Whoa... a little bit of disinformation in here. Seems people are confused
about what NT does and doesn't do on install. I hope this clears some
things up:
> Okay...first...in order to install another OS...you must FIRST
> install the other OS, THEN linux.
Nah, that's just the easier way to do it. Other operating systems don't
kill Linux, they just sometimes overwrite the MBR (Master Boot
Record; it tells your computer how to boot). Most at least warn
you before overwriting it, except for (notably) Windows 95 and 98. They
figure you won't ever use more than one operating system - as a friend of
mine said, "a monopolistic OS from a monopolistic company."
If you are going to overwrite your MBR, be sure your new bootloader
accepts multiple entries, or else have boot disks handy for all your
other operating systems.
> If your disk is smaller than 4 GB you probably don't have to worry about
> them, but remember that the Linux boot partition (well... any boot
> program) needs to be below cylinder # ??? (127?) Look this up if you
> run into trouble.
The limit you're referring to here is the 1024 cylinder limit; this is
built into PC BIOS. When the computer boots, the BIOS cannot see beyond
1024 cylinders (this almost always translates to 8GB), so any hard disk
space you want to see without loading an OS needs to be below this.
Specifically, OS kernels and boot loaders must be below the 1024 cylinder
barrier.
> In fact I am pretty certain that the fdisk /mbr command alone will let
> you boot into NT
ONLY if the NT partition is marked "Active" (sometimes referred to as
"Bootable"). Any partitioning program worth it's salt will tell you if
it's marked active.
Why must it be "Active?" Because DOS boot record does nothing but look
for the "Active" partition and load the boot record from that partition.
This is why DOS fdisk will not let you mark multiple partitions as
"Active," because DOS MBR cannot handle more than one "Active" partition.
> Actually, if you want to boot NT, I don't think you can boot with a DOS
> disk and do fdisk /mbr. It'll write the DOS boot record. NT over
> writes the DOS boot record on install... If you have NT, boot with your system
> startup disks, then use the rescue disk that you made...
Not true. "fdisk /mbr" will work (using DOS fdisk), but Windows
NT DOES NOT overwrite the boot record on install, that's the whole reason
he's having this problem. NT's "bootloader" is contained entirely on it's
own partition.
> If I try to format the HDD's and install NT, when I boot it comes up
> with "LI" and then freezes.
That would be because NT installation didn't overwrite the MBR, like
Win9x does. When you cleared out Linux, you neglected to clear the MBR.
LILO is still there, but can't find your Linux kernel. I _think_ the
"LI" means that LILO sees that the partition record has changed (I could
be wrong; I'm too lazy to look it up right now).
Like several people posted, booting off a DOS disk and running "fdisk
/mbr" will clear LILO out; running fdisk normally will allow you to mark
the NT partition active (if it's not already). This will let you boot NT.
Alternatively, you could re-install LILO and point it to the NT partition.
In this case, it would not have to be marked active (NT doesn't really
care; the whole "Active" bit is for the benefit of the DOS MBR.)
-Matt Stegman
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
