[GoBoy]

Hi

I've got a bit of a problem, so I will start at the beginning just so you understand...

Basically, I have this problem with Powerquest Partition Magic 8, in that whenever I run the executable it says: init failed: error 117, "partition's drive letter cannot be identified". It boots into Windows Xp with no problems at all.

I found out from online support that this was a problem with the master boot record. PowerQuest recommended to do a clean install, format (the whole lot!), well I have done that and it still complains! Just so you are aware this hard drive is a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120gb ATA 133.

I have just recently purchased a SATA 150 version of the above hard drive, especially so I could install Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update 3 on it without fuss. But uh oh - problems again, the install program gets as far as the partition section and freezes. I am adamant this is to do with my "so-called" dodgy master boot record on the ATA hard drive, but there is nothing I can do about it.

I was thinking of putting Windows Xp on the SATA hard drive and Linux on the ATA, I just want the two operating systems installed on my computer. I am also a bit worried about going into the Recovery Console as I have Service Pack 2 installed and my original XP CD is Service Pack 1, would that corrupt everything? Can anybody help me out here? Or suggest a method of action for me to take. It is kinda urgent cuz I am back at University in my final year and already have a lot on my plate, I need Linux for one of my module's!!

Any help would be appreciated,

Go Boy

[Sting3R]

Hey I have the Powerquest partition magic also....I installed linux on a logical partition with windows xp. The method I used was making xp the first partition and then the second logical rh9. Now when installing rh9 use druid to install the partitiion....BUT dont format...leave the information as is....partition magic sets it up for you. Then install......when you get done your pc should boot to fedora and give you an option for linux or DOS. Should work fine.

[5mi11er]

Ok, you've got a second hard drive. You want to install a clean linux system on it. Install and connect the new hard drive as a master, make the XP drive a 2ndary drive and/or make it non-bootable from BIOS. Boot from the linux install CD, and install linux and either grub or lilo. I would recommend grub, but others wouldn't; in the end it's personal preference.

Once you're done, hopefully grub or lilo will have recognized the windows drive, and will offer you the option of booting that OS, or into the newly installed linux system.

If you still hang when attempting to layout the partitions, then you'll need to completely remove the XP drive, then install linux, and later re-add the XP drive and have to manually add the entries to boot XP into grub/lilo. In any case, you want the new SATA drive to have the new MBR for the system, and leave the "dodgy" XP MBR alone.

-Scott

[GoBoy]

Well, I disconnected the XP ATA drive and installed Linux on the SATA drive and had no troubles with that. Now I have connected the XP drive again. I'm not convinced that SATA hard drives have a MBR, I heard they didn't need one - or perhaps I am confusing myself with the fact they don't need to be configured in the BIOS?? I don't know, well anyway, I installed GRUB, but it still boots straight into XP for some reason. Because of this, I have to go into the BIOS and change the boot drive to the Linux SATA drive, it gets so far into loading the necessary dependencies but when it gets to check for new hardware it freezes again. Obviously the same disagreement with my "apparently" corrupted ATA MBR. Oh what to do? Thing is, I know if I format my XP drive I am just going to be going over the same footsteps - I am convinced it will still complain - shall I just chuck out the hard disk and get a SATA one??

[Cabbage42II]

Perhaps this link can help you. It helped me out immensely.

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

[GoBoy]

Hi, the website didn't work! Any chance I could have it again?

Thanks,

Go Boy

[Cabbage42II]

Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention when I copied the link. Try this one.

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

[saikee]

The MBR is just the first track of the first primary partition in a hard drive and I expect SATA to be no different. I run SATA disks but haven't used them for booting Linux yet as Kernel 2.4 and below do not support SATA unless with a driver.

Your current problem may be just due to the naming of the hard disks by RH9.

Before you get too far can you confirm both XP and RH92 work perfectly if

XP ATA on its own as boot drive - XP works normally

RH9 SATA on its own as boot drive - RH9 works normally

Then paste the /boot/grub/menu.lst file here (with the ATA disk disonnected obviously) and let us have a look. Also paste the naming convention of disks by RH9. You can get it by typing fdsik -l while logged in as the root user.

Normally it is just a simple matter of editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst to get RH9 to boot XP but we need to know why your RH9 refuses to boot when it is the designated boot disk (with ATA connected). RH9 should have named your SATA as sda and your ATA as hda and the two cannot be mixed up.

If you can't wait for the problem to be resolved you can always re-install RH9 again in the presence of the ATA as the first bootable disk. When RH9 asks you to decide on the location for RH9's bootloader Grub just opt for a floppy. That way you boot XP in the hard disk as before. If you want RH9 just slip in the floppy. Once you are happy that both work then you can install Grub into either the ATA disk or in the SATA. For the latter all you need to do is use RH9 to remove the bootable flag in the XP partition of ATA so that the system BIOS go straight into RH9. When you install RH9 in the presence of xp Grub will include it as the booting choice automatically.

In RH9 to put the Grub in the above two MBRs the instructions are

grub-install /dev/hda

or

grub-install /dev/sda

For obvious reason you only go for one alternative but you can actually put Grub on both disks. The second choice would leave your XP's MBR in the ATA untouched. That is all.