I am new to Linux and I installed Mandrake 10.1 and everything was working fine. I installed it alongside XP Pro and both were working fine until I rebooted one day and Linux would not boot. I did a clean install of XP pro and then tried to reinstall Mandrake and it would not boot from the CD-rom. I set the CD-rom as the first boot device before I started and I got the screen that prompted me to press enter or F1 to install and when I pressed enter all I got was a black screen. What am I doing wrong and what do I need to do to fix it?

SYSTEM SPECS

AMD643500( newcastle)
Asus A8V deluxe
OCZ pc3200 (512mb)
Western Digital 80gb sata X2
ATI 9800se
Samsung CD_RW 52x32x52
Samsung CD-Rom
Enermax 465w PSU

hi there,

i think can be a problem with acpi or/and dma.
try to pass some boot parameters.
acpi=off dma=off

regards

slackie1000

dunno how to sort the actual problem, but a handy "word to the wise" is that if you have snags when dual booting mandrake, you can just put the disc (the dvd or the first bootable cdrom) and boot it, then just hit the button that gives you the options - you should arrive at a prompt and you put rescue and hit enter, you get a list of options like re-installing the windows boot loader and re installing the linux bootloader etc etc.

regards

John

Try using GAG v4.5 as multiboot solution for your box. Use it first from floppy as safe variant. If positive go for hd variant

regards

Thanks for the replys I will get right on it.