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????

I had some problems as well with my dual boot WinXP-Fedora and something similar happend to me. This worked for me (in this order):

1- Install WinXp on the FIRST partition. This partition must be smaller than 8 Gb.

2 - Install Fedora on other partitions
(the /boot partition should be installed in the first 8,5 Gb of the hard disk).
Important: During installation choose: Don't install Grub
(or any other boot loaders)

At this point both Win and Fedora are installed but you can only boot Win.


You can access your Linux partition through a bootable disk or using the first CD of FC3 installation. When "boot:" appears in the screen write:

boot: linux rescue


To be able to choose Win or Linux (dual boot) follow this:
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

The Windows cd is not able to read Linux partitions, so it thinks that there is no usable hard drive on the system.

If you installed Linux and allowed it to take over the hard drive, then this is the issue.

Reformat your hard drive, making the hard drive either fat32 or NTFS and install XP.

But, let's be clear on what you are doing. Was this a stock install of Windows XP, or are you using just Windows XP on this system. In other words, is the XP disk the one included from Dell, or your own full copy of Windows XP.

If this system originally had the Dell install of XP, then the partition structure is a little different on your system. Dell often has a small hidden partition on the first part of the hard drive, that holds recovery data, along with some other information.

In either case, if you no longer have XP on the system, either use the Dell recovery disks, or your full copy of XP to do a reinstall of XP. Then install Linux and follow the grub instructions provided by last post.