Hello all,
i am new to Linux and am setting up a file server. I want my other windows machines to see and access the files.
Particulars: AMD Dual core on Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H board all < 1 yr old.
I have 4 gig of ram.
I want to use a 160gb ide hdd for OS and whatever else for the OS files.
Then I've got two 1 TB drives that I want to use as mirrored raid.
I am trying to set up Red hat 5 Enterprise OS on the 160GB drive and it installs ok, but like the first or second time it reboots it errors before it loads anything. I have reinstalled it about a dozen times but haven't figured out how to set up the partitions or whatever.
the two big drives were used in windows but the have been cleaned and are now showing up as unallocated disks. It seems like the boot loader is getting hosed somewhere.

Thanks, rog

For a start, tell us what distro+version you are using.
If you can get to the cmd line
& post the results.

I know I forgot that. oops.
Can I get to the cmd line from the Grub screen?
Right now it's I think still on the text screen from the last reboot attempt.
It's on a box in my closet that I use KVM to control.
I know it's Redhat 5.xxx enterprise server. I'll check in a minute.

Actually I should have noticed you mentioned RHEL5, but the info I requested may still be relevant.
If the HW is that new, you may need to ensure you've got the latest sub-version (RHEL5.8).
Here are 2 good (official) RHEL5 guides;
Installation: http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ide/index.html
Admin: http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ion/index.html

The exact reboot errors you are getting would help a lot as well.

If you want to only put OS on the 160Gb IDE hdd, then you'll need to choose custom layout option during install; its a GUI install.
One option is to disconnect the 2 x 1TB drives for the install, then you can take the default layout and add the RAID after the install is stable.

It sounds a bit strange, like maybe grub is on a different disk than the operating system.

Thanks guys, it is great to have help available so quickly!
I have been poking around on the net but haven't found what i need (Overwhelming data but hard to drill down to the right info!).

Awesome machine said: It sounds a bit strange, like maybe grub is on a different disk than the operating system.

Awesome,
It seems like that to me too.
I have many years in the windows world, but have only delved into Linux here and there. But a new job came up that runs Oracle on Redhat, so I'm looking to set up a similar scenario for testing/programming with at home.
I did use a tool for disk partitioning tool before I tried installing last time, it's Paragon disk tool, it did install some windows files for it to run on.
I think something is sneaking in to try to hijack the boot process. I will disconnect the 'raid' disks and try again.
How can I format the whole disk before I try again, i want to be sure nothing is hiding on the disk? Oh, Which f.s. would be good for the operating system files?
What would be a good starting point for partition sizes and which ones do I need to partition for?
Again, the OS disk is IDE and 160 GB.
Should I use the LM (volumes stuff) or whatever it's called? Or just fixed partitions to get going.

Great advice all,
Roger

I have finally gotten it loaded and am afraid to reboot!
I have directions for making a Boot Disk and am trying that now.
Another question: Do I need to load hardware drivers from my MB disk or will Linux find and install those?
Reason i ask is my network card is not recognized and I need that to find updates etc...
What other basic steps should I take now that it's running?
Rog

Like I said, we need detailed HW specs. Very new HW may have drivers avail, but that are not on the install media.
For a NIC, (to be honest) the quick/cheap way to fix is to buy a known supported NIC (usually only a few dollars) and use that to boot, which will then give you an internet cxn.
(I had similar issue dual booting RHEL+Solaris: MB NIC was not supported by Solaris)
It will then be much easier to add drivers for the other NIC (if you really want to use it... I didn't, I stuck with add-in NIC)

Another thing to consider is;
Is your new system using same version (eg RHEL latest versions are 5.8 & 6.2)

Thanks Chris,
I think I have an old 3Com nic laying around, that's a good idea.
The RHEL version is not critical because I will not really need to use any live data from my work system, I just mainly want to run the Oracle on the same system for keeping connection strings etc consistent.
I guess the same is true for other MB onboard hardware too?
I think I can find a graphics card that I can use if I can't find the one for the MB VGA.
Is there enough room on a std floppy to create a Boot disk? I think that would be good to have.
How would I create the disk?

Back Later. Roger

Depends what you want the boot disk for (not to mention most systems don't have floppy drives).
If I need to fix a broken system, I just boot off the install DVD and type
instead of selecting an option via the Fn keys.
https://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/I...escuemode.html : read & enjoy

In case anybody is still on this thread I have made lots of changes from my first attempt to install Red Hat.
After many tries to load and configure the Redhat install, I finally decided the problem was the old hard disk I was installing on.
Yesterday I purchased and installed a new SATA 160Gb disk, I trashed the old one.
I have decided to use CentOs instead of the RHEL that I had been using.
Number one reason is that i don't have or know how to use the subscription numbers or am i willing to pay for getting one.
The basic install was so easy, I just used the defaults from the iso image disk.
I still have not figured out the networking shares with Samba though.
Any links for that would be appreciated.

Back later, Rog

Hi Roger,

take a look at this post where I put a quick configuration of samba share.

good luck

See my links in post #4; although they say RHEL, they apply also to Centos, as its a free version of RHEL.

If you're using SATA disks, the operating system disk should be on channel 0 on the MB. Yes, Centos will automatically load kernel modules (drivers) for the hardware.