I am trying to install Mandrake 9 on my PC. Windows 2000 Professional is already installed on it, so I am trying to configure it to dual boot.

However... I have partitioned the drive (using Partition Magic 8.0)and started installation of Linux, but the computer hangs whenever it reaches midway in the installation of the System Packages - that is whenever there are about 15 minutes left for those packages. It does not always hang at that point, sometimes it may stop when there are 10 seconds left...or when there are 24 minutes left. The point is that it stops at soem point in the installation of the packages.

What happens is that the mouse does not work...and after a awhile I hear three short beeps from the PC (I have no idea what the beeps are for). Also...I have to restart the entire installation when this happens, that is reformat the partition, choose keyboard layout...and everything else.

I have been thinking that it may be a hardware conflict...but the system is fairly new. Celeron Processor (1.7) with Asus motherboard, Award Bios. The Windows partition has FAT32 file system and I set up Mandrake to use ext3.

Please advise me as to what may be the problem...and/or how do I solve it. Any help will be greatly appreciated...
Thanks

I've never had any good luck when using the same hard drive for a win2k / mandrake dual boot. Sheeet always freaked out on me. Although I'm not an expert by any means but I do have some insane experience with the win2k / mandrake 9 install dual boot scenario. The best luck I have had is having each OS installed on physically different drives.

This will save time, save you from breaking keyboards over your head and save you from headaches.

I basically did the same thing with my dual boot. But I didn't partition the free space. I just left it Unpartitioned for MDK to pick up.
I also had problems but they were because I burnt the ISO's onto some cheap CDs. Later a reburn with good cd's at a safe low speed, fixed the errors.

That's the extent of what I can say, but you never know what might help.

Use the Mandrake Partitioner and format on the install CD. I've had problems trying to put it on a disk with Slackware and Debian already installed. It does not play well with others.