hi to all of you , the title says it all . my system is an p4 2.6
with 2 hd raid 0 total space 240 gb
i have xp in the first primary partition and an extented partition with 4 logical
partititons .
i made with partititon magic 8 a logical partition to put in linux and yast told me after checking my system that yes i have partitions but it cant't recognize them.
it ask me if i wanted to make an automatic installation and after my confirmation
yast formatted automaticcaly the primary partition with xp on it and it loaded
the first cd after loading it it rebooted and the message was
grub disk error.now i have nothing on my pc . XP are gone and linux don't
work . please help me to make a clean installation with both OS.
THANKS TO ALL

Hi chriskar,
from your description it sounds like you are in kind of a mess . I am sorry for that! I really cant imagine, why this would have happened. Anyways, to get you your system back, let me share some pieces of information that might be useful (be aware that every system and as such every installation is different. Be flexible.).

1) If you have a linux boot cd handy, you might want to boot that first and check if there is really nothing on your computer. If you are certain or dont care, skip this step.
2) Assuming there is really nothing left, you need to partition your disk (you are kind of lucky that windows is gone, that makes it easy) to make room for both your OSes. If you dont have other solutions, you can use the SUSE install disk. Make sure to have at least the following configuration:
- At the start of one disk a NTFS partition that is large enough to house your XP installation.
- One reiserfs or ext3fs or whatever else linux partition you would like. (this is where at least comes into play. you can also create separate partitions for your home directory, or your boot partition, or if you want to store data on another drive, or ...)
- one swap partition (roughly double the size of your ram; you can go with this value or read up on swap space on the internet. you should be fine with this value though)
When you are done partitioning, be sure not to procede with the installation. If you set linux up first and windows screws it up (happened before, you know ), you are stuck with doing it all over. So, reboot, if you dont have reason to disagree with me (which you are of course always free to do).
3) Put in your legal windows xp installation disk and install xp (there should not be any problems if your ntfs partition is at hda1).
4) When xp is set up (not going to explain that, thank you ). Boot your SUSE installation disk again.
5) MAKE SURE NOT TO OVERWRITE XP AGAIN. Instead choose advanced options, when you are prompted with several choices. It will probably offer you at some point to not partition your drive and let you choose what partition to use for what purpose. (it may be called partitioning though. Make sure to NOT let it write the partition table. This may be harmless, but it is certainly not necessary).
6) Chose / for your primary linux partition (the largest one, probably. Your home partition may be larger (/home), if you have chosen to create one) and tell install, where to put your other partitions (again, if you made any, aside from the main and swap partitions). Also, make sure your swap partition is recognized.
7) Proceed with installation. There should be no problems from here on.

I hope this has helped you!
Good luck, post back if you require further assistance,
- drowstar

Hallo drowstar , wie geht es dir ? 1000 thnka for your replay
I was born in germany and i love germany even more than
greece.
anyway let's talk about my problem .
i wasn't clear enough in my post .
after trying to install suse 9.1 overwriting windows on my pc remained
4 logical partitions with in an extended partition tha i had created with partition
magic 8. i saw this with the bootfloopy of partititon magic 8 in dos .
yesterday i clean installed window xp in the first primary partition and so
my system is how it was before the disaster with 30 programms less.
now my situation is the following :
I have 2 hd wich are 240 gb in total with a raid o controller.
in the first primary partititon ( 30 gb ) i have xp
in the other 4 logical wich are in an extented partition i have videos, mp3
programms ecc. the is no free space on the disk.
now i'am backing up this 4 partitions to dvd's so i can cancell them and
make a system like this : first primary xp and all the other space free
to install suse and after installing it to creat other partitions with pm 8.
MY PROBLEMS ( because i'am without experience ) are the following :

1.were must i send grub ??
there are 3 solutions : a) overwriting mbr b) creating an unlockated
space of 100 mb before xp and so it will go there automatically
c) send it in the first boot sector of the linux partition .

2.. the fist time yast checked my sistem it found 2 hd scsi
i have 2 hard disks serial ata with raid controller .
why can't yast see them in the right way ??
i think i will have the same problem again

3. i'am to unexperienced to understand how to do the partitions needed
to linux manually .

I NEED A STEP BY STEP GUIDE to do the job .
i know tha nobody has the time to do this for me
can you or somebody else tell me where to find such a guide for
suse 9.1 distro ?????????????????????
I SEARCHED THE NET BUT THERE IS NOTHING FOR MY LOW LEVEL
EXPERIENCE .
Anyway
I can wait if someone wants to help me .
THANKS DROWSTAR AND TO ALL OF YOU WHO ARE SPENDING THERE
TIME FOR ME .
MY e-mail is chriskaranikas@yahoo.gr

Hi chriskar,
the first question is easy: Overwrite the MBR. It's the safest and most widely used method. I dont know of any reason against choosing this option. I always go with that. Hasn't caused me any trouble.

The second is harder. You think your messed up system was due to YAST falsefully assuming you had a scsi system? I dont know if that is possible. I assume so.
Sorry that I cant be any more specific, I have never run in this kind of problem before.
It might be possible that linux recognizes RAID controlled drives as SCSI. I dont know, which applies. Maybe there is something about that in the linux documentation, I can't find it though.
To be honest, I dont know about that problem. Hopefully somebody else will be able to help you with that.

As far as partitioning is concerned, it is a fairly straight forward process. Do you have any specific problems in understanding what I told you in my last post? I cant tell you about the SUSE installation process, it's been ages, since I did my last SUSE install (not that I wouldn't use it anymore. It is a really great distro!). I assume there is a nice GUI for it.

I would love to talk you through it, if you have the means to chat and install at the same time (it's called a second computer, I think ). Send me a private message, if you would like to do that.

I very much hope that you will get everything up and running. Contact me for further assistance,
- drowstar

i have a p4 system with 2 HD x 120 gb and with RAID 0.
this means that windows see's i disk of 240 gb.
when i try to install suse 9.1 pro putting in the first cd
and after checking my system i become the following message : CAN'T REGOGNIZE THE PARTITIONS ON dev/sda
AND THEREFORE CAN'T USE YAST PARTITITON TOOL TO
CHANGE PARTITITONS.
IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE PRESS OK .
after pressing ok and going to advance mode for partitioning a can select dev/sdb the other hd to install
linux .
but every time linux go over dev/sda where xp are and i can't reboot .
i tryied everything even installing only linux .
i get always the same message.
what must i do to let linux see my raid controller or ELSE
i don't know what else to do .
i'am a newbie lpease help someone .

Hi chriskar,
I am sorry that it doesnt seem to want to work for you.

after thinking quite a while what you could do, here's the only solution I can come up with (and of course I cant guarantee that it will work): Try partitioning manually. Sounds scary and is not the most fun thing to do, but if it helps you install your system, it will be worth it.
The route to go would be to partition using a different tool than Yast. There might be a problem when you install later though. If SUSE can't read it now, it might not be able to read a partitioned system later either. It's worth a try though.

Let me share with you part of a partitioning guide I am working on at the moment (a sneak peek so to speak ):
I hope this will fix it for you. (My hope is that SUSE will find a partition table that has been correctly set up, in this case, it will work now. If it still doesnt, maybe the SUSE installation disk doesnt support RAID drives (I discovered that there is a configuration option in the kernel, maybe SUSE chose not to compile it in their kernel)).
Please post back here. Let's work together to get your system set up finally.

Good luck,
- drowstar

Oh, another thought: How about removing one drive from the RAID, installing linux and putting it back in? (or rather, remove the RAID and leave one harddisk in your system) It's a messy hack, but might work. As always, feel free to ask more questions, you are here to learn.

Hello , DROWSTAR
I can't say you how much i am happy that there is someone
somewhere without knowing me who cares about my problem. thank you so much.
now, i'am thing to eliminate in the bios the raid
so i will have 2 disk separatly.
c : installing xp and d: trying to install suse 9.1 pro
1.can you please tell me where i must send or where will go
GRUB in this case ????

2.I HAVE PARTITION MAGIC 8 .Does linux support the
partitons made with pm8 ??

3. can i creat a partition for linux with pm 8 ??

i will inform you step by step from this site about my moves
and risults .
thanks once more .
ICH LIEBE DEUTSCHLAND .

Chriskar, I have actually found it easier to install Windows first. Once this is done install Suse. Are the HD's you are using Sata or are they just ATA in a raid array? Also, what is it Raid controller you are using?

Ηι 69_rs_ss , i have 2 serial ata HD western digital of 120 gb each
and they are on raid 0 .
every time i try to install suse 9.1 pro i get theerror message that linux can't see the partitions on my first hd .
i thing that in automatic installing mode there is nothing to do.
i must install in expert mode but i have no experience .
i am sure i will damage again my xp with are already istalled .

Hi chriskar,
now, i'am thing to eliminate in the bios the raid
so i will have 2 disk separatly.
c : installing xp and d: trying to install suse 9.1 pro
This is probably your safest bet.

1.can you please tell me where i must send or where will go GRUB in this case ????
GRUB will probably be automatically installed to the MBR of /dev/hda1 (the master boot record of the first of two hard drives). If this is not the default it is probably a good way to go.

2.I HAVE PARTITION MAGIC 8 .Does linux support the partitons made with pm8 ??
Yes.

3. can i creat a partition for linux with pm 8 ??
Yes.
If you are more comfortable using Partition Magic, you are of course free to do so. There are no problems that I can think of.

i thing that in automatic installing mode there is nothing to do.
i must install in expert mode but i have no experience .
Expert mode is really not as scary as the name suggests. Basically it gives you more options, but the standard values are usually those the normal mode would have assumed.

i am sure i will damage again my xp with are already istalled .
I dont think you need to worry about that now. All modern partitioning tools support resizing windows xp partitions these days, so there should not be a problem.

I have actually found it easier to install Windows first. Once this is done install Suse.
I agree with 69_rs_ss.

ICH LIEBE DEUTSCHLAND .
Please do not mistake my helpfulness as a typically german feature.

Good luck,
- drowstar

The issues everyone is having most likely stem from how your System is setup, and most directly your RAID controller. As of the 2.6 Kernel Linux does not suport hardware RAID, when you got into YAST to begin your SuSE 9.1 Install you should have received and error message notifying you of this. I received this and was able to go into my SATA RAID setup and tell my computer that I did not want my hard drives setup in a hardware RAID configuration and the problem went away (all this after a thourough back up of my windows partition of course). One of the first things I read while researching this was that by continuing to install with a 2.6 kernel and a hardware RAID setup my windows partition would stand a great chance of being deleted, and it would be unlikely that my Linux partition would work as well. Unfortunaly if you are intent on having a dual boot system, and again not this is with any Linux Disto running the 2.6 kernel, you will not be able to have a RAID configuration.

The SATA RAID controller I use is built into the MOBO so it is setup in the BIOS and can be set so that both hard drives are handled as if they were old ATA dives connected through a IDE slot, and as such are not seen as a RAID, then install windows as usual followed by Linux and you should not have an issue with your Linux install wiping you windows install. If your using a RAID contoller that is connected through a PCI slot, your on your own figuring out how to set up the RAID as I have no experience with those type of controllers, but the same rules should apply.

If you are having the problem that YAST can't find your SATA harddrive you most likely need to download the related drivers and install them. Start with your SATA manufacturer they should have divers and many have drivers specific to the major Linux distributions. After down loading them you will need to create a Diver disk, the divers should have a README file that explains how to do that. Than when you begin your install in the first screen your given you should have an option (F6 with SuSE 9.1) to update drivers, select that option and your install should ask you for the driver disk, if you did everything right YAST should find your harddrives.

Hope this help all of you out there having this problem.

Great!
HenchmenResourc, thank you for this valuable piece of information! This will most likely spare many people much time of suffering.

chriskar, can you please post for all of us, if the solution HenchmenResourc proposed worked for you? Thanks.

Thank you again!
- drowstar

Hi my friends .
HenchmenResourc is right . AlL THE PROBLEM IS THE RAID CONTROLLER.
I went in the bios not with del but in an other section of the bios with ctrl + I
regarding raid controller .it is apart.
there i deleted raid configuration and so my system had 2 separate HD.
i put the cd 1 of suse 9.1 and with 3 clicks linux was installed on dev/sda.
everything works well.
i think i did a mistake installing first linux on the first hd because now i must put after xp on dev/sdb .
what will follow ????
now that i have only istalled linux ( for now ) the systems boot with grub
what will happen when i install xp on the second hd after linux ????
Will there be an option to boot in linux or xp or will the system crash ??
why must i install first xp and then linux even when i have 2 different hd
Tomorrow i will try to install xp on hd2 and we will see.i will inform you all
about the results.
in the meantime if you can tell me why first xp and then linux on 2 seperate hd??
where will go mbr ?????
will there be a screen with the option to boot in the 2 OS ??
WHAT DO YOU THING IF THERE WILL BE A CONFLICT WITH THE 2 BOOTLOADERS TO REINSTALL GRUB ??
Anyway Monday i will tell to all of you the results of the experiments so
how says DROWSTAR many people can spare time and suffering.

Hi chriskar,
the only problem you have left now is that you are not sure why everyone seems to advise you to install XP first?
Well, the reasons are manifold:
1) Usually there is only one operating system on your computer (Windows XP in most unfortunate cases). For this reason, linux is prepared to change the size of your existing partition.
2) The boot loader: Windows is ignorant of other OSs, so it will do stupid stuff like overwrite the MBR with it's own boot loader (assuming it is the only OS on your computer (because, in their minds, isnt windows the only OS in existance?).)
3) If there is only one hard drive on your system (or a raid array ), windows may want to take up the whole drive (or what it can see of it)
For these reasons, it's simply easier to first install windows and then linux. The short of it: Linux installs are smarter than windows installs.

In your case, most of this does not apply:
1) This does not apply in your case, because you have room left for windows.
2) The boot loader will be damaged. Read below for instructions on how to fix this.
3) This does no longer apply for you, because you have two drives now. The second one is also completely linux formatted so windows will not see any space on there and will probably (hopefully) not format the drive. Make sure you dont allow it to, if it asks you.

After you installed XP and you turn your computer on, windows will boot and pretend there is no other OS. This is normal. To fix your boot loader do the following:
Boot your system with the installation CD you used to install linux in the first place. It will allow you to boot your existing system. Unfortunately I dont have a SUSE system here to try this. Anyway, if everything worked as I would expect a modern distro to, you can run Yast2 and fix your boot loader.
(If SUSE fails my huge expectations, post back. There are other (more complicated) ways of achieving the same effect.)

Good luck with your windows install. I am confident that by now you are very good at installing OSs, so it will not be much of a problem anymore.
- drowstar

Hi everybody,

Thanks for all this great info! I have very similar problems... and you guys just gave me a pretty good idea on where to start troubleshooting. That is, on how to manage to install Suse 9.1 Pro on a S-ATA disk and when that problem is solved, if ever, I will also make dual boot system with XP Pro and Suse 9.1 pro, but on on the same disk.

chriskar, if you still have boot problems after installing XP on that second sata disk of yours, I can highly recommend you to try out XOSL (eXtended Operating System Loader), which you can try to install afterwards. It has saved me from re-installing 3 out of 4 times and probably also from throwing out things through windows.... without opening them...

XOSL is typically installed on your windows C: drive from a floppy disk under dos (use a Win98 boot disk for example) and can be downloaded at http://www.ranish.com/. The boot program i licenced under GPL by the way. If it works, you will have a boot loader similar to grub, but isnt a linux program... it will just try to boot at bootable partitions (sectors?).

Good luck to us both!

Fredrik