Could someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here?

I set about configuring my PC to dual boot between Win2K and Linux (7.2). This is what I've done so far:

I started with a new Dell 8200 with one 40GB hard drive installed running Win2K , I purchased a 2nd 40GB hard drive and installed it. I then booted Win2K and used partition magic 7.0 to create the following partitions on the 2nd drive:


G: Fat32 1GB primary
*. Extended 18GB primary
*.SWAPSPACE 500MB logical
*.Ext2 17.5GB logical
F: NTFS 19GB primary

I then booted off the RedHat 7.2 install CD and configured the install as follows:

Linux swap -> /dev/hdb5
Linux "/" -> /dev/hdb6

Use LILO as the boot loader
Install boot loader record on
/dev/hdb6 First sector of boot partition

The install went normally and I was able at this point to boot from the boot floppy created during the install setup just fine.

I then wanted to get the Win2K bootloader to allow me to dual-boot into either Windows or Linux, so I performed the following steps:

booted linux
dd if=/dev/hdb6 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1
inserted a formated floppy
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp /bootsect.lnx /mnt
umount /mnt

reboot to win2k
copy a:\bootsect.lnx c:\
added "c:\bootsect.lnx="LINUX" to end of c:\boot.ini
attrib +s +h c:\bootsect.lnx

Now, when I boot window, I get the boot menu that specifies windows 2000 or LINUX. If I select LINUX, the disk light goes on for about 10 seconds then stops, but the blinking cursor remains in the top-left corner of the display and nothing happens.

By all accounts this has been done successfully before, but I've obviously missed something.

All advice appreciated - Thanks

When you did "lilo" did you get any warnings and/or error messages?

I would check to see if lilo is working correctly by changing the active partition to hda6, then see if you can go right into lilo/linux. Warning: make sure you have a bootable disk that has fdisk or something on it that can put it back if it doesn't work!!!

Other than that, it appears you've followed all the instructions from the HOWTO on the subject.

wartstew, its4 got it working. Forgot to enable hard drive in bios. Check thread here.