hi all

am a newbie in linux
i hav 2 hdds (1 is IDE with Win XP loaded; other is SATA on which i am trying to install RHEL4.0)
I AM NOT ABLE TO EVEN BOOT MY WINXP NOW!!!
whenever i boot frm either HDs it is the same annoying grub prompt.

I had made manual partitions of Linux on SATA HD as:
/ (root)=6gb
/boot=500mb
swap= twice ram

i chose to install grub on 1st sector of SATA but same error
then i chose to install grub on MBR(which it was SADLY by default XP's MBR)--> same error

but after final reboot, it is giving me a grub prompt
ALL I WANT i just my XP back;
i tried reparing XP (which had workd earlier) but no use now
i tried giving Fixmbr cmd at recovery console but it said it will render my remaining drives in-accessible

can anyone also throw more light on how to use Live CD to cure this problem?

GOOGLED A LOTTTTTTTTTT but helpless

PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!!! I M A NEWCOMER IN LINUX

thanks

Change the BIOS so that the XP disk is the first disk in the boot sequence.
Reboot from the XP CD and run the fixmbr - ignore the messages, they are rubbish.
Reboot and check XP is still ok.

Now to install RHEL;
Change the BIOS so that the S-ATA disk is the first disk in the boot sequence.
Reboot from the RHEL CD and redo the install - install grub to the MBR. This time it should go to the MBR of the S-ATA, and leave the IDE disk alone.
Reboot and check the Linux install. You should also be able to get to XP from grub, but Redhat have a poor record of implementing that when different disks are involved.
If it doesn't work post back here - it's easy to fix.

hi

when i burnd the iso image of Supergrub CD i downloaded & booted frm this CD, it showd me following options:

Menu
GRUB=>MBR & !LINUX! (1) AUTO ))
GRUB=>MBR & !LINUX! (>=2) MANUAL )))
!LINUX! (1) AUTO
!LINUX! (>=2) MANUAL
!WIN! (
WIN=>MBR & !WIN! (((((

when i select the Win option to boot, IT STARTS THE Win XP SETUP!!!!
IT DOES NOT TAKE ME TO MY ORIGINAL WINXP!!!!!
IN gRUB HELP it was written that it might fix the MBR (an equivalent of fixmbr command)
SO DOES THAT MEAN IT WILL FORMAT MY OLD WINXP? & I'LL LOSE MY PREVIOUS DATA & HAVE TO RE-INSTAL ALL APPLICATIONS AGAIN?

actually i freshly installed WIN2003 SRVR ON MY SATA HD & when i boot through Supergrub CD, & select the Win option, it TAKES ME STRAIGHT TO WIN2003 OS...............HOWZZ THAT????

BUT FOR XP IT TAKES TO THE SETUP....NOT MY PREV WORKING XP OS- HOWZZ THAT??
I HAD CREATED A RESTORE POINT FOR MY XP OS AS WELL AS USED THE WIN BACKUP WIZARD & TOOK A BACKUP OF EVERYTHING ON MY PC

BUT STILL I AM TRULY SCARED!!!!!
PLS HELP ME

THANKS AGAIN

now as i hav freshly loaded win2003 on my prim partition (20GB) of my sata hd,
DOES IT MEAN THAT MY BOOTLOADER FOR WIN2K3 IS ON MBR?
STILL THERE IS 17GB FREE SPACE ON MY 2K3 PRIM PARTITION,

THEN HOW ABOUT INSTALLING RHEL ON THE SAME PARTITION?
WHERE WILL ITS GRUB GET INSTALLD? ON THE SAME MBR???

COULD U EXPLAIN CLEARLY?

I will make a suggestion, if you are planning on running two different versions of windows and then different versions of linux and boot them individully you need to read this article. In this he explains a way to boot multiple windows OSes and linux and the reason he does it that way. You may also consider using a 'Virtual Machine' which I understand slows things down some. Anyway check this out and see if it answers your questions and if not ask again and I will try and help.

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showt...hreadid=147959

hi

when i booted from Supergrub CD yesterday, it prompted me to insert WinXP CD where it took me directly to the setup screen.
WHAT I THOUGHT
THAT MY XP WAS BEING FORMATTED/FRESHLY INSTALLD (INSTEAD OF BEING REPAIRED) SO I QUIT THE PROCESS (3 times)


1.Now Neither i can resume setup
THE MSG SAYS "SETUP IS BEING RESTARTED" (since i had quitted it ystrday)
& THEN THERE IS A BLACK SCREEN WITH A MOUSE POINTER--> FREEZE!!!


2.nor there is any result of FIXBOOT C:
IT SAYS THAT MY BOOT SECTOR WAS SUCCESSFULLY WRITTEN
BUT AFTER REBOOT AGAIN A BLACK SCREEN AFTER BOOTING FRM MY IDE HD

3.nor there is any result of FIXMBR
AFTER REBOOT A BLACK SCREEN AFTER BOOTING FRM MY IDE HD

4. XP IS NOT GOING IN SAFE MODE

I THINK I SHUD HAVE GONE AHEAD WITH SUPERGRUB CD PROCESS........

ITS NOT WORKING WITH SUPERGRUB CD/XP CD
WILL LIVE CD OR THE 5TH EXTRA DISK (the one we get with 4 Red Hat instln CDs) HELP?

pls guide me with the procedure..

thnks

It sounds like you quit on your windows disk after it had started with a new install. If you have a live "linux" cd, boot it up and as root open terminal and enter 'fdisk -ls' and post the results here. Even if your windows is damaged you may be able to save alot of your files. Some of the later live distros are able to read ntfs files.

First you need to go into bios and make sure the 'cd drive' is first in the boot sequence.

hi

i installd XP again but it said:
THERE IS ANOTHER INSTANCE OF THIS OS INSTALLD; CHOOSE ANOTHER FOLDER OR CONTINUE INSTALLN IN SAME FOLDER (C:\WINDOWS)

so i chose another folder; namd it WINXP.

i know my old xp is still alive, but i hav messed up a lot, not able to recover it.

however there is no grub prompt as well (since on my sata hd i installd fresh win2k3 from where i am writing to u.

i spent 1 whole day downloading iso image of a LiveCD through BitTorrent. (name:Userful LiveCD; which later i realised was not the correct one)
when i booted my pc thro' it, it showd some screens & then froze...blank screen
this happnd many times

i booted thro' supergrub cd & did the following:

grub>rootnoverify
grub>makeactive
grub>chainloader +1
grub>boot

but same msg after booting "Setup is being restarted...." black screen

i tried but couldnt edit /boot/grub/menu.lst


then i chose the menu, Un-instal Grub ; still no effect

pls tel me how do i get to edit grub.conf after booting thro' Supergrub/LiveCD?

Now i am downloading Freespire LiveCD which wil take 8 more hrs.

wil let u know

thnks

Sorry, i did

grub>rootnoverify hd(0,0)grub>makeactive
grub>chainloader +1
grub>boot

If there is a folder there it should give you the option to repair, if so choose this and at the option choose 'command prompt' and type 'FIXMBR' without the ' marks. You may be able to save the information you have on your windows partition. If that does not work try and install windows again and when it asks if you want to install in the same folder (the files will be overwritten) choose 'yes' or 'ok'. This will let the windows XP format the partition. This should get you back to where we can have windows then start working on getting linux installed.