Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide
This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.
Click Here to receive this Complete Guide absolutely free.
I have an IBM Aptiva, with a Pentium II, 133 MHz processor. It has about 1 gigabyte of memory. I started out trying to install VectorLinux, and ended up with a total mess. When I partitioned the HD, the DOS files that boot Windows and the main VectorLinux files got deleted. The computer cannot recognize the CD-ROM drive, but I know it is working, because when I ran the product recovery disk, it worked. But that did absolutely nothing to recover the DOS files for Windows. Now I’m stuck with a computer that does nothing. Can anyone help this complete ?
You may only need to re-establish/reset the Master Boot Record. With the MS-DOS boot disk and the FDISK.EXE program (some would call a "command") simply boot DOS and type in:
FDISK /MBR
This is NOT the same as repartitioning your hard drive which is what FDISK's main purpose is (Microsoft's FDISK that is)! Lilo and other OS "loaders" have a tendency to mess up the MBR if all you want to do is run a Microsoft OS later on (that's the short answer anyway). One word of caution though: if you want to be able to boot and SELECT the OS (ie. Linux, Windows, OS2, Etc.), which is what Lilo and other similar loaders do, then you need to reinstall Lilo or whatever it was that you used to do that with (I can't tell you how that's done since I'm still just a Linux newbie myself and know very little about the inner-workings of Lilo). Resetting the the MBR for MS-DOS/Windows will permanently disable Lilo (or whatever) from allowing you to select ANY other OS when booting. This is usually the LAST step AFTER you resize any partitions BACK to their former parameters too. Of course, re-establishing the Microsoft boot files can't hurt either. To do that type in:
SYS C:
from a command prompt. Then again, that's assuming you have the SYS.COM utility on your floppy boot disk too (you really only need to do that if MSDOS.SYS, IO.SYS and/or COMMAND.COM are gone or corrupt which is NOT very likely). More often than not, simply copying the COMMAND.COM is all that's required. Hope it helps. L8R...
Thanks! Your sugggestions would have worked, had I been awake while I ran fdisk. But since I was intelligent enough to make the wrong partition the primary DOS partition, the computer is now trying to boot from 2 mb. I think I'll re-format it using another computer...
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.