floppy image on disk one. More detailed instructions should searchable here on the site.

I beleive it has something to do with auto login also. If you auto login whether into a gui or not I thing you then have the option of shutdown. But if you don't auto loging then you need to revert back to root to do it. I 90% of the time just have it set to auto login to KDE and use the shutdown button. When I don't auto login I can't use the button.

What is your partition setup? How many do you have and whats on them?