i'm trying to install linux on my sony vaio pcg-fx370. 1 1/2 years ago, i installed debian 2.1 over win xp. i messed around with it and couldn't get the x environment working right, so i decided to make it a dual boot system. i couldn't get xp back on it, so i left it alone for a year. i just started trying again a month ago, and am almost happy to have finally gotten xp back on, sort of. i got 15 minutes at a time until it locked up. so then i started downloading iso's of different types of updated linux in the hopes of getting something to work. i have red hat 9, debian 3.1, fedora core 4, ubuntu 5.06, and mandrivia le 2005, as well as insert, i figured this may help partition the hd. i have tried several of them and they tell me that i have several things wrong. the one says that the logical and physical endings of either hda1, or hda2 are different. the other says that the swap partition needs initialized. i have tried using fdisk from typing rescue in the command line of red hat, and supposedly it was setting up my partitions. then when i tried to reinstall, i got the same two errors. i have done a check for bad sectors during one of the installs, and nothing. what i need is for someone to walk me through repartitioning and performing the install step by step. i have read tutorials, and searched through endless threads, to no avail. i am almost ready to buy a new hd, but i am smater than this damn machine. i just need a little help. thanx.

if you can afford to lose your data (from the disk- BACKUP! before you start) I would suggest using cfdisk and knoppix (LiveCD) to completely start over. then set up an xp partition (type 07 NTFS), a swap partition, a / partition for each of the linuxes you want to put on (type linux) a /home partition, (to share data between distros).

However, if you can't beat it, harddrives are cheap.

titanium_geek

in essence, there is no data left. i tried to run a morphix cd, but i got the msg: kernal panic - not syncing: drivers/ide/pci/piix.c:232: spin_lock(drivers/ide/ide.c:c03de668) already locked by drivers/ide/ide-iops.c/1235. (not tainted)
at least before, it would let me get to the partitioning part. oh, well. looks like a new hd is in order.

did you try a live CD? and cfdisk (or similar)?

titanium_geek

i tried a morphix live cd and it didn't get my touchpad to work. i can get an ubuntu live cd to work, but can't get into cfdisk from there. i used a 50m cd called insert, but i'm not familiar with how to use it properly. when i used the redhat 9 cd in rescue mode, it let's me srite the partition tables, but it doesn't install when i reboot. it gives me the same error msgs. as before i did the partition. when i go back to work tomorrow, i'm going to take it with me and see what i can do. the only thing is, i don't have an internet connection and taking it to the library with me is not practical. i'm going to make one more attempt on it before i leave.