a friend of mine told me that once you try to dual boot windows xp and linux, you're going to get screwed. i think it went something like "linux detected. linux deleted."

so, i made an ext2 partition for linux using partition magic 7.0. shortly after that, while i would be in windows, it would crash randomly. it seemed that it would crash twice, then it would operate properly.

when trying to install linux, it said that the ext2 partition i had created wasn't valid and it had to format the partiton itself. i made the partitions ext2 for linux and a swap partition. i used LILO as the boot loader, because bootmagic instructed me to for proper dual booting.

i then actually went and installed redhat linux 7.2. yes, this is my first experience with linux; i'm just looking for it to run smoothly. each time i halt the system and boot into windows, it will crash at a random time; there is no discernable pattern that i have seen yet. hell, it hasn't crashed on me yet this time.

i use bootmagic 7.0 to dual boot, installed separately from partiton magic because i couldn't access bootmagic config right from partition magic. when i fired up partition magic to try and dual boot using the built-in bootmagic, it said that there was something wrong with the first sector of the linux partition and that it could be fixed. something about moving the sector, but i didn't pay much attention, which i bet i should have.

so i guess my question becomes, "how can i stop windows xp from crashing randomly with a linux installed?"

This is only an opinion from my experience. Partition Magic and Boot Magic have caused me a Bu**load of trouble. I would use LILO instead of bootmagic and if you don't mind reinstalling xp i would re-do the partitioning myself with fdisk or whatever xp uses. That keeps everything doing what it really wants instead of a "middleman" like bootmagic.

okay, okay, that seems like a good enough idea, but how to i use the LILO boot loader? when i install redhat, do i have it put LILO on the boot sector of my primary drive or my logial linux partiton?

the first time, i used GRUB without knowing anything else, and i couldn't even boot into linux.

thanks

i'm not totally sure about this, but here's my experience:

LILO corrupts the MBR (boot sector of primary drive)
GRUB works very nicely.
but the difference is that i have two hard drives instead of one.

the last time i used a single drive to dual boot, it worked well as well but
the thing is i had already initially partitioned one part of the drive for windows (FAT)
and another part for linux (that time was ext2). i installed windows in the FAT partition first and then linux after.

if you're trying to re-partition an already existing windows installation to make space for linux,
i haven't met or seen anyone who has done it successfully and not crashed out yet (shows how many people use linux around me eh?
ho ho)... i think windows doesn't like sharing the space...

also, since you're using RH7.2, why not try ext3 instead?

In fact I actually have succesfully as of now that is, still waiting, repartitioned my FAT32. In actuality resized it with partition magic to make the right amount of space I wanted for my ext2 part. I have one drive and boot LILO and have never had a problem with it.
Felixnine: Yes, LILO does need to be installed into the MBR of the harddrive like gui10 said, but i've never seen it "corrupt" the MBR. I would try it if it were me, you might be pleasantly surprised with the results instead of GRUB which i've heard is alot pickier than LILO. When you install LILO just let it do what it wants and everything should be hunky dory....

yea listen to taz is better... he's probably got more experience than me...

my post was only my unique experience alone and i still can't figure out why LILO corrupted my MBR then (haven't tried it recently as didn't want to re-install windows so many times) and i'm no expert on installation. i guess i'm just glad that GRUB works for me... no more bootup from floppy! phew...

was just sharing my experience... again, wish someone could tell me why LILO corrupted my MBR... posted up something about it when it happened to me but i guess these things just need someone around the actual installation phase to tell me what's happening...

anyway good luck!

so i wanted to try it all over again, maybe i would have better luck the second time. i reallocated the space to my primary partiton. when it restarted and began the process, it stopped about halfway. i restarted and all i got was a blinking cursor. luckily i made those partitonmagic recovery disks, no wait, they didn't do anything.

it showed that my primary partiton was formated at phqp or 3c (hex). i had to reformat. i walked around last night and kicked all the radiators i could find, just because they were there. partitonmagic is the tool of the devil.

One other way of loading LILO would be to put it on a floppy. That way, the MBR is left intact for windows purposes and whenever you want to boot Linux just pop the floppy into the drive and away you go.

that was the way i did it... floppy boot until GRUB that is...

another suggestion i have that might work is simply use the DOS/windows fdisk to partition only part of your hard drive and reformat the FAT part (assuming you're using FAT32, not NTFS for your XP partition), and leave the rest for linux. of course, this is if you don't mind reformatting windows one more time...

that worked for me coz i don't have the money to buy any fancy partitioning tools...

u can use the primitive fdisk utility from the windows rescue disk or any linux CD u might have if your computer can be booted

ah missed out some words at the end...



(continued...) from the CD-ROM

Not me, i didn't create PM! LOL But if I had i'd be hiding. It's caused me more trouble than it's worth. Too many reinstallations. I am happiest and works the best when I do as gui10 says and use fdisk to create the windows space, but leaving however much you want for Linux. The LILO floppy boot is also a good idear if you really don't want to mess with the Master Boot Record. I always think that "this" will be the time i don't have any trouble with partition magic, but i'm still looking at a reinstall very soon. Ahhh well...That's what I get for downloading warez. My computer needs a Mickey Mouse band-aid...

allright. i've been looking around; i definitely have the funds to purchase a 10gb drive. i'm just gonna use that to boot linux. will i still have to install LILO on the primary partition?

i would just like to get this to work. at this point i'm not even running linux anymore. luckily i burned the isos onto cds before i had to reformat.

thanks though, i figured i'd get yelled at for using windows xp.

you'll see me in a few weeks after i get my new drive, i'm sure i'll have some more questions

Linux will like having it's own drive alot. That's a great way to go if possible. I would if'n I could too. Your original disk should be fine. I believe LILO will only want to be on the Linux drive and will only point to drive a as it'll be to boot. Like above, if you really wanna play it safe, yo can use a lilo floppy to boot.