not booting
 

in my hp pc first i installed mandrake 10.0 and windows xp.
after installation of mandrake system will not boot the linux.
now i formatted the entire disk and reinstalled the wndows xp.
the first time goed will in to xp but now can't
when i switch on curser only blinking in the system nothing comes...

how to boot in to windows .........
help me please ..

Hmmm, this is the Mandrake forum not the WindowsXP one.
That said, I'd first try a reboot and if that doesn't work another reinstall of XP.

- Peder

I'll bite...

It sounds like you may have problems with the driver's partition table structure and/or the MBR.

Do this, boot from your Mandrake disk then ALT-F2 to get to the console...

then

fdisk /dev/hda

and DELETE any existing partitions.

You want an empty partition table.

Now go back in and install XP.

sir i will follow the advice.but i have one question now.

after the hard disk is completly formatted and installed the windows xp the partition table of old will exists?

i completly formatted the disk and then installed the windows xp....

and what are the steps i considered to install the linux after the windows x p?

Could you _please_ stick to one thread. Now you have one thread claming you have much data on an unbootable XP
(http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=294255) and this where things sounds less severe.
(Not to mention posting under multiple names)

To answer this questions:

If you followed opjoses advice and deleted all your partitions (and remembered to press "w" to save the new empty partition)
then no (easily visible) old partition will exist.

The way to install XP and MDK is :
* Start with an empty HD.
* Make a partition for XP and leave room for MDK.
* Install XP.
* Install MDK in the remaining empty space on the HD.
* Profit.

- Peder

Hi! nice to meet you i'm new on this forum.

So that would mean that you first install xp and then, setup mandrake on xp like you would setup any program on xp, or do you have to boot with the mandrake cds?. Cause I've been looking around abit and didn't find where to dowload mandarke boot disks.
Thank for your answer.
El tio

No you install XP and then boot from the Mandrake CD's.

During the install, you must allocate the space you "left over" for Mandrake to use.

Mandrake should utilize the remaining partition space available on the drive.

It's up to you to set this up as you want it.

Mandrake does -NOT- install like a Windows "program".

It's a completely seperate operating system, which runs from it's own partition or hard drive.

You can actually run the CD from XP and get a menu saying "Install Mandrake" but I didn't get it to work (in 10.1).

The "safe" way is to boot from the CD or floppy. If you can't boot from the CD look in the install/images subdir on CD1 for
floppy images. Utilities to transfer them to floppy are in the dosutils directory.

- Peder