Basic Mandrake 10.1/XP Pro SP2 dual boot question

[Niwrad 0]

To start off, I have read the other posts on this subject, but they didn't help too much. I have two Western Digital HDDs, one 40GB and one 250GB along with a 2002 Dell Dimension 4400 box w/ DVD and CD drives. I have a few apps that I need XP for, but would like to make Mandrake my primary operating system. So I downloaded a 2GB 3-disk version of Mandrake 10.1 from linuxiso.org.

 

Next, I set up XP on the 40GB HD, letting this hard drive be master for set-up purposes and am now trying to install Mandrake. I have tried two approaches with both hierarchial configs for the HDDs:

 

1. Install from XP....Problem: Disc loads the graphics, but the install graphic does not respond to mouse clicks.

 

2. Boot from CD....Problem: Graphics load, allows me to select install, searches for USD devices, searches memory, then encounters a fatal error and initiates a termination sequence.

 

Oh, forgot to metion that I used OS X 10.4 Disk Utility to burn the ISO images to disk.

 

Thanks for any help or references.

[Niwrad 0]

Meant "USB" not "USD" of course. And more exactly, the install is having problems installing into memory. When I switch to the terminal it gives the message:

 

"EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended"

 

e2fsck is a linux filesystem isn't it? Are linux installs always this frustrating?

[danleff 0]

Originally posted by Niwrad:

Quote:

1. Install from XP....Problem: Disc loads the graphics, but the install graphic does not respond to mouse clicks.

 

Forget this. You can't install Mandrake from Windows XP. You must do so from a direct boot to the cd.

 

If you plan on installing to the same disk as XP is on, make sure that you defrag the XP partition. This assures that files are moved closer to the beginning of the partition, reducing the possibility of data loss. Manrdake will ask you if you want to use free space from the XP partition to install.

 

However, if you already made a suitable Linux partition, with say, PartitionMagic, then you should be fine.

 

The thing about Dell systems, is that they often have a small hidden partition on the beginning of the hard drive that can include bios related data, as well as recovery information.

 

On these systems, I recommend using another secondary drive, which you have, for the Mandrake installation.

 

Quote:

2. Boot from CD....Problem: Graphics load, allows me to select install, searches for USD devices, searches memory, then encounters a fatal error and initiates a termination sequence.

 

This is most likely due to a bad download, or burning

the iso file at too fast speed. The iso images need to be burned slooowwlly. Say at 4X or 8X.

 

 

You can read about this in my iso burning basics how-to.

 

Quote:

Oh, forgot to metion that I used OS X 10.4 Disk Utility to burn the ISO images to disk.

 

Thanks for any help or references.

 

A MAC? I know nothing about this utility, but if it is capable of burning bootable iso images, it should be fine.

 

[Niwrad 0]

Thank you so much danleff, your comments really helped. I've been burning the CDs at 16x so I think that may be the problem. I can't explain to you how much stress you have saved me.

[Niwrad 0]

I slowed down the burning speed to 4x and the install still suffered the same error. Thinking that it may be the burning software, I downloaded Dragon Burn and tried that, still the same error. I then thought to try a different source for the iso download, and again had the same error. Windows XP and Linux Live OSs run fine, what is it w/ Mandrake? I think I'll give Fedora Core 3 a try. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[danleff 0]

I'm now thinking that it may be a hardware issue.

 

What video card is on the system, ATI or NVIDIA?

 

Try passing the command;

 

linux nofb (hit the enter key)

 

...when you reach the initial installation window of Mandrake.

[Niwrad 0]

I have a NVIDIA video card, and on a side note, I successfully installed Fedora Core 3. However, I prefer Mandrake somewhat to Fedora, and if we can get it to work, I'd rather use that OS. If not, oh well, Fedora still kicks @$$. Also, I'm still left wondering why Mandrake isn't taking to my computer. I'll try your suggestion, thanks for the assist.