I installed ArchLinux and the installation seemed to go well. I then rebooted with my BootMagic startup disk in and added ArchLinux to my boot list. However - when I select it to boot up the following text appears:

Preparing machine to load "ArchLinux"
....

- and then nothing happens. Anyone know a possible reason why it is not booting up?

Thanks.

Why are you using BootMagic?

LILO or GRUB can load any OS you can think off.

Both come w/ ArchLinux.


But that problem sounds like you didnt make the entry point to the right partition. Check to make sure its pointing to Arch.

Okay, I found out what I was doing wrong. BootMagic pointed to the correct partition but there was nothing to 'take over' when it booted from that partion. I re-installed ArchLinux with grub and it works now.

now, why am I using boot loader?

a) I am shaky at using linux, if I screw up my linux installation and I use boot magic then my pc will still work - just without linux.

b) It is much harder to configure than BootMagic. I understand BootMagic allready so why try to learn another one when they both do a near identical job with identical performance.