Problem with dual boot after Fedor install -no windows
 

Is there something wrong with my system, should i start over from scratch?

I've had a win xp RH9 dual boot for awhile but i wanted to try a different distro. So first i installed mandrake. Installed ok, but kept crashing programs ala windows style. No soundcard wroking as in RH9. Weird because the MandrakeMove cd detected this fine

Then i tried going to SuSE. Boots from cd then choose to install and the screen goes black and nothing happens.

On to debian, goes ok for a while then when it tries to detect my ip dynamically to do the ftp install it doesn't work.

At this point, i am getting a little frustrated. Boot in to windows and go ahead and download Fedora Core FC2 Test 1 (1.90?) Installs ok but same problems as mandrake.

Now, when i get the GRUB screen at boot, i can boot into fedora ok, but if i choose xp i get something to the sort of:

rootverify hda1
bootloader +1

and then it just hangs there.

GRUB is in the MBR. What should i do? i tried re-intalling xp to get the MBR and then doing another Linux install. I can't do this becaue on the reboot, GRUB somes up and even though i choose XP to complete the install, i get the same damned message and hang again.

I also find it strange that all 4 distros that i tried didn't work correctly. Plus Fedora is RH based, so i would figure it would detect all of my card ok but it doesn't get the soundcard. Also weird is that Mandrake has the same problems as Fedora but the Move cd works fine without touching the HD.

Maybe my hd just needs wiped and redo everything?

How can i either get grub to work, or else get rid of it so i can reinstall my xp and then try another distro.

Thanks for reading my long-winded post, and for the replies.


Nathan

Ok, i went ahead and tried to run the windows recovery console and did fix MBR. This is supposed to fix the MBR by changing it to default load windows only (basically i believed to wipe it out just as installing windows would.). Now my computer is really screwed. No more grub but now i get a message that says "invalid operating system" or something similar. Right now i am only able to use my computer using the MandrakeMove cd that i had thankfully downloaded.

Is there anyway to comletely erase the MBR? Get rid of everything to start fresh or is there something i am missing. I might have to go and try istalling Linux but afterwards i won't be able to install windows because of GRUB.

Since this message i have also deleted all of my partitions so my drive should be comletely empty.

I think i am really screwed now, i don't know what to do. MBR won't work, cant get windows to install, lost my linux.

I might be forced to go out and purchase a new HD but i cant believe that it is completely screwed.

Maybe i should try installing Linux again (probabally RH9 since it is the only one i have used that worked correctly on everything i have)

What am i to do! Please help. :'(

Nathan

get a dos formatted bootdisk w/some utilities on it (namely fdisk), pop it in your computer, hit the start button, wait for the prompt, then:
fdisk /mbr

Then you can start over. You could have booted your linux installation from the install CD in "rescue" mode (if you hadn't deleted the partitions). From there, you could have fixed your bootloader. . o O (oops)

Actually, if you're going to do more installing, don't worry about the dos disk or formatting the mbr. the other operating systems will do it for you. install windows FIRST, then linux. there are tons of "how to" install tutorials that tell you about configuring the boot loader. In fact, there are several on this site, just do a little digging. I'm still pretty new to linux too, but I'm reading everything I can get my hands on so I can become proficient.

Good luck.

Sorry, i should have added that i have already tried the fdisk /mbr from a win 98 boot floppy and then started the xp install. It gets to a point then says remove all disks and reboot. I do, but i get the same error about not being able to boot the system.

I have tried getting xp to install about 5 times, getting the same message. Even after using fdisk to delete all partitions and letting the xp setup do the partitioning. Still no jackpot.

I have since tried installing fedora again, i need to use the comp for some important reports for college, so i couldn't be without one today.

Fedora install went through without a hitch, reboot, and up pops grub and then it boots into fedora with no problem.

I don't know what is going on, but for the moment i have a strictly linux box. I still would like to get XP working however, even if it means doing an install of xp and being forced to re-install linux, i'm not set on a distro yet anyway and i planned on reinstalling because fedora wasn't working too well which seems to be solved for the moment.

Any more ideas about the problem are appreciated.

Nathan