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-   -   Boot Magic Lost (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/boot-magic-lost-113782/)

cauge 11-08-2003 11:30 AM

Boot Magic Lost
 
I installed partition Magic 8.0 and Boot magic without problems. However, I then disabled Boot Magic thinking that's what I should do. I installed Linux. Now can't get BM back. Trying to open Boot Magic gives me a message-
"Setup cannot find the location of where Boot Magic was originally installed. Make sure the volume Boot Magic is installed on or is visible, and assigned the same drive letter as at the time of install."
I probably muddied the problem more by going to partition Magic and deleting the "E" drive partition where BM was shown, thinking this would delete BM & let me reinstall it. What do I do now?
I think if I could uninstall and reinstall Boot magic, I'd be OK, but remove doesn't work from add/remove or Add Remove Pro because they can't find Boot Magic either. I also removed and reinstalled Partiton Magic, but nothing changed. I'm waiting for a response from the BM folks, but no response yet.
I see that when I used Partition Magic, I set up 4 primary partitions-
Partition Type
Swap Space2(*) Linux Swap,
(*) unallocated (this is where BM was/is?
local disc (C:) NTFS
local disc (*) Linux Ext2

Did I also goof when I set those up- using all primaries?
I've got XP Home on a Dell 4500S. Any ideas?
Also, until I resolve this dual boot problem, can I access Linux from the rescue disc I made, then get to XP w/F12 at start up?
Thanks

trallith 11-08-2003 03:39 PM

Deleting a partition will certainly destroy whatever was on it. So it's gone, that's for sure.

Also, when you installed Linux it is very possible that it installed Lilo or something on the Master Boot Record, which is where any boot program will have to initially be. (Usually a small program sits on the MBR and points to the actual boot loader elsewhere on the hard drive.) This does not sound like your case since you can't get into anything without a boot disk.

If you want to use Boot Magic, you'll have to reinstall it, since it's gone. First you'll probably have to redefine that partition you deleted I think. If windows won't let you uninstall it after you format the new partition, then see if you can install it again anyway (without uninstalling first.)

If that doesn't work:
Is there a reason you like Boot Magic? You could always try to install lilo and just use that instead.

cauge 11-08-2003 04:43 PM

Thanks for your reply. Your question about why I wanted to use Boot Magic was right on. In my ignorance, I thought that was the only way to get a dual boot. I just reinstalled Mandrake Linux and chose GRUB as my bootloader and I think I'm in busuness. Do I always have to choose the OS or can I set a default somehow for which one I want?

trallith 11-10-2003 12:39 PM

Glad to help.
In the grub config file you can set a default OS to boot, and a time that it will allow you to wait before booting to that OS. This file is /etc/grub.conf

If you do a google search on configure grub or such you should find a lot of helpful information on various options for grub, but if you already have the file there it should be pretty self explanatory as to what changes you need to make.


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