> I'm pretty sure I'm buggered this time around, but maybe someone here can > help > me spot my error for next time: > > Situation: Needed Windows on my computer to run some commercial games with > my > family; Cedega isn't cutting it. So fine; my 3-year-old Linux only system > is > going to be dual-boot *melodramatic sigh*. I reinstall the old 20GB HD as > the > Master, set the 40GB as slave, and plot this out: > 1) Install Windows2000 on the 20GB HD (hda), leaving a 250MB partition > *before* it for /boot to eventually go onto. Windows apparently formats > this > as C and installs Windows on the D: partition immediately after it. So far > so > good, except that my motherboard drivers try to auto-install onto C:. > Don't > need 'em... > 2) Immediately install Mandrake 10.0 again onto the 40GB HD (hdb), but > put /boot on that first small partition of hda (formatted ext3). > 2.1) I partitioned off a FAT32 /gaming/ chunk on the second half of hda, > and > linux's /tmp on the end of hda. hdb consists of / and /home and swap. > All's > running according to expectations, which means the system now recognizes > Linux and doesn't even realize Windows is there anymore. > > At this point two exciting things make themselves known: > a) The 512 bytes of ntbootloader on "C:" or /boot have been reformatted > and > overwritten, and Do Not Exist anymore. Oops. > b) Fo whatever reason, my floppy drive doesn't work, which makes creating > a > bootdisk for *either* OS at this point really exciting... it is running > and > running and running, like it's always mounted. This may be related to it > having its power cord unhooked when I installed the OS'es, but you'd think > it > would have fixed that oversight after a reboot (post power-cord being > plugged > back in, of course). > > So my question is, how badly have I screwed up? Assuming I *can* get a > bootdisk to run on Linux, is it possible to do a Windows rescue, overwrite > that first section with FAT32 again, then copy/edit the /boot sector over > it? > Can your /boot sector for linux even *be* in FAT32?? According to my > partition table, it still thinks that C: is the "active" partition for > boot > purposes, but somehow linux believes "D:" to be an extended/logical > partition? How did that occur, when "D:" is now the 'oldest' partition on > either drive?? partition tables are below if you're morbidly curious.... > > I apologize if this sounds stupid, I'm just working on my 3rd day of > wrestling > with this thing, and I'm willing to reinstall if that's what it takes, but > I > don't want to screw it up another time (this'll be my 4th & 5th OS install > in > 10 days)... > > Thanks, > David > David, A couple of points here. First of all, 250 MB is a lot bigger then you need for a /boot partition. second, Linux does not require that the /boot partition, if you use one, be on the first hard drive. The only requirement for a /boot partition is that the data on it be readable by your BIOS. Now, with most systems today, that means as long as the drive is connected to the IDE interfaces on the motherboard, you are all set. Chances are, the /boot partition could be anyware on the 40 GB hard drive, without any problems. Or you can skip the /boot partition, and just make /boot part of /root, and the system would be happy. Now, you may be able to get away with having /boot a FAT32 partition, but if you ever run defrag or speedisk on it, there is a good chance that Windows will break things. So it is probably not a good idea. I think what may have happened is that you used Windows fdisk to create the partition for /boot, and so it was marked as a FAT partition. So Windows desided that because it was there, it was going to use it. Now, this setup is recoverable, but with your level of knowlage, it may be simpler to start over. What I would sujest, to make life easyer for you, is this:
Repartition the 20 GB into one or two partition for Windows, depending on wether you want to make the entire drive FAT32, or part of it NTFS, and part FAT32 so Linux can write to it. Install Windows on it. Install Linux on the 40 GB partition. If you do not have any data you need to save on this drive, let the installer re-partition it the way it thinks things should be. (Unless you know your usage, and the default doesn't reflect the way you do things...) Let the installer configure lilo so you can boot both Windows and Linux. By letting each OS have its own drive, you make things simple for yourself. It also means that you can move one of the drives to another machine, and with a few simple changes, you can have each OS boot on its own machine... One note for future reference - it is normaly better to use the tools for the OS that will use the partition to create the partition. Linux tends to more flexable about this, but Windows does not play well with other OSs. Mikkel -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
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