Hi All,

I recently bought a base unit which came with Suse installed. I've used PC's for many years, dabbling between Mac OS and Windows, and therefore want to install Windows XP.

I thought i would be able to boot from the Windows installation disk, install the OS and that would be done - but obviously not. Now the PC still boots into LInux and asks whether i would like to run "Linux" or "Failsafe", which i assume is the equivelent to Windows or "safe mode", however if i pick either the PC crashes.

Quite cunningly, the base unit did not come with a Linux manual or installation disk. so am unable to re-install or configure Suse.

From what i can gather the hard disk has been partitioned, the, windows section holding 10GB, the remainder with Linux.

I am only able to access MS DOS and the linux text mode interface.

I would be very very grateful if someone could help me solve this problem, either through redistribution of the partitions, or removing the Linux partition.

I appreciate that this is a Linux site, but would really appreciate any help you can offer.

Tris

We are quite willing to help you install the wrong OS--it will help you learn the merits of Linux.......
Windows should have prompted you to make new partitions---thereby destroying the old---and it should have automatically installed its own bootloader.

What you might need to to do is "wipe" the drive first. Use a utility such as Darik's boot and nuke.

THanks for that - still got a major issue though, I can't get into Linux or Windows at the moment, so cannot run any programs through the main OS's.

I need to wipe the hard rive using MS DOS or te Linux Equivelent, and i must be able to access either of these from startup. I can access MS DOS using the Windows installation CD.

Any further ideas?

If you boot to the Widows XP CD there is an option available to partition your hard drive just follow the directions it gives you and delete all the partitions that are there then create a new (or two) partition and install Windows onto that partition.

I'm aware that Windows seems to have some issues with disks that have linux partitions on them. I don't understand why but the number of people who come in here whinging, well... they can't all be liars

There is a simple solution, using either DOS or the linux command line (it doesn't matter), start fdisk and you'll be able to use it to remove all your partitions and start again. fdisk is essentially the same program across operating systems, it has a different interface betweem DOS and linux but they're both reasonably self explainatory, just read whats on your screen carefull and you should be fine

Sounds like the bios is not set to boot from the cdrom. If you put a bootable cdrom e.g. windows install cd, and reboot the install cd should fire up. If not your box isn't booting from the cd.
When the computer starts up, you will see a prompt somewhere on the screen that says "press F2 to enter setup" or something like that. press what it asks you to press to enter bios find the option to boot from cdrom first, save to bios and reboot with windows cdrom in the cdrom.
Linux isn't for everyone, but you should give it more of a chance. If you have the time try knoppix or ubuntu.

Hi,

Thanks for all the info given yesterday, this was all great. 1 more question, How can i access fdisk through the Linux line command?

Thanks in advance

Tris

fdisk device name (probably fdisk /dev/hda)

or an easier version cfdisk /dev/hda

Jargon: "Command Line" or "Command Line Interface (CLI)"---The interface mode where you type commands instead of clicking on icons.
The CLI is in a terminal window if you are running a graphical interface. Otherwise, the whole screen is a CLI.
At the blinking prompt, simply type a command---just like you did on your Apple II.

just click terminal or console icon at a desktop and you will be given a Window with command prompt.

You need to preceed a system-related command with "sudo" if you have not log in as the root user and therefore have no privilege to those commands.

so instead of
you need
Generally you find "cfdisk" is easier to work with than "fdisk" in Linux but
is a must for any user wanting to know the partitioning scheme of all the hard disks in the box. The "l" in above is a small "L"!