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Dual Boot


IceStorm
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Ok, I've searched the forum and found lots of good information. But nothing exact. Let me preface this to say that so far I'm in love with Linux. I've used nothing but MS since day one (I started using DOS 3.1) all the way up to now. So far my ignorant ramblings within MDK I've stumbled upon many good things.

Lets just say that using linux gives me the feeling of freedom, not that MS held me down per se, just now it feels like I can breate easier.

 

Back to my issue. I have XP Pro on my first hard drive. I have a secondary hard drive that's empty. I am wanting to put MDK 10.0 on this so I won't worry about any partitions or changes. So I'm looking at XP Pro on my #1 drive, and Linux on my #2 drive.

 

My questions are:

Is this feasible?

Will I be able to pull up a menu upon boot so I can select which O/S to go into?

Will the Linux install program do this for me or do I need another special program to provide the boot sequence menu?

How would I have two hard drives with Active partitions?

 

Thank you for all your answers for this new cross-over. I feel like a babe in the woods.

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Just make sure there are no partitions active on the disk you want to install MDK on, and the install-app will do everything for you. It will ask if it should use the free space to partition and install linux on, then it will ask what apps, etc. you want to install, install'em and then at the end you have the option to change the boot sequence. Just make sure you see "windows" there.

 

Then when you boot, you can see that you can choose between linux and windows. No problem :thumbs:

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IceStorm

 

i have actually done this. mandrake makes it pretty painless. since mandrake has a gui installer its pretty easy. just keep a couple things in mind. harddrive #1 (where XP is) linux will define as hda(#) (where (#) is the partition number. like hda1). harddrive #2 will be defined as hdb(#).

 

for the most part you can go with the defaults. lilo should automatically detect and configure correctly your windows partition, so you can boot into either or. just make sure linux is installed where you want it (hdb(#)) and dont format hda(#) (where windows is).

 

if you have any more questions please ask.

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Ok, my computer exploded on me when I tried to install MDK 10.0.

 

Here's the problem. I booted off of the 1st cd and the install looped at the ide-cd error. So after trying everything, I unpluged my DVD drive and then the install got past the loop. It actually took me into the GUI. I was able to select the language and even agree to the license. But it locked hard right after that.

 

Doing a cold boot I set it to go into vgalo and I got the same thing. So then I try text mode and I actually got into the partitioning section. Being new and dumb, I wasn't sure which file system to use so I set it up to linux native. Sounded good. I was able to set the partition and even format it. But I couldn't go any further then that. So I try to reboot and go into XP and read some of these forums..well now I cannot access my XP operating system. The XP locks up on boot. I'm doing what I can to get XP back up and running.

 

I'm concerned that just a simple install would require such efforts, and why would the install trash another OS?

 

Help?

 

P.S. Windows gets past the MBR so it is not that issue.

Edited by IceStorm
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if your concern is to get xp back then boot off the xp cd>rescue console>fixmbr and if necessary fixboot then fixmbr.

 

People may say, 'sure, no problem' but the forums are the evidence. Personally, I never let any OS do the formating and use Partition Magic 8 ONLY and use the ntldr to boot linux's instead of using linux bootloaders. Others will argue that point as well, but I've seen enough lost installs/unrecoverable mbr's on the forums and in my own experience to know better. Problem is, I'm experienced with the lin/win combo and new linux user are not. Sorry you are one of the few.

Edited by bvc
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As I mentioned, I've been able to get past the mbr and then Xp would lock up after that. But I've finally been able to reset things and get XP working again.

 

But that still leaves me with a empty 2nd drive that I want to put MDK on. Howerver, it locks up just after I accept the license agreement. I've been able to catch a glimpse of it before it locks up where it says something about the IDE partition. I'm guessing that its doing something with my main drive since it keeps gettign messed up. In text mode, I can get past it and see the partitions on all drives. but then nothing.

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Here's what I would do.. Separate the issues..

 

1. Disconnect your XP drive physically. Just disconnect the power. Now you don't have to worry about damaging the os and you can troubleshoot the install process.

 

2. When you get to the partitioning screen, select a custom partitioning option. Then do the partitioning yourself. This allows you to see it and agree with it before you commit.

 

3. Do an absolute minimum install. You just want to get it going.

 

4. When ready, hook them both back up and do the install again using what you have learned.

 

I have been using mandrake and xp or 2k for quite a while with no issues..

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Sorry that it works out so bad for you. I'm a newbie myself, and did a similar thing without any problem. I installed MDL 9.2 some time ago on my single drive dual boot with Win XP personal. No problem at all. Some time ago I added a second HD.

When I wanted to install 10.0 I installed it on that new drive. Again no problem at all. Everything worked like a charm.

 

You are using MDL 10.0 Official Edition are you? If you have been trying with Community Eddition, just wait till Official Edition is available for you.

You could also try to install with the 2.4 kernel instead of the 2.6 (I read that some HW is better support under 2.4 kernel then 2.6 kernel).

 

In any case, disconnecting the first drive sounds like a very good suggestion.

 

Just don't give up and good luck!

 

Sitor

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IceStorm

 

i think your having trouble with hardware compatibility. step 1) go to the mandrake site and check out your various hardware. X is having to be told to take the lowest possible setting. step 2) assuming then that based on the list provided at the mandrake site, your hardware is compatible, i would take sitor's advice and try 9.2 since it is kernel 2.4.X

 

the reason you keep having trouble with XP is because you let mandrake do it for you. mandrake by default will try to resize the windows partition. once you click "done" it then writes the data to the partition table. this is not a good time for a cold boot. you need to choose the hard drive yourself. in this case hdb.

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Ok, I've searched the forum and found lots of good information. But nothing exact. Let me preface this to say that so far I'm in love with Linux. I've used nothing but MS since day one (I started using DOS 3.1) all the way up to now. So far my ignorant ramblings within MDK I've stumbled upon many good things.

Lets just say that using linux gives me the feeling of freedom, not that MS held me down per se, just now it feels like I can breate easier.

 

Back to my issue. I have XP Pro on my first hard drive. I have a secondary hard drive that's empty. I am wanting to put MDK 10.0 on this so I won't worry about any partitions or changes. So I'm looking at XP Pro on my #1 drive, and Linux on my #2 drive.

 

My questions are:

Is this feasible?

Will I be able to pull up a menu upon boot so I can select which O/S to go into?

Will the Linux install program do this for me or do I need another special program to provide the boot sequence menu?

How would I have two hard drives with Active partitions?

 

Thank you for all your answers for this new cross-over. I feel like a babe in the woods.

I see multiple problems that could be happening. I am unclear as to what your actual proceedure was, since your descriptions could mean several things.

 

To answer your questions, yes, multi booting several os's with two different hard drives is not only feasable but is done everyday. (At least on my last two computers it is). Yes, either lilo or grub will do this.

 

As far as active partitions, only windex will get confused if you let it. Do not allow windex xp pro to format or in any way touch the 2nd hard drive. If you already have, then use xp pro to remove it from your system before installing linux.

 

Booting with the virus known as windex in your box is only tricky for windex. You need to control windex in order to accomplish this. That means only allow windex to have what you want. No other os cares, because other os's are only tools. Windex wants to run your box.

 

As far as hardware lists and linux, :D ! I have never had a harware item that was specifically listed and have always had linux run. The exception to this would be scanneras and printers, accessory stuff. What's in the box will work.

 

To get you going, please list your hardware, including video card (I'm guessing you have an ATI Radeon flavor)

 

I have also always used the partition agent in linux, and have in fact rescued other people's problems with it. Let's try again.

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Thanks for all your replies thus far. Here is what I have in my box:

 

ECS K7S5 Pro mothehrboard

AMD XP2400 cpu

768mb DDR RAM

nVidia Ti4200 128mb Video

SBLive Value sound

Maxtor 60GB hdd

IBM 16.8GB hdd

BTC 52/32/52 CDRW

Toshiba SD-M1202 DVD (disconnected)

 

I believe that XP is only getting screwed up when I use text mode. Because text mode allows me to actually go into the partition menu. I just have no idea what to do then and am probably screwing up XP myself. Using linux GUI locks up before I can actually do anything. I'm sure that with only 1 drive in the system, linux would install easy. But I'm trying to get both OS's up. And reinstalling XP isn't an option at this junction right now.

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As I mentioned, I've been able to get past the mbr and then Xp would lock up after that. But I've finally been able to reset things and get XP working again.

How? :unsure: If not fixmbr and/or fixboot.....how? :unsure: There's more involved in booting than just the mbr.

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You have an SiS chipset, which is no problem in linux. So your install issues are one or some or all of the following:

acpi

apci

nvidia card

dma

 

The fact that you do get a gui suggests it is not the video card. I would try starting with hitting F1 at the splash, and typing "linux noacpi nodma" and see how far you get. dma and power control can be restored after you have a working system. The installer is troublesome, see other threads.

 

Remember that your drives are id'd in linux with hda= primary ide master, hdb= primary slave, hdc= secondary master, and hdd= secondary slave. So, hda2 would be partition 2 on your primary master device. Your dvd should be no problem; I install with my cdrw and dvd , as well as my windex on hda1 and hda2.

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