Jim,
I hope you don't mind if I put my response to your message to me [which
is copied below] on the newbie list. Many people are having problems with
the same things you are. This response is a natural followup to several
things I've written about, ususally under the topic "[newbie] large disc",
and will allow me to tie up some loose ends resulting from treating several
separate but related topics separately.
If the motherboard bios, referred to as the CMOS, (using any fdisk, or
the CMOS "hard drive detect" and typically needing to reset the first CMOS
page back to "auto" afterward) sees the full capacity of the hard drive there
is no need to use a bios overlay (known as a disc manager program, which I
refer to as a shim) or to to update the motherboard bios. If the motherboard
cannot see the full drive capacity, and the motherboard has a flash bios
update feature, check with the motherboard's manufacturer because they may
have a fix for the problem. If the motherboard does not have a flash bios,
updating CMOS by replacing the on-board chips can be done but the cost is
typically 3/4 of what a new motherboard would cost. By the time you factor
in the effort involved it's hardly worth it, and I don't recommend it. The
(literally) last choice option is to use a shim program.
Shim programs work, but when there is a problem it's a big one. The
cause could be hardware, software (including virus), or electrical (UPS use
is highly recommended, especially with a shim). You will lose access to your
entire drive, and it is VERY difficult to recover from, at best. If you are
going to use a shim do the same as you would if you were using DOS hard drive
compression (which was fashionable a few years ago): be devoutly religious
about FULL backups on a frequent basis. I've personally used both shims and
disc compression without data loss, but I was very careful. I've installed
many shims as a computer technician. You won't find many people who have
used them without having major trouble because of them.
Use Linux fdisk to delete stubborn partitions (it will handle some things
that the DOS version will not), use DOS "fdisk /mbr" (without the quotes) to
reset your master boot record area of the hard drive from the effects of Lilo
(or grub) [DOS "fdisk /mbr" (without the quotes) can also clean up "partition
table errors", sometimes they turn out to be mbr errors but the error message
doesn't distinguish] and then (if Windows is not already installed) use DOS
fdisk to set up the first partition into which you will install Windows.
Install Windows before installing Linux or Windows will choke. Use the Linux
fdisk to create the partitions you need for Linux (usually done as part of
the Linux installation). Note that the two fdisks are different. It has
been written months back in newbie that using DOS fdisk even to establish a
partition into which you will install Linux can lead to DOS utilities
damaging Linux. If you use a shim program you will have to use it to make
all of the partitions, do not use either fdisk, and also use the shim's
special floppy boot procedure to start both the Windows and the Linux
installations.
Jim, in your specific case, use the DOS utilities that are on the Linux
Mandrake CD. Use the Linux fdisk to delete the partition where you intend to
install Linux. If Windows exists on your first partition (you may need to
use the DOS "fdisk /mbr" (without the quotes) command to restore the hard
drive to DOS bootable), the Linux install should show you both that and the
unallocated space and allow you to install Linux in the unallocated space.
You should not need to create a partition first unless you are using a shim.
You may prefer (or simply want ) to obtain Tom's root boot. It's
available on the internet in both Linux and DOS downloadable form. This
makes a one disk self-bootable Linux floppy with many utilities and disaster
recovery tools including a Linux fdisk. Documentation is on the site. The
DOS fdisk won't fix some things that a Linux fdisk will. Tom's may be a very
good choice for you to try. Note that with some programs, especially drive
utilities, you have to save the changes, exit, and reboot for them to go into
effect (I dont remember whether this is true about Linux fdisk specifically).
In my own system I have one hard drive with Win98 and Linux Mandrake set
to dual boot with grub. I have a second hard drive with a second linux to
play with. If I screw something up, my primary installation is not bothered
and there is no loss, simply wipe and reload if I can't fix it. This second
Linux boots from floppy. It allows me, still very much a newbie, to test and
experiment before I change my primary Linux Mandrake installation.
I hope this info will allow you to fix your problem. If not the next
step is Partition Magic to delete that partition. I hope some of the others
in newbie will comment if I have missed something. Let us know how you do.
-Gary-
In a message dated 10/16/2000 6:10:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Mr. Prichard:
Thank you for your response to my problem on the newbie mailing list.
I was had been running Mandrake 6.5 package. I wanted to upgrade to the
7.1 package. I did something really wrong and lost the linux partition, I
tried to make a new extended partition with fdisk. But could not load or boot
to it.
Fdisk shows a primary of 2 gigs and free space of 4 gigs. So it sees the
whole drive I just cannot seem to fix it so I can load my linux in the free
space....
I am not familiar with the new flash bios......So don't know how to fix
it....
Computer is about 1 year old.
Mother Board is an EPoX Apollo MVP3 AGP
Microproccesor is AMD K6-2 running at 400
Linux was running great and everything worked great before, so know the
machine works OK with linux......
I think I should add a drive and use that for linux, instead of running
windows and linux on the same drive.......
Newbie list is great, did not realize there were that many linux fans out
there....
Have a good Day!
Jim Murray
>>
