Dual Boot for Dummies Req. Fedora and XP
 

First let me say, I have no experience installing linux.

That being said I'd like to get linux running on my computer, but I'm not quite sure what I'm doing. I've looked around the net a bit, but everything seems a little over my head. I've got almost 40 gb on one disk and 8 on another. I do need to have access to XP on this machine, so I'd need a dual boot.

I've backed up my data and formatted the disks, but I guess I'm doing something wrong. I formated both disks (FAT32) using fdisk and format from a boot disk I have, then I installed XP on the larger disk and I thought I installed fedora C2 on the smaller disk, but it doesnt show up anywhere and doesn't boot into an OS loader. Windows just boots up as normal and the second disk is not visible.

Am I out of my league or just in need of guidance? Thanks.

put the Fedor CD in the CD ROM drive.

Reboot the computer and the CD should load.

If it does not then that means that you CD had to be higher in the boot order in the BIOS.

You get into the bios by pressing F2 or DEL keys when the compter restarts.

Find where you can chang ethe boot order and make the floppy the First boot device followed by CD then the hard drives.

Save the settings and restart the computer. You should then be able to load the Fedora CD.

You will need a SWAP drive as well so when partitioning make a swap drive and a main EXT3 drive. (EXT3 is the linux format instead of FAT32).

You said you already installed FC2, well, then you need to boot off of your smaller disk. Change the boot disk in Bios from HDD-0 to HDD-1 (or one of the other HDD/SCSI disks until you see an option menu)

Thanks for the help, so far!

I now have a working XP install and a working fedora install and I can switch between the two via the bios boot disk. I tried to configure the GRUB boot loader to load XP too, but must have done something wrong.

With the Fedora drive active, it boots into GRUB and will let me boot up Fedora with no problems. If I select Win XP to boot into it hangs at the following message:

Booting 'Windows XP'

rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

Fedora did warn me something was not right with my partition tables, but said I could ignore it, although it may cause problems with OS loaders. Something to the effect of the formatting program not setting up the partition tables correctly based on my bios?

I used fdisk and format to clear the disk before install. And then told the installer to remove all partitions and do whatever it wanted to the disk.

If you have any ideas, they would be appreciated.
Thanks!

I am going to take over this thread, because its title fits me to a "T"

i finally loaded FC2, and i keep getting the blinking cursor next to the word GRUB

now i have been told to change the boot sequence

WHAT IS THAT???

i boot off of the FC2 disk 1, it gives four options, i choose rescue

at the bottom it says boot:

no matter what i type there, it doesnt recognize the image or the kernel

HHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP



please........

http://www.overclockersclub.com/imag.../351-small.jpg

i never got to see this screen in my reboot