Hi im trying to install mandriva but the install hangs whilst installing the drivers for the hard drive controller (nvidia mcp04). I read that I need to use Libata but how do I include that onto the cd, I understand Ill have to reburn it. Thankyou Daniel

my temporary suggestion: switch mobo's BIOS to ATA hd mode, install (with no hangs probably) and after that rebuild kernel, including SATA chipset support.

...but first try loading the ata_piix module during install as discussed in this thread.

goodLuck

right, before i received your replies (thanks btw), my uncle gave me a 15gb ide drive, plugged it in, got mandriva on it, but it wont start up the gui. Ive tried startx which returned execve failed for /etc/X11/X (errno 2), connection refused unable to connect to x server, (errno 111) and no such process (errno 3). What am I doing wrong please? thankyou

solved thast problem... NOW i want to be able to access my windows partitions ones fat ones ntfs which ones easier to allow access to and how can i do it. these partitions are on my sata drive so im assuming i have to install libata to see them but i dont have a clue how to do this. thankyou
daniel

first of all, are you able to mount any partition on that sata drive?

if yes, you already have access to them - read/write to fat ones and as to ntfs - depending on your kernel configuration.

maybe not so though. try loading the libata module (in the regular case it IS already installed, just not loaded yet) issuing
or before that you may want to check if it's been already loaded
if you find it by the last command above the problem is somewhere else. a few suggestions: check your fstab (are there proper entries for those partitions); check /dev (are there any nodes similar to sda sda1 sda2... 'cause this is the way you sata drive partitions must look like and you may have to create them manualy if there are none);...

C U

*after some googlin' i found out that the correct low-level driver for your specific chipset is sata_nv...so you may add it to the commandline above as this (if needed):
good luck!
;-)

Im new to linux so i apologise if i sound dumb but do i type these into Konsole when mandriva is loaded up or when im installing it. If its the first 1 then ive tried all 4 given commands and each return (command not found). Why is this? thankyou

modules can be ADDED to kernel in both cases but only root has sufficient permissions for that kinda action (the # prompt was the hint!). you can LIST them as a normal user if you prefer - go to any terminal/console and type:
*the $ above is not typed by you - it's the normal user' prompt