Karen....Axalon is doing a good job here so I won't interfere, but you
need to know this so you'll let go of it as a reason that you must not
be getting a clean install. The following is from the Q&A section of
the GAIM home page:
Q. Where the heck is my buddy list stored? It gets erased sometimes.
A. Currently, your buddy list is stored on AOL's servers. Zilding is
considering an option of storing buddy lists locally and will more than
likely implement something fairly soon.
Alan
"Karen M. Heiby" wrote:
>
> Hi, answers to the questions follow within the text:
>
> On Sun, 31 Oct 1999, you wrote:
> > On Sun, 31 Oct 1999, Karen M. Heiby wrote:
> >
> > > I would like to know how to cleanly uninstall Linux. I'm having peculiar
> > > problems that I think can only be fixed with a clean install.
> > >
> > > Here's what I've tried *several times over* but still does not work:
> > >
> > > 1.) Deleting the Linux partition from Windows
> > > a.) (In Windows 98) filling up my hard drive with junk--totally, then
> > > deleting the junk (just to make sure anything of Linux that might still
> > > be there is overwritten)
> > > b.) scandisk (Windows 98) and defrag (Windows 98)
> > >
> > > or
> > >
> > > c.) formatting the entire hard drive (with DOS "fdisk") and reinstalling
> > > Windows 98, repartitioning it for Linux (Partition Magic) and then
> > > reinstalling Linux
> > >
> > > 2.) Going into Linux as root, going to /, and typing the rm -fr /* command,
> > > which
> > > a.) gets stuck even if I wait a couple hours, I don't see anything
> > > happening.
> > >
> > > 3.) Going into runlevel 3 as root, going to /, and deleting each directory
> > > individually with "rm -fr nameofdirectory"
> > > a.) (However: I can't delete /proc
> > > b.) and I can't delete /lib)
> > >
> > > then,
> > >
> > > c.) I boot to DOS with a disk and using "fdisk \mbr" to delete LILO
> > > d.) I reinstall Linux
>
> > Ok first off, if you allow it to format the drive during install it's
> > gone, not sorta gone but gone, it would cost big money to retieve even a
> > small piece...
>
> I tell it to format my Linux native partition but I swear it's keeping stuff.
>
> > > All three methods fail to get rid of my problems. For ex., KDE freezes when I
> > > use KFM to browse the /mnt directory. No other file managers (Gnome, KDE file
> > > manager, or any terminal) freeze, and it is not a permissions problem. It's
> > > just KFM/KDE! When I click the /dev directory in KFM and look at its
> > > permissions properties, the text (User, Group, Other) is grayed out but the
> > > checkboxes are nonfunctional but the proper permissions are assigned. Same goes
> > > for everything else in /dev. I can use chmod or any other file manager to
> > > modify permissions and have done so.
>
> > /etc/rc.d/init.d/amd status
> > says what? If automount is trying to mount something it can't it's gonna
> > take awhile to time out.
> > gmc has a feature (pretty sure this is in KFM also) that will
> > show "the size" of the directories, if this is on and you have a recent
> > harddrive (eg, BIG) it's going to take awhile
>
> It isn't trying to mount anything, I unmounted everything I could before I
> issued the command.
>
> > Do the gears spin, does the mouse (or anything "freeze"), which viewmode..
> > html, long, text..?
>
> The "gears" spin just a little at first. It freezes with a black screen, shows
> the terminal a couple times, then just black screen again for about a couple of
> hours with just a blip or so of hard drive activity every couple minutes. I
> mean a blip, like a fraction of a second.
>
> > Are you root when trying to change /dev/* file permissions?
>
> Yes, I am root. I *can* change the permissions in everything *but* KFM.
>
> > > GAIM (AOL Instant Messenger clone) is retaining my contact list, when that
> > > should never happen if it were a clean install. This is not a problem, per se,
> > > but just an indicator that I still have old information from previous
> > > installations haunting which are likely the cause of my persistent
> > > problems.
>
> > Knowing AOL they don't trust you to keep track of your Buddies, so they
> > store it on the server..
>
> No, this can't be the case. I also have Windows 98 and every time I reinstall
> AOL IM, I have to re-add buddies.
>
> > > Gnome's "Settings" on the panel is kaput. I can click Gnome Control Center and
> > > get it running, but if I click anything else on the Panel under
> > > Settings, (Multimedia, Peripherals, etc. ) nothing happens. That's just a
> > > minor annoyance since I can use these from Gnome Control Center anyway, but
> > > annoying nonetheless.
>
> > Any output on the terminal you started Xwindows on?
>
> No output, just nothing happens.
>
> > > During installation, I am never asked certain questions that I vaguely remember
> > > being asked the very first time I installed Linux, such as how much RAM do I
> > > have, etc. It seems to install as if it knows or thinks it's installing on top
> > > of another installation of itself.
>
> > You were in expert mode, or it was an older version that didn't detect
> > your video card so it had to ask.
>
> No, I installed it the first time in regular mode; since then I have been using
> expert mode. I have always been using the same version of Mandrake (6.1 which
> I got on October 4).
>
> > > What gets me is that after I tried Route #1(above), by filling up my hard drive,
> > > I should have written over anything hard drive clusters that had Linux in them
> > > at one time, right? Even the boot record was re-made with a new LILO. How come
> > > old Linux glitches are still haunting me? Why is my GAIM contact list still
> > > intact when it shouldn't be?
>
> > I dunno wish all my personal stuff came back after a format, save me lots
> > of time ;)
>
> Well, that would be nice, too, but the thing is my /home directories are
> totally cleanly installed (DOH!!) It's like Murphy's Law or something!! ;-)
>
> > > I really want to cleanly install Linux to solve some of my problems and give me
> > > peace of mind and solid footing for more learning, but I have a problem doing
> > > so when I know this machine isn't as pure as I'd like it to be. That is, when
> > > something goes wrong, how do I know whether I'm doing something wrong or if
> > > it's just a bad installation? That's tough on a newbie. Any ideas would be
> > > helpful.
>
> > Just let it format the partitions for you (as you normaly do?), the piece
> > of mind your looking for (status output of the format cmd?) is located on
> > tty5 (alt-F5)
>
> Thanks for trying to help. I'm not trying to sound contrary or argumentative,
> I'm only explaining more of my problem! ;-) I appreciate your help.
>
> Karen
