Hi everyone I think ? I have just installed MINT 10 (main version on CD) onto my Dell 2350 P4 2.5 Gig system. However, I cannot reboot the system to check if it has actually installed. When installing I set the BIOS to boot from CD ROM as ist boot device( I noticed then that the Hard Drive was not included in the four options, I think the list was (1) CD ROM. (2) CD ROM. (3) CD ROM. (4) LAN. After installation , and a reboot failure, I tried to reset the BIOS to boot from the hard drive but this option was not available in the arrow up , down option. I ended up resetting (1) Floppy. (2) CD ROM . (3) CD ROM. (4) Disabled.. In the Hard Disk Boot Priority option , when selected presented “Bootable Add-In Cards “ but no movement when using up and down arrows? Does anyone know what is happening here? This machine is a Dell Dimension 2350 , It has a Windows XP Home sticker on the box , and I think it was originally preinstalled with XP Home which I was using up to a month ago. If anyone know what is going on and how to fix it in relatively simple terms, your advice is welcomed. Cheers

ticketboo

Once the distro is installed the boot order is not that critical as long as your hd is in the boot order somewhere. All of my computers boot with the cd/dvd rom first and the hds after. The only problem with leaving the cd first is that you need to make sure you do not have any cds in the drive when you are booting the computer.

See if a hard drive does show in bios.

It may be that you have an addon card for hard drives. They may not show up. Might be called scsi or such too.

Boot to live linux cd and see if drive shows up.

Hi guys, firstly when I (installed)? MINT 10 I checked the (my Computer) and two hard drives showed up , both rated as 30 gig which I thought was strange (I am using a test 30 gig hard drive for this installation) one is called Acronis SZ ( I have been using Acronis with this drive, if that is helpful) and the other is called Media 2 which is a name I attached to this drive. So the hard drive was recognised BEFORE I started the installation which of course would have erased the partition as I used a full partition install. The boot from hard drive option is definately not showing up in the four boxes in the Bios, I originally thought that a previous Windows installation was interfering with a Linux installation. I will try the boot from live CD again , to see if any changes occur, however if I reinstall I could end up going round in circles.

ticketyboo

Boot from the live cd and run command fdisk -l (small L) in terminal as root and post.

Are you using some add on card? Linux doesn't do well with many of the faux raid cards or chips. Some disto's really act odd from one disto to another on some sil and other cheap cards.

Hi guys, thanks, I think this issue is resolved! I took out the 30 gig HD and gave it a serious beating with a feather duster, then sent it to the format dept (smiling) I installed a 40 gig differet HD, and bingo! Bios back to normal functioning, and MINT 10 CD installed and working fine. A few odd startup messages but to all intents and purposes works OK. Thanks for your help and assistance.
ticketyboo