[Extatic]

Ok here's the deal.. Ive been watching some videos on linux suse and the xgl graphics and i felt the urge to try it out. My system setup is as follows. The reason im doing it with two hard drives is because i dont want to mess with my windows drive because i may mess it up and loose alot of data.

Intel P4 3.2 GHZ w/ HT
ASUS P4P800SE Mobo
1 GIG dual channel ram
250 GB Sata Hard drive
80 GB IDE Western Digital HD (Added this to install linux suse)

On the 250 GB i have Windows XP, and all my storage files etc. No partitions on this drive and its in NTFS Format. This drive is on the SATA1 Port.

I have added the 80 GB Hard drive on IDE port 1 And it is set as master drive, As a slave i have my DVDRW drive. No secondary IDE drives

I have the computer set in compatibility mode (Otherwise linux will not boot).. When bios is set to compatibility mode it shows up like this
I have to set it like this to get into linux suse

Primary IDE master WDC (WD 80GB HD-- Linux drive) w/ 3 Partitions
Primary IDE Slave LiteON DVDRW
Secondary IDE Master ST325062... (250GB SATA drive -- Windows/storage drive)
Secondary IDE Slave Not Detected

When i have it in enhanced mode it shows up like this
I have to set it like this and set the 250gb drive to boot 1st priority to get into windows

Primary IDE Master WD 80GB HD (Linux drive) w/ 3 partitions
Primary IDE Slave LiteON DVDRW
Secondary IDE master Not detected
Secondary IDE Slave Not Detected
Third IDE Master 250GB SATA Drive (Windows/storage drive)
Fourth IDE Master Not Detected

When its in compatable mode and i get into linux i get the grub boot menu.. I can boot into linux no problem.. But if i choose windows it doesnt boot it gives the msg that its loading
(dev/sdb1)+1 But it locks up there.. and i have to manually power down and re start the computer and either go into linux.. or go into bios.. set enhanced mode and set the 250gb hd if i want to get into windows... As you may guess this is getting quite annoying..

Im going to attach a web link to my homepage where i took some screen shots of the partitions and bootloaders.. I really hope someone who is familiar with windows XP and linux can help me out with whats wrong.

http://www.hometown.aol.com/bklynextatic25/index.html

I also have another problem with getting XGL enabled.. but ill hopefully address that problem once i can get this bootloader situated..

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.. If you need a breakdown of my bios settings please let me know and ill try to get some screen caps from the menus

Thankyou

[saikee]

Think you should understand the problem then the cure is easy.

When you installed XP it boots first so it must reside in the first bootable disk. Giving the first bootable disk to Suse will of course get youirself into trouble because during installation every OS, be it a Linux or a XP, records the boot disk position within the booting queue, so that it can find itself again if you boot it. Typically it needs the address of which disk and which partition to load the necessary system files.

Now the cure (I haven't played around with this compatibility or enhanced mode but the theory should apply)

Boot up Suse, click terminal mode
become the superuser by typing "su" and supply the root password.
edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to include the following lines

title My XP now in 2nd boot disk
root (hd1,0)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

The two map statements swap the disk order on-the-fly so that XP is given back the 1st boot disk staus. The disk order reverts back to the BIos setting when you exit the OS.

[Extatic]

Thankyou very much.. Once i did as you said it dual boots perfectly. Now i have another question/problem..

I am trying to get the XGL to work. I Downloaded the driver that i am supposed to be using, installed it.. and once i enable 3D Desktop and everything my system starts to lag and i cannot use any of the enhanced 3D effects.. I'm currently using an ATI Radeon 9200SE 128 MB Video card. I'd rather not have to buy another video card just to test out these features, And ive done some searching on the net and supposedly XGL is supported on ATI 8500 and above. ATI themselves will not offer any assistance on this subject, and say their drivers are provided as it with no support. So im hoping either you or someone else has a 9200se card and has had success in enabling XGL on it.

Thanks again

[saikee]

Glad to hear you got the two systems booting OK now. I always maintain booting in Linux is dead easy.

To get over the video problem just make sure your Linux's /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the Section "Device" has the entry

Driver "radeon"

It works for my Ati Radeon 9200SE but I am not a gamer and have not gone deep into 3D graphic. Also you should check the frequencies of your monitor match the

HorizSynch
VertRefresh

statements.

[Extatic]

Were you required to install any additional drivers in order to get it working?
I have no problem with the Display at all as far as 2D goes.. But when i try to enable the 3D desktop/Acceleration the system completely Bogs down. I Did install a driver pack from ati's site and that may be what my problem is, Perhaps i installed the wrong pack.. Before i installed the driver pack i was unable to enable 3D.. After the driver pack i could enable it but like i said it bogs the system down terribly.

[saikee]

Think you may need to start a new thread. I only use the generic drivers mainly and haven't gone deep into 3D graphics.