am trying to install mandrake linux 10.1 onto my pc that has a 160 GB drive with windows on it as far as 137 MB and a 80 GB drive that i want to use as the mandrake disk but the problem is that on installing it keeps telling me that there is an error: it says invalid partition list when i try and format the linux partions i have just created for installing onto. do i have to do a total reformat of the drive maybe low level format ?

No, not really. You should just make them the correct Filesystem type and then format them. They should be ext2 or ext3.

done it but correction is say invalid HDD description and it does this to anything i try say what abbout running the knoppix CD and seeing if i can prepartition and the install

Why don't you give us a partition list first. Then we can see what file formats you have setup.

fdisk -l

KC

i think i did :
am trying to install mandrake linux 10.1 onto my pc that has a 160 GB drive with windows on it as far as 137 MB and a 80 GB drive that i want to use as the mandrake disk
so therefor on the 80 GB HDD that has no partitions i am trying to make a linux system and swap partition is that clear enough ?

I must have misread something. your first post say's you did create the partitions and were attempting to format when you got the error. This would indicate that the partitioning was successfull but maybe an incorrect file format or other problem.

Still, if you could give us some fdisk output on your current partition scheme like below, it would really help

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40027029504 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5170 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 4079 30837208+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 4148 5170 7733880 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 4080 4147 514080 82 Linux swap

KC

say could the fct that it is on the secondary be a problem ? i just disconected the 160 G leaving only the 80 GB in question and tryed erasing the whole disk and doing just one partition but it still said it perhaps i should try it as the master of the first IDE channel ?