Guest Arianrhod Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 hi all. i'm new to the world of linux and i think i've not done this installing thing properly. i want to run mandriva and xp pro as a dual boot. i bunged a spare hdd into my machine and ran the live install thinger off the boot disc i made. it's KDE not GNOME. not sure if that makes any difference. i was kind of flying blind and hoping for the best. anyways i installed it had no idea what all the grib stuff was about and just left it the way it was. it told me i needed to remove something and i have no idea what that was now. for some reason i thought it wa sa good idea to reboot and i was asked if i wanted to start windows in in safe mode or normally and all that other rubbish. by this time it's some rediculous hour in the morning so i'm like bugger it i'll deal with this tomorrow. now it's booting straight into xp with no mention of mandriva at all. basically i think i may need to format the drive and be directed to a step by step install tutorial or something so i know what's going on. feeling like a total pleb. so it'd be great if anyone could help me out. cheers Yvonne [moved from Software by spinynorman - welcome aboard :)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 Hi Yvonne, welcome to the board! I'd try running the install again, and when you come to grub, check that it should be overwriting the MBR. Also, check that it has two options, one for Mandriva and one for Windows XP. That way you'll know it will allow you to dual boot properly. You can reuse the partitions for the install like you did before. Alternatively, if you want to experiment, you can boot rescue mode and then reinstall the boot loader to save the install process if you wish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavaeolus Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 (edited) I suppose you have WinXP installed on the first hdd and mandriva on the second ? Maybe then grub (it is the bootloader) got installed on the second hdd, but the boot-order in your BIOS is setup to boot from the first hdd and therefore never looks for the installed system on your second hdd. Maybe just change the boot order, so that your system tries to boot from the second hdd, if it then boots into mandriva you might not need to reinstall. Welcome to the Board ! Edited November 24, 2007 by lavaeolus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 Ah, good one lavaeolus. I never thought of that. We could always jig about with grub and make it dual boot from the first hard disk then if this is the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.