@alex101
Thanks for your suggestion, but apparently the problem was not on harddrives but on installing steps.

@quatsch
I have succeeded to install mandrake with some error in open packages and I chose not to install them. Does this action affect the system?
I use GNOME desktop and when I saw the screen resolution is only 640X480.
How can I add and change the screen resolution without having to upgrade using CD ?

Missing packages: If you don't notice anything untoward, I wouldn't worry too much about it for now. All of the packages can be installed later on from mandrake control center. They can also be downloaded. A nice way of setting up some sources for download can be gotten here:
http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/urpmiweb.php
the 'main' is what's on the CDs, the others are useful additions.

screen resolution: go to mandrake control center-> hardware ->XFdrake and you should be able to change the resolution. If you don't see mandrake control center in the menus for some reason, you can start it with a command from a terminal:
mcc

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your suggestion and I have succeeded to change the screen resolution to 800x600 or 1024x768 as you adviced. I played around with gnome desktop and now I have cursor just like a white square. I have tried to change for an arrow cursor but still not success. Could you show me the way I should do to rectify this? Also another thing happened when I played around , I lost my original toolbar. I can get sliding toolbar but I like the previous one. How can I get to directory of other harddisk with win98 or on flashdisk ?
Thanks in advance.

cursor and toolbar changed? Maybe it helps if you delete all the files starting with .gnome (the hidden ones) in your home directory. These are the user specific settings and they will get recreated with the default settings when you log in again and are missing. (do not confuse these with the system wide settings somewhere under /etc, /usr and the like)

Your win98 partition should be under /mnt/win or something like that. Just look in /mnt for the suspects. I'm not sure if a flashdisk gets mounted automatically. If it does, it probably is also somewhere under /mnt. If it is not there, you'll have to mount it manually. Something like
mount /dev/sda1 {mountpoint}
though I'm not too sure. I'm sure there are threads about flashdisk on this forum.

Thanks quatsch,
I have tried to look for files starting with .gnome, but I could not see them.
How can I change their properties to make them visible ? Anyway, I have done re installing mdk9.1
by removing linux partition first and chose GNOME desktop because the system could not launch KDE desktop.
When installing was complete, I still got the square(?) cursor instead of an arrow. What should I do ?
Another problem that I got is that I can not go to the directory in hda (win98).
I have tried to go to each menu item but I can not see the way to reach directory.
May be because I'm an Newbie
Thanks in advance.

Sorry, I don't know about the cursor. Teh default is usually a dull black arrow - a box is at least something novel
win98 partition. It's not in the menus. Open a file browser - I guess it's nautilus - and then go to the directory /mnt; there should be something like a win directory (you have to first go up in the directory tree from your home directory). You should also be able to see the hidden files by telling your file browser to show them - there should be some option to that effect somewhere.
If you can't see them in a file browser, you can see them in a terminal window. Use
ls -a
to list all files including the hidden ones. You can delete files by
rm {filename}
But be careful. The files do not go into a trashbin but get deleted right away.

Thanks quatsch,
I succeeded to get into directory by nautilus . . . . Look likes that I have to learn much these days, lol.
May I get back to you if I stumbled on a problem, please ?

glad I could be of some help. Sure get back to me. Maybe I can help. Don't know if I can be of much help but I usually check the threads that I posted to.

cheerio

Nice chart dalek,

Question: hey dalek, I finally got around to installing Mandrake 9.2 back on my old computer. I have put it alone on it's own hard-drive. I was the one having problems with my browser opening up on the internet. I wiped everything out and reloaded. i.e. wrote zero's to both hard-drives.

Here's my question; Once the Master Boot Record has recorded or done it's thing, is there anyway to change it without having to reinstall.

I'd like to know if you can set the count-down timer in lilo to 30 seconds instead of 10 or can you change the default setting once it's been installed.

d-1

You can change the timeout in the lilo.conf file, it is in the etc directory. The way I did it in 9.2 was to open a terminal and switch to root, su and password, then type in kwrite. In kwrite select File then open. Click the up arrow until you get to the top level. Then click etc then lilo.conf. When it opens you will see the following line:

timeout=100

For 30 seconds you will change that to 300. Those are in tenths. Basically just add a 0 to the end. 60 seconds would be 600 etc etc.

Save the document and close kwrite, then type in /sbin/lilo in the terminal. It should make the change for you.

You should have 30 seconds then.

That would be a bit easier if Mandrake had let you have a file manager with root access. If you want one, let me know and I'll find the post or post the instructions again. 9.1 has one, don't know why 9.2 left it out.

Later

Ok dalek, I can change the lilo configuration in the etc directory, how do I open a terminal and then switch to root?

Please let me know.

I go down to the "K" start area and scroll to what menu?

Thanks,

BTW - I downloaded my nvidia file, anyway can I call you and you can give me a walk through on how to install?

My email address is miadolphins@att.net

d-1

Dalek I figured out how to change my lilo boot count-down timer by a fluke. I went to my Mandrake Control Center and I scrolled to the boot section and I went to lilo/grub mode and I clicked on configure box/tab. From taht point I saw the setting where it was set to 10 seconds and I changed ot to 45 seconds. I then hit apply.

d-1

That works to. One reason I pointed that way out is if you decide to install Gentoo ro something, you will need to know where that file is and what it looks like.

You can add Gentoo or some other Linux distro in MCC, but it can be a but sometimes.

Glad you got it though. You can also during install click on configure bootloader and change it there to.

Later