Fedora Core 3 and XP Dual Boot Problems

[WindowsDependant 0]

I'm new to linux first off, and I have a Dell inspiron 5150 P4 2.8ghz w/512 mb RAM. Anyway, I had XP Pro installed and I decided that I wanted to try out Fedora Core 3, so i d/l the iso and burnt it correctly, I installed everything and no probs to speak of, however I couldn't get back to xp from grub boot loader, when it started windows it said "autochk file missing". So I reformatted my hd and installed just linux, no probs. Mow after a little research I think I know how to get the dual boot working, but when I rebooted from xp Pro cd it says please check your systems hardware configuration and then the screen goes blank! ( I caught something while linux was loading that said something.... "0.4% uncontigious". Now I can't get boot from XP cd, what can I do????

[danleff 0]

Quote:

I caught something while linux was loading that said something.... "0.4% uncontigious

This doesn't mean amything to worry about. It is Fedora's check of the hard drive, telling you that 0.4% percent of the partition is fragmented. This is normal.

If you formatted the hard drive and just installed Fedora, allowing it to use the whole hard drive, then the windows install disk can't find a valid hard drive to install to, as it is unable to read linux partitions. It thinks that there is no hard drive on the system.

Since you removed Windows by reformatting the drive, we can't get grub to fix the problem booting into XP. If you need to keep Windows, then I suggest reformatting the drive to fat32 or ntfs and reinstalling Windows. Leave some space free for Fedora (unformatted)at the end of the drive, then re-install Fedora again, allowing it to use the free space that you left unformatted.

You will get some differing views on this, but Windows should be the first OS on the system, as trying to install XP after will overwrite the Master Boot Record and remove Grub, which is there now. There are ways to do this, but not really for newbies using Linux. It is easier to start from scratch and set things right.

If the dual booting now works, great! If not, come back and we will walk you through dual booting, if needed.

Otherwise, enjoy Fedora sans Windows!

[WindowsDependant 0]

Sounds Great man and Thank You, Can you tell me if there is an easy way to reformat to ntfs? I'm not sure how to go about it from linux, I have partition magic for windows but I can't get to it at the moment (hence the aforementioned problem). Can anaconda do it for me? Thanks in advance ! :-)

[WindowsDependant 0]

Nevermind I got it formatted correctly, and I'm installing xp now !

[lwkoh 0]

Originally posted by WindowsDependant:

Quote:

I'm new to linux first off, and I have a Dell inspiron 5150 P4 2.8ghz w/512 mb RAM. Anyway, I had XP Pro installed and I decided that I wanted to try out Fedora Core 3, so i d/l the iso and burnt it correctly, I installed everything and no probs to speak of, however I couldn't get back to xp from grub boot loader, when it started windows it said "autochk file missing". So I reformatted my hd and installed just linux, no probs. Mow after a little research I think I know how to get the dual boot working, but when I rebooted from xp Pro cd it says please check your systems hardware configuration and then the screen goes blank! ( I caught something while linux was loading that said something.... "0.4% uncontigious". Now I can't get boot from XP cd, what can I do????

 

 

Hi, face the same problem. Need advice.

 

I got a asus notebook. Just repartition it w winXp Pro from scratch a week back and clean up all data, w remaining 8gb unallocated space. Then a friend I know help me install debian in the 8gb, ending up with 356mb of swap partition and 7.6gb of linux partition for the debian os. I tried using debian but get abit technical for me. so I decided to use fedora core3.

 

I install this noon and redo the linux partition to be:

/dev/hda

/dev/hda1 ...ntfs partition for winxp pro

/dev/hda2 ...20gb fat32 partition for data storage

/dev/hda5 ...about 20gb fat32

/dev/hda6 ...369mb new swap parti for fc3

Free ...7mb

/dev/hda3 ...ext3 7774mb for fc3 os

 

Then i follow part1 but not part2 of a help file

Part1:

"

Boot Loader - My boot loader is Grub which is installed on the / partition, NOT the MBR. To do this, select Configure Advanced Boot Loader Options and install to First sector of boot partition.

"

 

Part2:

"

I use Bootpart from Windows 2000 to load Linux. An alternative to Bootpart is the NT OS Loader + Linux mini-HOWTO. I recommend this so you do not corrupt your Windows installation in a Dual-Boot environment.

"

 

I also follow

"

Check the "other" check box on the "boot loader configuration" page. Click "edit". Type "Windows" in the "label" box and uncheck the "default boot target" check box. Click "ok".

Click the "default" check box next to "Fedora Core" to make it your default boot operating system. Click "next"

"

 

Then I choose the "everything" package and it takes 2.5hrs to install from 4 cds. Then it try to reboot and it cannot detect grub

"

Grub loading stage 1.5

Grub loading, please wait

Error 17

"

 

I then try to boot up using fc3 disk1 again on my usb cdrom and choose to upgrade the fc3 and ensure the grub settings are correct. When I reach this stage, it always tells me "no boot loader installed" and suggest to me to reinstall boot loader

After upgrading fc3, it shows error msg

"No kernel packages were installed on your system.

Your boot loader configuration will not be changed"

 

Now, i'm stuck in a pc that cannot boot from my harddisk.

Unlike windowdependent, I would very much like to go back to my previous winxp pro cos there are tons of settings and software installed there although no critical data files.

 

Please help.

[danleff 0]

If you have your Windows XP install disk, pop your Windows XP CD in your CD drive and boot off of it. You will be asked if you want to install or use the recovery console. Choose the Recovery Console option and then enter the fixboot command and hit the enter key. Once that is completed, run fixmbr and allow the changes to take place.

 

Reboot and see if XP's bootloader allows you to boot into Windows.

 

[lwkoh 0]

Originally posted by danleff:

Quote:

If you have your Windows XP install disk, pop your Windows XP CD in your CD drive and boot off of it. You will be asked if you want to install or use the recovery console. Choose the Recovery Console option and then enter the fixboot command and hit the enter key. Once that is completed, run fixmbr and allow the changes to take place.

 

Reboot and see if XP's bootloader allows you to boot into Windows.

 

Yap, did that, great advice. Now my mbr is back and i boot directly in winXp pro.

 

But i still cannot boot from the fedora core3 that i install. Any advices? Is it correct to say that perhaps fedora disk druit did not install the grub correctly that it somehow screwup mbr. Now that my mbr is back, it should be time to install grub correctly as suggest in:

http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

 

Problem is when i run partition magic from winXp, it gives me:

init failed error 117

I cannot even run partition magic.

 

It is indeed a very tiresome installation for newbie like me.

[danleff 0]

Quote:

I then try to boot up using fc3 disk1 again on my usb cdrom and choose to upgrade the fc3 and ensure the grub settings are correct. When I reach this stage, it always tells me "no boot loader installed" and suggest to me to reinstall boot loader
After upgrading fc3, it shows error msg
"No kernel packages were installed on your system.
Your boot loader configuration will not be changed"

Now, i'm stuck in a pc that cannot boot from my harddisk.
Unlike windowdependent, I would very much like to go back to my previous winxp pro cos there are tons of settings and software installed there although no critical data files.

OK, I guess that I misunderstood. I thought that you just wanted to get back to your Win XP install.

I re-read your post and see a couple of issues.
Fedora will not boot now (doesn't show) because you wrote over the MBR with the windows bootloader.

Your "upgrade" was not really an upgrade, since you already had FC3 on the system. Therefore, no kernel packages were installed, as the message said, because they were already there. Grub was not updated, because no changes in the kernel were made.

PartitionMagic fails with the 117 error code because it can't read the partition table properly. If you attempted to install Fedora over the debian install, this could be the issue. You should always reformat the linux partition when trying a new distro to completely clear the partition. When you change distros, you need to consider what you are doing for a bootloader and where it was located and remove it if necessary. So, /dev/hda3 is corrupt is my guess, from multiple installs.

I also bet Debian was using lilo on the MBR? If you did not uninstall lilo (on the MBR) it was still there. You installed Fedora and installed grub to the root partiton. Ignore the article that you posted about, as it is for Redhat 7.2, not Fedora. Things have changed.

If you feel like trying again, there are a couple of things to do. You can try to recover Fedora as it is, but I would start over, given the partition issue. PartitionMagic doesn't always like how Fedora marks partitions, which is why you should use one partitioning technique, PartitionMagic or the Fedora utility to make your FC3 partition(s).

What I would do, is do a re-install (not upgrade) of Fedora, if you want to keep trying it. When you get to the partitoning utility, tell it to use and format /dev/hda3 (your linux partition) for Fedora.

Here is where you have two options. When choosing the bootloader, you can install a bootloader onto a floppy, instead of the hard drive. This way your system is not affected by grub, when you want to boot from Fedora, use the floppy, until you are comfortable with the install and navigating Fedora. You can always install the grub bootloader again from within Fedora, if you wish.

Or, allow Fedora to install grub on the MBR during the install. It will set up grub properly to boot either Windows and Fedora. In past versions of Redhat, some suggested not installing grub to the MBR. However, Fedora should handle this fine.

Do not install all of the packages in Fedora, there is no need for this. Accept the default install selection for packages to install. If you need more later, you can always add then from withing Fedora. This should take a lot less time.

[lwkoh 0]

Hi danleff,

 

Thanks for your willingness to help, realy appreciate your advices.

 

Btw the pc i'm working on is:

Asus s200 notebook. pentium3 mobile 800mhz 256mb ram.

No floppy drive, no cd rom, only usb, lan and rj9 and firewire.

Bios allow me to boot from usb cd rom, usb floppy drive, usb flash.

 

The latest situation:

After your very useful fixmbr advice, i learn about the usefulness of recovery disk.

After partition magic gives me error and refuse to start up, i freak out cos there must be serious prob in my hdd so i run winxp recovery again but this time to

chkdsk /r /p c:

and also the d drive.

There are bad sectors in c drive and it recover them after locating them. Bad sector must be due to my on/off of the asus over 200times over the past 2weeks. I usually wait for 15 sec b4 on the asus again. I must hav been too hurried some of the times.

 

1 task done but the strange thing is that I try to follow your advice and i re boot using the fc3 disk1 again and try to install again from scratch, not the upgrade. It prompts error messages that No partition table located and freak out and reset the aSUS.

THis is not the case 2 times b4 i chkdsk c:. I've already re-install fc3 2 times but all 2 times I did not do a clean format of the linux partition. Basically, i cannot re install linux any more.

 

If that's the case, i suspect that i have to do a thorough clean install of xp from scratch and get it to re partition my hard disk correctly. Then all my software and settings will be down the drain and i got to endure long wait of transfering data files to another network pc's harddisk and back again.

 

If that's what it takes to safely have linux together with xp, I'll just have to do it then. I really cherish linux and the community behind it cos i get tons of help from many ppl, from advices to free cds to physical help to install linux. I dun see such a spirit in any other areas of interest. Even though I'm in singapore, I am really glad to find a willing ear and expert advice from you, whereever u r. I'm determined to get linux to work and help my friend to install linux in his 9 pc in his office.

 

What's your opinion and advices for me?

 

 

 

 

 

[DarkoD 0]

Hi all.

 

I also have problems booting FC3 and XP and I hope someone can give me couple of hints. I'll try to be as precise as possible, being quite new to Linux.

 

I had a Mandrake 10 installation I played with until recently and the LILO boot loader never gave me any problems although it was my first Linux try. Since I have Athlon 64 a friend suggested for me to try FC3 64bit version and I thought why not.

 

Did the download, burnt the CDs, run the media check at the beginning of install.

 

1. I have an IDE drive strictly for data at the moment. No OS, no boot loader on it, and I would like to keep it that way since I plan to remove it soon. So I want my both OS on the other drive I have, SATA Maxtor 120GB.

 

2. Deleted the Mandrake 10 partitions and tried installing FC3 there. Used the manual partitioning, no major issues. But could not boot to WinXP after (NTLOADER missing message). First time it was my fault, since I didn't notice that in fact I set the GRUB to load on /dev/hda (my IDE) instead of /dev/sda (my SATA which is primary boot device in BIOS too). Playing around with FIXBOOT and FIXMBR managed to mess it up completely.

 

3. Since all my data is on the IDE, didn't get too upset, did a re-format of the SATA, deleted all partitions, and installed a clean WinXP with 30GB NTFS system partition (/dev/sda1 later during FC3 install) and 10GB NTFS data partition (/dev/sda4 I think).

 

4. Started the FC3 install, 65GB ext3 partion as /, 5GB swap partition and 5GB vfat /share partition in case I want to transfer files between the OSs.

 

5. This time I was careful to install the GRUB on MBR of /dev/sda (my SATA drive, as I wanted). Added new entry in the boot menu named WindowsXP pointing to /dev/sda1. Is this a mistake??? Is the easiest option for a newbie to use the MBR or should be avoided? Should I just edit the "Other" entry in the boot menu FC3 install shows, or just Add new entry?

 

6. Should I install the GRUB on / and not on the MBR of the SATA??? I have found posts mentioning it, but I'm still confused whether during boot up it will be seen by default at all, since it's not in the MBR. I would like to avoid further complicating with boot programs under windows/dos.

 

After all the above, FC3 loads fine, but both remaining entries in the boot list, Other and WindowsXP (created by me during install), give "NTLOADER missing" message.

 

I haven't actualy even started working with FC3 so I would delete the partitions for it, recreate and re-install, I don't mind. But I want to do it right this time. Can you please just advise the basic, most simple options concerning the boot loader configuration and location that should be used. Thanks a lot.

[LeadfootL 0]

Hi, I just ran into a problem with both a Dell with an upgraded BIOS, and a new computer - fixed it by making the drive LBA in the BIOS settings, and also by forcing LBA32 in the Fedora Core 3 install. This was to solve problems of Fedora install reporting: a partition table problem; pointer errors and then GRUB halting before starting X-server after finally getting it to install. It works and Fedora boots cleanly now. Hope this may assist.

[timczer 0]

It seems like this dual boot issue comes up a lot. I also am new to linux and did a FC3 install. I put it on a seperate hard drive in my computer. I did the install following the directions on screen. After everyting was done, I have no problems booting and running fedora (although I am very confused on installing and running programs, but I will learn). My problem is that I cannot boot into windows xp. When I do, it flashes to the window screen, then a blue screen, and then right back to booting. I have tried the sfdisk fix suggested elsewhere that allows the geometry to be read correctly, I have tried getting the hard drive to be viewed as LBA in the bios, but cannot get windows to boot. The disk appears to be fine as I mounted the NTFS drive and I can get all my files from the drive. Is there anyway from here, without reloading windows xp and wiping the drive that I can get this to boot. Also, how do I create a partition on the primary drive that, god willing, if a get the dual boot going, a can put files for both systems to read? Thanks.

[burgess 0]

bootmagic makes all these problems go away.

 

0. make sure you have or leave space for a windows partition, a linux partiton and a fat/fat32 partition.

 

1. to get windows back (skip if windows loads by default or linux not installed yet) follow the instructions to load the windows recovery console and then fixboot and fixmbr, or if not yet installed then install it

 

2. install linux (skip if already done) taking care to set advanced grub options and not to install grub/lilo on the mbr. removing the non linux partitions from grub/lilo's list is helpful but not required

 

(you can do 1 and 2 in either order)

 

3. repeat the instructions in step 1 to get back to windows if necessary

 

4. install bootmagic if not already installed, making sure you check the enable bootmagic box and add both the windows and linux partition (the one you installed grub/lilo to, not the swap space or any other partition) to the list (they should already be there).

 

e-mail me if you have trouble.. bXurgess@emaXil.com (remove the two X's)