I have not used linux before.
Today I installed the Fedora Core release 2, which comes with the book: A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux (second edition)

The install seemed to go as it should... it claimed the install as successful however when I clicked on reboot it only gets as far as the screen showing my devices and memory, etc. Bottom left I have the word GRUB and a flashing cursor... I am unable to type anything and seem only to be able to use control/alt/delete to reboot.

I have a pentium 3, 933Mhz with 512Mb of ram and a 20Gb hard drive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

first, get a more current version of Fedora. The latest is v.6--I don't know if v.5 is still available.

The more modern version will help in the long run--with any number of issues.

http://fedora.redhat.com/

Sounds like you didn't successfully configure the Grub bootloader during installation for whatever reason, and so on boot, when the bootloader is called, it doesn't have any arguments to execute, so you are being dropped into a Grub shell.

It is probably waiting for you to tell it what kernel and parameters to boot with.

This can be configured, however, as the previous poster said, it would be better to go ahead and install a more current version of Fedora Core. FC2 is now over 2 years old....we're in version 6 now. Just go to the link posted above and download the ISOs. You'll find that the install will go more smoothly and you will have greater device support.

Good Luck!

You have to set the active partition.

You can do this by using a live CD - although you probably should have done it before you installed Fedora.

From a command prompt using any live cd, such as knoppix, type cfdisk /dev/hda (if it is a SATA drive) cfdisk /dev/sda

This will show you a list of your currently set up/formated partitions. From here change the boot flag to the partition in which you chose to install Grub. If you are not sure which partition you installed grub on - or even if you installed grub at all, repeat this process and reboot until you find the correct partition.

If you forgot to install a bootloader, installing one is very easy - providing you carefully follow this guide here:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...part=1&chap=10

However in simple terms:

(hd,0) Is your MBR. If you have Windows installed, don't install grub to your MBR, instead install it to your /boot or / root (or the top level) partition. (The / is not the same as your root directory. Root is a user whereas / root is effectively what it says it is, it is the root where everything important is installed.

(hd0,0) is the first partition on your first drive
(hd0,1) is the second partition on your first drive.
(hd1,0) is the first partition on your second drive.
(hd1,1) is the second partition on you second drive

and so on... Basically you just count from zero.

Again like everyone else has said however, Fedora core 2 is very old now. It would be much better if you installed a more recent version.

Also read your book. Much of the fundamentals will be he same, even if the actual software itself has improved.

C'mon folks we have a brand new user here.
With that equipment FC2 should be fine - stick with what you have, and try to make sense of Linux before upgrading/changing.
Grub has obviously (at least partially) been installed - hence the grub prompt. The fact you can't type anything means you are in a "lockup" forced by the loader code. I'd expect a message though, unless it can't find the disk.
According to this post,you should be able to reboot the FC2 CD, do the chroot, then(note typo in referenced thread). Your problem is slightly different, but the solution should work.
Note that grub doesn't require the active flag - and I see no point in trying to fathom the (excellent but distracting) Gentoo doco at this point.

Well Grub may not require it - but that is only if you have one operating system on your computer. If you also have windows XP (or some other widows) then you do need to choose the active partition. Also strictly speaking, you also need to choose the active partition if you install grub anywhere else other than the MBR.

It isn't really that hard to understand how to install grub.

Also I don't see the objection to a more recent version of Linux. Older versions sucked, but newer versions have greatly updated software.

Even if someone didn't have the bandwidth to download a newer Linux version, you ca uy premastered CDs from various vendors - several of whom are listed on www.distrowatch.com

Thank you all for your replies.

After many attempts I have given up on FC 2. I wanted to use it for the simple reason that it is what I had available.

I have downloaded FC 6 and now have a new problem: I burnt disk one then booted it and checked for errors. It tells me that the disk has errors and not to proceed with the install. Same thing with two new disks(different brand). The SHA1 checksum on the ISO image was a match. I seem to be having bad luck! Should I try downloading it again? Since the checksum matches I don't think that would help.

I am not trying to install FC along with XP. I have a 60 gig drive all for linux. When I try to install FC I remove the drive with XP just to make sure that I don't screw up that one, probably a good choice seeing as I haven't even managed to burn a FC disk properly yet. <grin> Later I would like to set it up as a dual boot system... each with it's own drive.

I am new and therefore thank you in advance for your patience with me. What should I try now?

Well I'd say try downloading it again. Although maybe use Bittorrent - as this has a better ability for error checking and will redownload any corrupted parts of the file that it encounters.

Also try burning your cd's/DVD's at a lower speed - maybe 2x or so - as it may be a fault with your burner.

I was eventually able to burn a good copy of FC 6, after downloading different software to copy the iso image.
I am trying once again to work with Fedora Core.
I have tried several different versions of Linux and every one locks up the same way after rebooting from a "successful install"
I have tried to follow the above instructions, and now get the grub prompt repeating endlessly.
Any other suggestions?