Install Nightmares- Xp and Mandriva both wont boot
 

Hi,

Had XP installed and working normally. Then decided to dual boot with Mandriva LE 05 so used partition magic to set up 2 other partitions. One that had the EX2 file system (used as mount / ) and the other was of course a swap. Then the remaining was the NTFS partition (to be resized). The partion process seemed to have no problems.

So the install went fine and it linux booted fine for the first time. Then, I did a routine restart and niether XP or Mandriva will boot! Grub shows up, but when selecting windows the logo screen appears and then it comes to a screen saying "XMT2002- PROGRAM NOT FOUND and AUTOCHK- PROGRAM NOT FOUND. SKIP AUTOCHECK" and then just sits there. If I try to boot normally into Mandriva from grub, it brings up a console-type window that has the OS name at the top and it just says localhost login-- so I type in my username and it tells me the time of last login and just goes to a normal console prompt. I don't know what command to get it to boot up in GUI mode. So the actual boot process of linux seems okay, it just dosen't bring up the GUI/KDE logon. What is the command to logon from just a console window and how do I get it back to booting in GUI mode?

So what I've done so far: I tried putting in the rescue disk and telling it to reinstall the boot loader- that did nothin for either OS. I also tried to restore the windows boot loader and then when the computer restarts it just says BAD IPL. So then I went back and reinstalled the linux bootloader again and its doing the same things listed in the last paragraph.

My main questions/problems are:
-How do I get xp restored so it dosent say that it cant find those 'programs'
-How do I get Mandriva to boot in GUI mode again? (Also, before the first reboot I changed the screen resolution. Don't know if that makes a difference)

THANKS!

-Eric

If you get to the console again, try typing startx.

Tried, but then it just asks for a password. Niether my username or root password will work

2 Cents: Reinstall LE2005, and when you are in the last step of the install setup where it lists the hardware of your PC, like keyboard, monitor, etc, look for Monitor I think it was and setup the Video Card, like the resolution and all. And make sure you mark the checkbox that says "Start Mandrake with Xorg blah blah" or something like that. Then it SHOULD work, by the way in the Console for login you type root as username and the password that you made for root, then type startx (in case you dont want to reinstall LE2005), also try reinstalling Glub, if it doesnt work Mandriva can install other bootloaders.

Hope it helps!

Hmmm, when I tried the startx it said 'Failed to load module "/usr/x11r6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.a" "open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory, No devices detected" and then "fatal server error: No screens found" I assumed it was a problem with the video/resolution so I reinstalled and its fine.

I'm still looking for a solution to xp sucking and not booting. Any ideas? It seems linux destroyed the windows MBR. Im considering doing a 'repair' installation off the cd but I dont know if that would work.

(P.S. I have lilo, not grub. my bad)

When partitioning, best to have your windows partition first, the linux partitions last, linux can be anywhere, windows is unhappy if it is too far from the beginning....at least it used to be a problem. Sounds like your windows partition is hidden, using your partition magic, you can "unhide" it and make it "active". It should then be fine to boot.

As far as Mandriva goes, no need to reinstall, login as user (and user password). Issue the command "su" without quotation marks and give (root password when promted). Next issue the command "XFdrake" without the quotation marks , this will bring up the utility to set up your graphics, when you choose the driver be sure to use the "test" button to make sure your set up works prior to saving it. You did not say what your graphics card is but an nvidia card will use the "nv" driver, ati will use the "vesa" driver, and I believe "vesa" will actually drive nearly any card. Once you set that up, the command "startx" should send you to a graphical user interface where you can find "configure your computer" under system>configuration in the menu. The password it wants when starting is root password not user. When that fires up, highlight the tab labeled "boot" on the left and you will see "enable autologin and select the user to automatically log in". Click on that and set it up, and then welcome to linux.

Edit: Ok, I see you did an edit, glad you got linux up and running, I would suggest you check that your windows partition is not marked as hidden and is marked as active using partition magic before messing with installing windows mbr. Not sure if XP can boot linux, but I assure you if your partitions are marked properly grub and lilo can boot both.

Well, you could try another bootloader with Mandriva. the Install Setup lets you select, and if you go to System->Configuration->Configure your PC, you can browse in the menus and look for the Bootloader item (when it asks for a password, its the password you selected for Root) and change the Bootloader from there and see if it works. If it doesnt work you could try reinstalling WinXP, but I think the reinstalling will overwrite the bootloader thus not showing the Linux option, just going straight to WinXP. In that case make a "fake install" of Mandriva, which means dont reinstall any of the components and just reinstall the boot loader. Also, if you do this method, make sure you DONT select the "New Installation" option, but the other one that says Reinstall or Update your Current Version (or something similar) and then skip the installation of the packages and just reinstall the bootloader.

Then check if both WinXP and Mandriva load. My 1st time with Mandriva I had the very same problem as you, I overlooked the X11 setup and it only showed the console. Thankfully I managed to get around it on my own, and then I reinstalled it and made sure that X11 booted along Mandriva everytime (but WinXP still worked... but I have never touched WinXP since I installed Mandriva).

Alright, I got them all fixed. It turned out the NTFS partition was hidden, so I used grub temporarily and edited the command line to unhide it. Then XP booted fine and am able to use Lilo again to boot both. I'm sure lots of other people have this problem, becuase partition magic never unhides it automatically.

And the reason the original installation of Mandriva wouldn't go into GUI mode was becuase the screen resolution I selected wasn't supported. This is a widescreen laptop, so the only resolution Mandriva will support is 1024X768. Which is too big for my liking, I'd rather have it at 1280X800. Oh well.

Thanks for all your help.

Could you give more details?
 

I have this problem today and I need to get this fixed. I have no idea what you mean when you say I used Grub ?? how and what did you do on the command line? how did you get into windows xp to get the command line etc. please be as detailed as possible. I've gotten myself into a real mess and would like to find a way out.

Thanks!