Can't dual boot RH8 and XP on K7S5A?

I had Red Hat Linux 8.0 running on my Athlon XP 1700+, ECS K7S5A system, but I needed to add Windows for my wife. In everything I've read, it seems evident that Windows should always be installed first (true?), so I formatted the machine, installed Windows without a hitch, and created a partition for Linux (first on a completely separate HDD, then created a new partition on the IDE0 HDD), and after six complete installaions in every combination I could think of (using LILO, GRUB, installing MBR on primary partition, etc.), and getting the same result every time (Windows boots fine, Linux gives a kernel panic), I gave up, so I have a Windows machine on what used to be purely Linux.

While searching the 'Net, I found a few isolated articles describing problems with using Linux on this MB, but I wonder if any here on the forum have experienced anything similar, since I suspect this MB to be somewhat widely used due to it's decent performace ratings and affordable price?

Please help if you can, and I'd be glad to supply specifics as needed.

Thanks!

I have RH8, Mandrake, XP Pro, 2000 and Slack all running seamlessly (what, err is it.. ) 5 booting lol... K7S5A rev 3.

RH8, Mandrake, XP Pro, 2000 and Slack all running seamlessly

HOW?!?!?

what, err is it

When the PC boots with LILO, it completely ignores the fact that Linux exists and goes straight to WinXP. When I used GRUB during a few installation tries, the boot would show the word GRUB and just freeze. When I try to boot with the boot floppy created during installation, I get the error:
Kernel panic: no init found

K7S5A rev 3.

That's what I have as well.

I wonder if you are able to use a serial modem in Xandros. Like you I am using a K7S5A but with a Duron 800 and 256Mb RAM. I unfortunately have not been able to access the internet with my external modem. I have to boot to Windoze to get on the net. I have used this modem on a 486 under DOS running ppp and Lynx but I can't seem to get it to run under Xandros. Any ideas? It was not detected on installation and there is no /dev/modem listed.

I hate to say it, but the best advice I can give on using the K7S5A motherboard is this: dump it. I know it's inexpensive, but I had to replace this board three times in the same machine, and once each in two others, one time because a transistor went on fire! And it doesn't help that ECS's tech support is horrible (at least those reps I dealt with regarding these boards).
Do yourself a favor: get another board. Your Linux distribution, your hardware, and your BIOS will thank you for it.

that's not a bad motherboard. in fact many people on
this site would recomment that board and low cost and
stable.

also, you don't have to install windows first. it's just
generally considered easier because windows
overwrites the linux bootloader if it's in the mbr.
but in your case, since you are having trouble, try
it the other way around.

Thanks for suggestion about loading Linux first. Will try but at least it is a bit of hope. Tried Knoppix, but it still can't find my serial port modem. Feel like I have to abandon Linux for now till I can afford a new CPU setup. Least I can say is I tried. Unless another inspiration comes. Maybe if I load the ALSA drivers it might work. I remember having modem problems in Windoze until I had loaded the driver for sound.

If you have two drives load linux first on hda and use lilo for your boot manager. Disable hda and setup XP on hdb. once done re-enable hda. add the the following line to lilo.conf

other=/dev/hdb1
label=WindowsXP
(make sure there are no spaces or redhat has a bird)

The other option is load XP first and then load linux and install the bootloader on the root of the second drive not the mbr of the first drive, make the bootdisk at the end of the install. boot from it. in a console run lilo it will tell you the hdb? is not on the first drive, this is fine, take note of this information and then run the following:-

dd if=/dev/hdb? of=/redhat.lnx bs=512 count=1

once done you will need a dos/windows formatted floppy disk mount is using :
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt

copy the redhat.lnx to it with

cp /redhat.lnx /mnt

unmount the floppy with

umount /mnt

reboot your machine into XP, copy the redhat.lnx file from your floppy disk to the root od your C: drive

edit the boot.ini file and add a line like after the line for XP

C:\redhat.lnx="Redhat"

save and exit. reboot and you should get a boot menu with the choice of windows XP or Redhat

Originally posted by whansard that's not a bad motherboard. in fact many people on this site would recomment that board and low cost and stable....

I was gonna let this one slide, but my conscience just won't let me do it. That motherboard is junk. Aside from the problems I cited earlier, the K7S5A also fried a perfectly good Althlon XP CPU during "normal" operations. I think there's a reason the board has gone trough three hardware revisions (not SW or BIOS, but HW revisions), and has been discontinued in favor of new variations of the same board (K7S6A and -7A). The only time I would agree that the board is "stable" would be if it's kept in its box, or in a machine that never gets turned on.
Sorry for running this topic into the ground, but I would hate for someone to go out and buy one of these boards as a result of this thread, only to experience flaky system behavior at best.

i wouldn't want you to be quiet. when a motherboard
does bad stuff, i want to know about it. most motherboards
work, but it's how many stories about people that hate
a particular board, to me, that make it a good board or not.

i was serious about people recommending that board on
this site though. it wasn't me.

Your point is understood and appreciated. In fact, I think it was this very site that first pointed me in the direction of that board; all the more reason for me to make sure I give as much information about it as I can.

I have the same board & I dual boot Window ME & SuSE Personal 8.1 fine. Is lilo pointing to the right petition to boot linux?

Sorry; I solved the dual-booting portion of this problem long ago. In fact, I now have a multi-boot system with XP and several flavors of Linux on the same box.
The problem then became having to replace the CPU because the board somehow fried it during a normal session. I then replaced the board itself, and all has been right since.