debian linux boot order
 

I'm using a Dell laptop Latitude D810 Win XP SP2 with a Western Digital 500 GB external hard drive. to dual boot Linux downloaded and created from disc 1.

My associate provided me with the steps:
1. A good first step would be to boot your computer and immediately press F2 to set the boot order in this order:
i) CD/DVD ROM
ii)USB Storage Device-
iii) Internal HD.
2. Your computer will boot from the Linux CD 1. The boot menu will come up. Type the word installgui, and the install will begin.[/I]

I followed his suggestion F2 does nothing for me to provide boot order.

I'm afraid that the Linux will overwrite my Win XP and I will lose my files

Any suggestions would be a :(great help

When your computer is booting, check for a short message on the screen, about how to enter the bios or setup. It'll probably be the delete key, but it varies by exactly what bios and version you are using. The bios is where you change the boot order. Ubuntu won't overwrite windows without telling you about it first. If you are really nervous about it there are programs that will install linux as just another file on your windows filesystem, no chance of an over write there. It'll be a little slower they say, but with modern hardware it's difficult to notice. Here is an Ubuntu installer that works that way.

http://howtoforge.com/wubi_ubuntu_on_windows

Let us know how it works out for you...

David

P.S. Oh, it's a really good idea to have backups in any event, especially if you are installing a whole other OS on your machine. Check out partimage too, just to be extra safe.