rearranging my pc => aim: w98b + opensuse; some problems
 

for a couple of hours i have been backuping my data, just to discover that i totally forgot about a problem i've had before: trying to install w98b the program stops telling me that the "boot sector of the first hdd" cannot be written on. well, that's how it looks like on my 40gb-hdd:

dev/hda1 => linux-swap, 1gb
dev/hda2 => reiserfs, 27gb
dev/hda3 => windows c, 2gb (fat32)
dev/hda4 => windows d, 8gb (fat32)

using qtparted in knoppix 3.6 i tried to rearrange the hdd, hoping to be able to turn hda3 in hda1. unfortunately, there's always only one single action i can do, even after running the changes. so it seems impossible to use this program...?
is it possible to "reset" the whole hdd to a "status stoneage" and start knoppix on my usb-stick or the ram, to so design the hdd after my preferences? i could then install w98b and open suse with probably no big problems*.

anyway, i would be very grateful for any advice or links to important faqs. i have been reading a lot but due to my newbie-status (still) i only understand halv of it, optimistical ratio. :D i am not going to proceed today, feels like the day is spoiled but i still have a chance to do something with it. :)

best regards & thanks
ungua

p.s.: if of any matter, my pc-spec:
Mainboard: ELITEGROUP K7VTA3 5.0, Athlon/Duron, Socket A, UDMA/133, KT333, 3x DDR, Sound, USB 2.0
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2100+, 1733MHz, Box
RAM: DDR-RAM 512MB PC333 CL2.5 Infineon
Graphics: PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti4200-8X 64MB DDR TV-Out Retail AGP8X
Tower: ATX Midi Tower-208AB3 blau 300W/CE/PFC
CDRW: LG GCE-8481B-R 48x24x48, Retail
HDD: 40GB Western Digital WD400EB
Networkcard: 10/100MBit TX Realtek-Chip 8139C WOL Retail

no reply... well... i will try it with fdisk /mbr in dos, then rearrange the harddisk after the pattern mentioned above. if this is stupid, please tell me. :D

regards
ungua

okay, just in case somebody finding this thread via the search: i "virginized" my harddisc using dban (google to sourceforge), then made a 1gb fat32, 8gb fat32, 27gb reiserfs and 1gb linux-swap partition. installation of both w98se and opensuse went without troubles, apart from the live-installation of opensuse where i didn't have any ip-address. so i installed from cds.

opensuse is really (!) beautiful, i'm as happy as a child now. :) looks great, seems to work well. but is obviously a very heavy ship, too.

best regards
ungua