I'm new to Linux and I read that Fedora would be a good distro to start with. I just build a new system (ASUS mobo, 1 gig ram, (2) 250 HD, AMD Athlon Fx-55). I installed XP Pro x-64 on my first hard drive and I tried installing Fedora core 5 on the second, but I get an error message after I reboot saying Loading Grub 1.5, then it says Error 17. I thought I installed the grub on the MBR of hda.

I should tell you that I have tried installing Suse 10.1 before I tried using Fedora. I had to abandon Suse because of Hardware compatiblity issues.

PLEASE HELP!

Post your grub menu.lst. Details are important when requesting help.

My menu.lst reads like this:

#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=/de/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd / initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

[QUOTE=BigAL2006]My menu.lst reads like this:

initrd / initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img


Looks like there's a space between / and initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img Try removing that.

I've had more luck dual-booting with FC2 as the master and WinXP Pro as the slave. I use the following parameters for the Windows entry in my grub.conf:

root (hd1,0)
map (hd0) (hd1) ; with these 2 lines, Windows will think it's on the master
map (hd1) (hd0) ; drive instead of the slave (apparently it needs to)
chainloader +1

This isn't verbatim, since I haven't had to modify it lately (for example, where are equal signs needed?). For more info, google "grub manual pdf" to get all the details.

Chris

Sorry, forgot to mention:

I'm using FC2's default boot arrangement, using a boot partition rather than modifying the MBR. I've seen ugly things happen with the grub loading from the boot record, specifically someone accidently installing Ubuntu and then trying to use an OEM restore CD to get rid of it. That managed to redo the partition information without affecting the MBR, and he ended up getting a grub error.

I've heard that LILO is better when you want your boot loader in the MBR, but I've never really used it.

I haven't had any problems with the default setup, and that's with grub 0.9.x (whatever ships with FC2...I'm on dialup at home, so updating isn't really a happy business).

I'm done now.