Boot problem : auto detect devices (check BIOS?)
 

I had to format my drive, and re-install DSL 3.0

After I formated and reinstalled, I am having problems with the boot. It hangs at the "auto detect devices" part...after a few minutes it will tell me something like "auto detect seems to hang, please check your BIOS settings"

I checked out my BIOS, and everthing seems to be fine. I did "restore defaults" in the BIOS and I am still having a problem. I formated several times, and I still get this error....the wierd thing is that the DSL live cd boots just fine, I have no problems having it detect my hardware that way.

After waiting several minutes, it will boot into the GUI (fluxbox)...but I wont be able to access any of my apps. Everything in the GUI will just hang there, and do nothing.

The only thing I can think that is causing this is I messed around with my partitions a little bit before I installed. I changed my swap from HDA2 to HDB2. I changed it back, and double checked that everything with the partitions was right, and everything seems fine...

Any ideas? As of now, my computer is useless cause it wont do anything at all.

The whole drive or just one partition? If you intended to erase the entire drive--partitions, data, programs, operating systems--everything, you need a zero-fill program. Just because you've used a program like fdisk to remove your partitions, you've done nothing to your master boot record. If you want to erase your drive like the way it came from the factory, check out DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke--Google it). One of the options lets you quickly zero fill a hard drive without overwriting the data multiple times.

I hope you did a thorough backup, first!

old setup :
hda1 = fs - 900mb - marked as bootable
hda2 = swap - 185mb
hdb3 = saved files - 600mb

new setup =
hda1 = fs - 1085mb - marked as bootable
hdb1 = saved files - 550mb
hdb2 = swap - 150mb

I used cfdisk to set up the partitions. after the partitions were set i did the following

I have never had to "zero-fill" my drive. wouldnt re-installing the OS re-write everything? Is there another way that I can do this, besides downloading a program? The only way I can possible download a program and install it on that machine is to use a live CD. Will a zero-fill program work while you are booted up onto a live cd?

OK, I got DSL to install just fine....well for the most part.

I can now boot into DSL and everything, it detects all the hardware and everything, but going through the boot sequence, right before it goes into fluxbox it says "Can not find a valid FAT flikesystem on device 3:02"

Is this anything to be worried about?