Ooh, I see it! (Hello, sorry to be late).

The problem, as I suspected, is that your XFree86 Config is wrong. You have a 9800 board?

The 'radeon' drivers you're using only work up to the 9200 (you will have to install the ATI binary drivers to get 3D hardware acceleration later, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

Change the radeon driver listed here

to vesa, and X should be able to start, which should allow the firstboot wizard to run (hopefully).

Good luck.

HEHE....If only I'd been able to get here just a little bit earlier.

I was experimenting with Knoppix last night and...well, "Houston...we have a problem!"

I kinda FUBAR'ed the ole computer. I managed to get my XP system up and running and moved the last two pieced of critcal data over to my Storage Drive and get my 20 gigs of music moved back to safety but the freakin' system is unstable as heck now. I'm going to start fresh (XP had a few 'weird things' going on anyway so it's good to start clean (except for the fact that I'm on a dial-up and downloading is a major PAIN!....Updates, Updates and more Updates for XP to be patched properly).

I'm not upset...this has been the most fun I've had on a computer for YEARS! It reminds of the days when I got my first computer and didn't know ANYTHING! I torched the hard drive in a week and had to get it replaced (someone mentioned FDISK but didn't mention it wasn't a place to learn). I can say is Yee Haw...I have something new to play with and learn!

I want to thank both of you for all the patience and help. I've saved all the notes from this project and now have a much better understanding of all the things I don't yet understand

Regards,
Paul

Paul, you're definitely my kinda guy (I thought I was the only one who said things like "Yee Haw!" in similar situations ).

Yes, it is often easier to just reinstall XP (or 2000, which is what I have) clean at this point (especially if you've FUBAR-ed something, but often even if not "really" FUBAR-ed), and yes, it is a PITA, and I would suggest not stressing too much about it-- get the basic install done, get it updated (17 billion reboots), install your AV software, and just stop there and get back to Linux.

You may find that you won't actually be using XP all that much once you have Linux properly installed, and you'd be unhappy having spent all that time to reinstall and reconfigure an OS that you're not even using most of the time. Since reformatting and repartitioning my drives and reinstalling 2000 and installing Gentoo 2 months ago, I have spent about 30 minutes tops in Windows, and most of that was to check or cross-check settings. It would have been even less had I not done a Windows Update or two to cover publicized exploits and to update my AV software. So, very unlike me, Windows is using the Standard Windows desktop, pretty much nothing is installed (including my standard tweaks), and Windows is "just there", like it says in my profile. I'd wipe it completely, except some games that I'd like to test under Wine have to be installed under Windows (the games supposedly work, but the installers don't), so I'm keeping it around for that reason.

But I really don't use it, and you might not either, so don't invest yourself in it assuming that you will-- at least not right off the bat. It's not going anywhere, after all .

I enjoyed helping you as much as i could.
let us you if you need more help.
Michael

Just wanted to send thanks to youngstorm and motub from another Newbie. I just installed Mandrake last night and am really new to the Linux experience. I learned a ton reading this thread ( I have already saved it and will probably read it again tonight)

You guys are great.

Geoff

Glad to have helped somebody we didn't even know we were helping .