Linux Mandrake 9.2 First Time Install & I can't get in!!

[I26 0]

I setup WindowsXP to dual boot with Mandrake 9.2 with Mandrake being first on the drive. It seemed to load great then I get a login screen which I enter my sn i used during install and a pw as well which i also type in. I am then faced with this:

 

[myscreennamehere@localhost myscreennamehere]$

 

What am I supposed to do now. I followed an install guide that was in maximumPC and it mentioned nothing of this screen. I used myscreennamehere instead of the actual one i used. Any suggestions? Thanx.

[Maillion 0]

Quote:

I setup WindowsXP to dual boot with Mandrake 9.2 with Mandrake being first on the drive. It seemed to load great then I get a login screen which I enter my sn i used during install and a pw as well which i also type in. I am then faced with this:

[myscreennamehere@localhost myscreennamehere]$

What am I supposed to do now. I followed an install guide that was in maximumPC and it mentioned nothing of this screen. I used myscreennamehere instead of the actual one i used. Any suggestions? Thanx.

When you see this: [myscreennamehere@localhost myscreennamehere]$ type "startx" (without the quotes) and then press enter. You will then see the gui starting up. You have a lot of stuff that you can do at this 'command line', much of which will actually be better than using a gui. If you feel like learning about it, then before you type 'startx', type "info bash" (again, no quotes) and press enter. Have fun! 8)

[I26 0]

Well when i installed it I could no longer get into WinXP. I was getting the error autochk program not found---SKIPPING AUTOCHECK. System would then reboot. Ok, I fixed that and got back into WinXP and eliminated the Linux Partition I had. The thing is the LILO Bootloader is still present. Can i make a new partition using Partition Magic and overright the existing LILO when i reinstall mandrake? I tried to get rid of LILO but i can't get it. I tried the ntfsdos bootdisk and then FDISK /MBR like everyone says but it did not work.

[Maillion 0]

Quote:

Well when i installed it I could no longer get into WinXP. I was getting the error autochk program not found---SKIPPING AUTOCHECK. System would then reboot. Ok, I fixed that and got back into WinXP and eliminated the Linux Partition I had. The thing is the LILO Bootloader is still present. Can i make a new partition using Partition Magic and overright the existing LILO when i reinstall mandrake? I tried to get rid of LILO but i can't get it. I tried the ntfsdos bootdisk and then FDISK /MBR like everyone says but it did not work.

Does XP now boot? ;(

[danleff 0]

Be careful. If Lilo was/is installed in the master boot record, probably hda1 (the first drive on your system), then changing this partition will kill your Windows boot as well.

 

I think that the problem was your video card, or monitor settings. If you did not get a GUI, only a command line, most likely xfree did not like the config. for the video card, or monitor.

 

I assume that you did not try running startx at the command line, as was suggested? This would have told us something about what was going on.

 

The problem was most likely not the bootloader, but a setting for the video card.

 

fdisk /mbr does not always work and can be dangerous... you probably have to use the XP fixboot utility on the XP cd to restore the MBR, IF, XP is currently unable to boot.

 

But, if Windows can be booted from lilo or grub (whichever bootloader that you are using), then you may want to leave it that way and research the issue more closely.

 

This way your system is up and running and you can backup important files, in case something goes wrong in rectifying the problem.

[I26 0]

Yes XP boots off LILO but mandrake is gone. As far as messing it all up it does not matter. Its a new lappy and my main stuff is all backed up to my server of my desktop. Thanx for the info.

[danleff 0]

Ahh...it's the laptop!

 

Problems with the video!

 

See the following;

 

http://www.cs.ucsd.edu/~dgupta/articles/linux-dell-8600.html

 

Be careful. I've seen this before. There is a small diagnostic partition at the begining of the hard drive. This stores data that holds diagnostics and some XP features for the laptop. If you disturb this partition, Windows will need to be re-installed using the recovery cd. On some laptops, this space is also used to store bios data.

[I26 0]

Thats a great find. Great link!!!! THANX!!!!