Hello,

I installed Fedora Core on Sunday and after the installation I went to boot and it loaded into GRUB bootloader. It was in command not the GUI version. (Yep, I'm a spoiled Windows kid who thinks everything has to have a GUI :P) Anyway, after two days computerless (and searching every moment I had on the computer at school) I was trying to figure out how to boot. Not until today was I able to boot Windows. I had to do:
I also saw via:
that there IS a graphical mode but when I did
it said 'Device is not initialized yet' And unlike the serial terminal there is no command (that I could see) to initialize graphical mode.
So my question is how would I initialize graphical mode so I can actually boot Linux instead of just windows (also avoiding having to type 6 commands)

Thanks

You have to edit the /boot/grub/menu.list file. Check the Grub Manual for details.

OK, how do I open that? is 'open' a command?

Did you install from CD? Their should be an option to boot into recovery. Then you can edit the /boot/grub/menu.list using something like vi. ( look up the commends on vi first though ).

You should also check that grub is installed properly as well.

GRUB was installed by Fedora, I'm assuming it was installed properly.

Its worth checking though.

Hmm, seems to be installed properly since it's working to an extent. Is there a way of editing the config through GRUB or through Windows since I need to make it graphical.

Not really as you need to get Linux working to edit the file. Did you create an emergency boot disk by the way?

Too boot Linux you need to type
root( hdx,x )
kernel /vmlinuz-2.x.xx root=/dev/hdxx
boot

Replacing the x's with the appropriate values. The menu.list holds exactly the same sequences for you. I assume something has gone wrong with grub because usually Fedora/RedHat should do this for you.

Nope, I tried creating a bootdisk but it kept saying a disk wasn't in the drive when it was (I tried three disks too.) How do I know what the kernel x's are?

Its the version of the kernel usually 2.4.something. What was the version of the kernel you installed?

Try
root(hdx,x)
find /vmlinuz-2.4.xx

And cycle from 19 to 23. Its only four tries and its probably one of them. The one it finds is the one installed.

I keep getting cylinder exceeds maximum supported by bios on root(hd0,0) - root (hd0,3)

find returns nothing, would you recommend installing a different flavor of Linux?

This maybe a problem with your BIOS then. Some older systems only support booting if the bootloader only access the first 1024 cylinders. It appears yours does not. What are the hardware specs?

If you can try to place the boot patition at the beginning of the disk. If your windows partition already sits there and you don't want to try and move it or reinstall. Then I think you'll have a problem with any Linux Distro.

You could try and see if you can get a BIOS update or Messing with the BIOS settings for your drive, Setting LBA etc.

To restore the windows boot, you need a windows boot disk either CD-ROM or floppy and then in DOS ( or a console ) type:
fdisk /mbr

If your using Win2K or Higher you could also look up booting Linux from the Windows bootloader, But I'm unsure if this will help.

My hdd is partitioned as such...

My specs (well the only ones I can think of that would matter) are...

Phonenix BIOS, Biostar M7NCD Pro Motherboard, AMD 2600+, 120 GB HDD. It's not that old, I built it in August of 03'

Edit: I'm on XP

A Computer that old should not have this problem with the BIOS. Just make sure LBA is enabled in the BIOS. Also check Biostar for an updated BIOS as their have been problems with disk over 32Gb

If these don't solve your problems the easiest thing maybe to try LILO.

Also look up booting with the Windows bootloader you can take a copy of GRUB and make Windows boot that. look for grub.bin in Google.

Beyond that I've run out of Ideas Sorry. Maybe someone else knows more...

I was looking at LILO but I don't understand how to install it. Would I just put it on a floppy and boot from floppy?