Installing Linux for the first time (& dual boot)

Windows on hda5?

Helloooo there, this is my first post since i havent found what im looking for and im very hungry... and tired of looking everywhere. So, without further whining:

i want to boot my hard drive's windows 2000 partition (hda5 in linux) and apparently windows doesnt like that, i can boot into linux (hda1) but windows says the typical error message on boot up IN CAPS (that one about device not found inaccesible hdd, etc) :\

im using GRUB and the config is

title Windows
root(hd0,5)
chainloader +1
makeactive

Ok so thats pretty much it... thanks in advance for the help.

I don't quite remember, but don't you need to issue a "boot" after the chainloader thingie?

some time ago Phantasm I downloaded your instructions and have just tried again to put Red Hat 8.0 on my computer as a dual boot with Win XP Home , this is about the closest I have got to success I have Grub loader and when I booted up a the finish of your instructions using the boot disk typed startx and nothing happened.

After taking out the boot disk and booting normally the grub screen comes up and I can go into XP OK no worries, but when I click on Red Hat which I have as default it runs OK and the welcome to red hat comes up than all the green OK's seem to be OK but I have noticed it says No Mount Points defined.

then I get the Local Host logon and can type root and my password and then find that the only command that seems to work is exit , I have tried other commands and nothing seems to work. I guess there is something simple going on but I havnt got the expertise to find it .

Hopefully you can steer me on the right track Phantasm, would be much obliged if you did I dont think I have left anything out .

OK MintabiePete, I am not sure exactly what you have done, but something I would be thinking about is trying the install again, and making sure that you have read everything carefully.

But to be able to help you a little, try this:-

cat /etc/fstab

once you have logged on as root. write down what you see on the screen, and post it back here.

Thanks for taking the time phantasm66, and as requested:

Red Hat Linux release 8.0 (psyche)
kernel 2.4.18-14 on an i586
localhost login root
password:
last login:mon may 12 12:17:15 on ttyl
[root@localhost root]# cat /etc/fstab
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 11
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 00
/dev/hda1 /mnt/winxp vfat defaults 00
none /proc proc defaults 00
none /dev/shm tmpfs 00
/dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 00
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso 9660 noauto,owner,
kudzu,ro 0
0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,
kudzu 00
[root@localhost root]#



I hope I have everything right as I had to copy it longhand and it was in 3 columns but comes out different when I post it

I have installed again and after logging on as root gave the command startx and get the following error page.

reporting problems
build operating system : linux 2.4.18-11 smpi 686 [ELF]
build host: daffy. perf.redhat.com
module loader present.
os kernel: linux version 2.4.18-14 (bhcompile@stripples.devel.redhat.com)(gcc version 3-2 20020903)(redhat linux 8.0 3.2-7))#1 wed sep 4 11:57:edt 2002
markers--) probed,(**)from config file,(==)default setting,
(++)from command line,(!!)notice,(II)informational,
(ww)warning,(EE)error,(NI)not implemented,(??)unknown
(==)log file:"/var/log/xfree 86.0.log,"Time:tue may 1305:38 2003
(==)using config file: "/etc/x11/xf86 config"
(EE)no devices detected

Fatal Server Error
no screens found

x10:fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer)on x server :0.0 after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

hope you can understand it , miss the copy and paste tools where you know tht everything is correct

you have a misconfigured X server. when i get time i will post how you fix this. all that's the matter is that you are not getting the graphical user interface.

I think there isn't Xconfigurator or XF68Config in Red Hat 8.0, I think it uses something like redhat-config-display or something, if used in text only mode. You could try editing the config file by hand, but i don't recommend that for a newbie.

when you install, and get to the graphical setup bit, do you REMEMBER TO TEST THE CONFIGURATION??? Install again, this time make sure you get a working desktop display before you move on from that section of the install.

when I was installing it gave me a test box for the different config of the window , I set it as 800x600 and it picked up my video card as s3trio64v2 and my monitor as IBM P50 so I would have presumed it worked .

But a question, does it show it worked in that little box or should it show it as full screen ? which is doesnt , I am not sure with this .

installing Red Hat Linux 8.0 is certainly getting easier , and as far as I know I am following the instructions to the "T" but seem to have problems with the monitor configurations .

I have tried what comes up which is a s3 trio 64v2 4mb video card with the monitor which it seems to recognise IBM P50
and no go , I have then reinstalled and tried all the generic monitors with no luck , I know that my monitor horiz scan range is 30.0 - 69.0 khz and vert refresh range is 50.0-120.0hz
and have set it at 800x600 @ 60 hz

I have used the command xf86config command and have changed settings keeping within the guidelines with no luck


Have come to the conclusion that maybe my computer is just too old , Monitor built in april 1997 but it handles XP in windows OK , so I just dont know . Everything seems to be OK except the display and yet it handles the bootloader screen ok , but wont go into the graphic to boot up .

Is getting a bit later here , I will have to shut off the generator and hit the sack for the night and try tomorrow night.

Hopefully I can get some help with something that I have missed.

I am afraid all I can suggest is continuing to attempt to configure the X server properly. You need to try different card and monitor configurations. try standard montor, etc. Good luck.

yeah eventually got it running OK , the monitor was OK the problem was the video card configuration , have experimented a few times but is late now will keep trying and try to understand this system a bit better , thanks for the encouragement, I ended up taking Red Hat 8.0 off and putting Mandrake 8.0 on which did most of the configeration and put me on the right path . but have since put Red Hat Linux 8.0 back on .

glad you are making some progress. if possible, I would try red hat 9 which is a great improvement IMHO.

Dual Booting Mandrake and winxp pro

Ok, here's my scenario:

I've finally decided to take the plunge, and give linux a try. Actually, a while back I had installed redhat and had it working for a bit...but after all the countless hours of trial and error (lots of the latter..) I gave up. Well, filled with a desire to stop using windows I have to decided to give linux another shot.

First off, I have chosen Mandrake because of some of the good things I've heard about it. My question is, for a newby like myself, is Mandrake better or redhat?

Ok, onto the real question. I want to know how I can install mandrake 9.1 and dualboot either mandrake or windows. I have 2 main partitions as of now. On my 40gig WD 7200 rpm drive, I have a 10gig windows partition and the rest (27.3 gigs or so) is devoted to files..mp3, warez (oops) etc..can anyone point me to a tutorial or guide that explains installing mandrake with winxppro WITH winxppro already being installed (i recently formatted and want to avoid doing so for a while)

As always, any help I receive is greatly appreciated.
-dan

Mandrake or RedHat would be good. You would be good with either. Mandrake maybe for you would be nice for now.

As regards your second question, follow my guide which is available at the start of this thread as closely as possible. I would work on a partitioning scheme a little like this:-

10GB Windows XP
10GB Linux
2GB Linux SWAP
Remainder Data drive (for mp3s, etc) format as FAT32.

If you read my notes, which as I said are available at the start of this thread, I explain how to do all of this. The instructions are easily adapted for mandrake.