17 Jul
2002
17 Jul
'02
11:59 p.m.
Have 2 HDDs:
Master: 4 Gb [hda]
Slave: 32 Gb [hdb] (is 40 Gb, but my BIOS treats it as 32 Gb)
Windows C: on hda. It has 2 more windows partitions.
For hdb the partitions are as follows:
hdb1 - Windows
hdb2:
hdb5, hdb6.... <10 partitions>. All Windows.
hdb3 - Linux native, mount point / - 10Gb
hdb4 - Linux swap - 200 Mb
It goes through the entire installation process, and asks me to
reboot. But then directly boots into Windows. Tried Lilo & Grub. I
explicitly asked to overwrite MBR during installation.
Haven't tried with boot disk. Damn those floppies. All turned up
with bad sectors :)
Tried RH Linux 7.2 & 5.0.
Any way out?
Warm regards,
Nikhil.
18 Jul
18 Jul
9:37 a.m.
On Wed, 2002-07-17 at 14:10, Nikhil Karkera wrote:
Have 2 HDDs:
Master: 4 Gb [hda]
Slave: 32 Gb [hdb] (is 40 Gb, but my BIOS treats it as 32 Gb)
Update your BIOS, you wish to live with 8GB missing because of old bios
???
Windows C: on hda. It has 2 more windows partitions.
For hdb the partitions are as follows:
hdb1 - Windows
hdb2:
hdb5, hdb6.... <10 partitions>. All Windows.
hdb3 - Linux native, mount point / - 10Gb
hdb4 - Linux swap - 200 Mb
It goes through the entire installation process, and asks me to
reboot. But then directly boots into Windows. Tried Lilo & Grub. I
explicitly asked to overwrite MBR during installation.
But is it overwriting the right one ? it might be overwriting /dev/hdb
mbr, you need to put it in /dev/hda, check that.
Haven't tried with boot disk. Damn those floppies.
All turned up
with bad sectors :)
Tried RH Linux 7.2 & 5.0.
Any way out?
How about using Red Hat's rescue mode to boot to linux, fix lilo/grub
config and install the boot loader ?
Best regards,
Rajesh
7:02 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: Rajesh Deo <rajeshdeo(a)earthlink.net>
To: <linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in>
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] RH Linux not overwriting MBR.
On Wed, 2002-07-17 at 14:10, Nikhil Karkera wrote:
I also have similar configuration..8GB and 40GB HDD with old bios.
BIOS update may not be possible as was in my case..i guess
use disk manager and get full 40 GB!!!
so i prefer put DDO(Disk Driver Overlay) at MBR and let there be no LILO or
GRUB!!!!
To boot into linux....start windows in command prompt and use
oadlin..( this will just take max 30 secs extra time..i guess its worth
since i get 8GB extra for it...
i would like to know if any better solution exist....
have u tried XOSL?? www.xosl.org
Regards,
Vishal
P.S: the above solution is not optimal!!! as when u start linux...u dont get
8GB inlinux but get it in windows alone.
Have 2 HDDs:
Master: 4 Gb [hda]
Slave: 32 Gb [hdb] (is 40 Gb, but my BIOS treats it as 32 Gb)
Update your BIOS, you wish to live with 8GB missing because of old bios 
19 Jul
19 Jul
2:47 a.m.
New subject: XOSL - The New BootLoader
Look & Feel
-=-=-=-=-=-
# User-friendly Graphical User Interface
# Full windowing system with mouse and keyboard support
# Resolutions up to 1600x1200
# Configurable mouse speed
# A set of color schemes
# Several color adjustment options
# Password protected boot configuration and settings
# Restart/Reboot/Shutdown
# ...and more...
Booting Features
=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=
# Up to 24 boot items
# Microsoft file system partition hiding support
# Storing additional keys before booting
# Activate partitions (one per system or one per HD)
# Automatic booting (with timeout)
# Auto boot last operating system
# Password protection per boot item
# Boot master boot record on any drive
# Boot DOS/Windows 9x on any drive
# Hotkey per boot item
# Support for hard disks larger than 8Gb
# [XOSL 1.1.1] Coexist with virtually any other boot manager (boot original master boot
record)
# [XOSL 1.1.2] Run Ranish Partition Manager 2.38 beta 1.9 from XOSL, without first booting
an OS
# [XOSL 1.1.2] Master boot record virus protection
# [XOSL 1.1.3] Swap drives
# [XOSL 1.1.5] IDE CD-ROM booting by including Smart Boot Manager
# ...and more...
XOSL is known to support
=-=-=-=-=------=-=-=-=-=
# BeOS
# MS-DOS
# FreeDOS
# Linux (with Lilo)
# Solaris
# VxWorks 5.x
# Windows 95/98/Me
# Windows NT/2000
# ...and others...
System requirements
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Minimal system requirements:
# 80386 or better with 4Mb of RAM (6Mb for 1280x1024/1600x1200)
# VESA VBE 1.2 compliant display controller
# 300kb of free disk space
Recommended:
# Pentium 100 or better
# VESA VBE 2.0 compliant display controller
# PS/2 or serial mouse
http://www.xosl.org
ScreenShots: http://home.wanadoo.nl/geurt/shots.html
Navin Dhanuka
=-----=-----=
.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes
http://autos.yahoo.com
6:30 a.m.
New subject: XOSL - The New BootLoader
On Thu, 2002-07-18 at 16:58, N.a.v.i.n ....D.h.a.n.u.k.a wrote:
Look & Feel
-=-=-=-=-=-
# User-friendly Graphical User Interface
[snip]
yes xosl rocks :-), but I guess GRUB and LiLo are easier for newbies to
handle, then one can experiment.
Rajesh
12:45 p.m.
New subject: XOSL - The New BootLoader
On Thu, 2002-07-18 at 16:58, N.a.v.i.n
....D.h.a.n.u.k.a wrote:
First of all, XOSL is not at all new. It has been there for ages, I would say.
I've been using it for last 3 years. But now apparently the development of
XOSL seems to have been stopped. The last stable release is 1.1.5.
This was released quite some time back. And no announcement of new
releases......
Secondly, I find XOSL to be much easier to handle than GRUB or LILO.
It is only because you've been using them(GRUB / LILO) for quite some time
that you find them (GRUB / LILO) easier. Consider remembering all those
clauses you have to specify in /etc/lilo.conf or /boot/grub/grub.conf.
Instead, if you could use point - & - click method, it will make your life
much easier as a newbie.
If fact, XOSL is much safer for newbies as well. You can password - protect
your entries.
Kunal
Look & Feel
-=-=-=-=-=-
# User-friendly Graphical User Interface
[snip]
yes xosl rocks :-), but I guess GRUB and LiLo are easier for newbies to
handle, then one can experiment.
9:07 p.m.
New subject: XOSL - The New BootLoader
First of all, XOSL is not at all new. It has been
there for ages, I would say.
I've been using it for last 3 years.
I never knew that.
Also never heard about any boot loader, besides GRUB & LILO
If fact, XOSL is much safer for newbies as well.
I agree with you.
But wonder why never heard about it anywhere.
I cam to know about it, only after a pal from NCST Khargar,
told me about it.
Does anyone has CYGWIN.
Navin Dhanuka
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes
http://autos.yahoo.com
20 Jul
20 Jul
12:53 a.m.
New subject: XOSL - The New BootLoader
Does anyone has CYGWIN.
Instead of Cygwin, try out DJGPP for GNU utils like GCC.
It can be found at www.delorie.com/djgpp .
It is much better. And one more thing, AFAIK, Cygwin needs to be installed
online, I'm not sure though. And Cygwin is really big in size.
DJGPP is distributed as separate downloadable zip files.
So, you can download just enough stuff whatever you need.
Kunal
(kgangakhedkar(a)softhome.net)
(kgangakhedkar(a)hotpop.com)
19 Jul
19 Jul
1:05 p.m.
Slave: 32 Gb [hdb] (is 40 Gb, but my BIOS treats it as
32 Gb)
Well, as I could gather from the discussions held earlier on this group,
having an old bios & connecting a 40GB hdd should not cause any problems.
The linux kernel has algorithms to directly talk to the HDD controller -
without the intervention of the BIOS. This was a news for me.
In that case, it really does not matter what the BIOS shows you.
You still should be able to access all 40gigs thru' linux.
Windows C: on hda. It has 2 more windows partitions.
For hdb the partitions are as follows:
hdb1 - Windows
hdb2:
hdb5, hdb6.... <10 partitions>. All Windows.
hdb3 - Linux native, mount point / - 10Gb
hdb4 - Linux swap - 200 Mb
It goes through the entire installation process, and asks me to
reboot. But then directly boots into Windows. Tried Lilo & Grub. I
explicitly asked to overwrite MBR during installation.
Well, it also depends on which version of Windows you're using.
If you're using something like ME or XP then, the Windows OS protects the MBR
somehow. So, any other software which tries to access / overwrite MBR will
fail.
The solutions - many.
Prerequisite - Write the Linux bootloader (any) into the First Boot
Partition and not in MBR.
1. Use some other bootloader like XOSL to boot into it. But then, I don't
know whether the new XOSL supports GRUB, it surely does support Lilo.
It cannot boot into linux without a "regular" linux boot loader.
Check out the linux kernel boot sector documentation for why.
2. If you have NT Boot Loader (if using XP), then create an image file of the
boot sector using dd. Copy this file to some windows partition. Edit your
boot.ini to add an entry corresponding to this new boot sector file.
That's all. From next time onward, you'll have an entry in your NT boot loader
menu which will load the original Linux boot sector.
The only problem is you'll have to do it everytime you modify your boot
sector. I USE THIS METHOD TO BOOT INTO RH 7.3 FROM Win2K BOOT LOADER.
3. Find out if the Windows protection of MBR can be removed. If yes, then you
can safely install any linux loader into MBR. But it is kinda risky. You
cannot guarantee proper booting of windows after that. USE IT AT YOUR OWN
RISK. After all it is windows.
Kunal Gangakhedkar
(kgangakhedkar(a)softhome.net)
(kgangakhedkar(a)hotpop.com)
20 Jul
20 Jul
8:05 a.m.
On Fri, 2002-07-19 at 02:45, Kunal Gangakhedkar wrote:
I have two machines running Win XP and Linux running, Win XP does not
protect/overwrite the MBR. Neither does any other version of Windows.
Well, as I could gather from the discussions held
earlier on this group,
having an old bios & connecting a 40GB hdd should not cause any problems.
The linux kernel has algorithms to directly talk to the HDD controller -
without the intervention of the BIOS. This was a news for me.
In that case, it really does not matter what the BIOS shows you.
You still should be able to access all 40gigs thru' linux.
With Linux up and running thats fine, troubles arise only when one is
booting using a older bios and/or older versions of boot loaders like
Lilo,the large disk troubles also arise if different operating system on
the same disk has different understanding of disk geometry. Even if you
use the native partitioning tool in the respective operating system, the
resulting partition structure can be troublesome to other OSes on the
system. Since most commonly used OSes like Win98 SE, Win NT 4./2000/ XP
and newer versions of Linux know about accessing large disks, using and
partitioning large disks is not a problem any more. As the
Large-Disk-HOWTO says, everything is fine by default, it is only when
you have really ancient hardware/bios and if you force the Linux kernel
to see a particular disk geometry that problems can arise.
Windows C: on
hda. It has 2 more windows partitions.
For hdb the partitions are as follows:
hdb1 - Windows
hdb2:
hdb5, hdb6.... <10 partitions>. All Windows.
hdb3 - Linux native, mount point / - 10Gb
hdb4 - Linux swap - 200 Mb
It goes through the entire installation process, and asks me to
reboot. But then directly boots into Windows. Tried Lilo & Grub. I
explicitly asked to overwrite MBR during installation.
Well, it also depends on which version of Windows you're using.
If you're using something like ME or XP then, the Windows OS protects the MBR
somehow. So, any other software which tries to access / overwrite MBR will
fail. The solutions - many.
Now we don't need any :-)
[snip]
2. If you have NT Boot Loader (if using XP), then
create an image file of the
boot sector using dd. Copy this file to some windows partition. Edit your
boot.ini to add an entry corresponding to this new boot sector file.
That's all. From next time onward, you'll have an entry in your NT boot loader
menu which will load the original Linux boot sector.
The only problem is you'll have to do it everytime you modify your boot
sector. I USE THIS METHOD TO BOOT INTO RH 7.3 FROM Win2K BOOT LOADER.
Gee, Such a lot of trouble, just use lilo or grub to boot Win2k, no need
to do a hell lot of skirmish to use your brand new custom kernel :-)
have fun,
Rajesh
2 Aug
2 Aug
8:35 p.m.
> Well, it also depends on which version of Windows
you're using.
> If you're using something like ME or XP then, the Windows OS
protects
the
> MBR somehow. So, any other software which tries
to access /
overwrite MBR
will fail.
I have two machines running Win XP and Linux running, Win XP does not
protect/overwrite the MBR. Neither does any other version of Windows. > 2. If you have NT Boot Loader (if using XP), then
create an image
file of the boot sector using dd. Copy this file to some windows
partition. Edit
> your boot.ini to add an entry corresponding to
this new boot sector
file.
> That's all. From next time onward, you'll
have an entry in your NT
boot
> loader menu which will load the original Linux
boot sector.
> The only problem is you'll have to do it everytime you modify your
boot
> sector. I USE THIS METHOD TO BOOT INTO RH 7.3
FROM Win2K BOOT
LOADER.
Gee, Such a lot of trouble, just use lilo or grub to boot Win2k, no
need
to do a hell lot of skirmish to use your brand new
custom kernel :-)
Well, it is kinda way of fooling Microsoft OSes. Some people prefer NT
bootloader as the primary bootloader. This method is for them.
Why I say fooling is because windows keeps on crashing - nothing
new.....
So, while rectifying that problem, you MAY need to reinstall Windows
bootloader. Now, if LILO/GRUB is installed in the MBR, it asks for
trouble.
Instead, you just need to create the bootsector file as I said, keep it
in a safe partition, then it can be used again and again even after a
new bootsector installation. GRUB simplifies the work even more. With
LILO you need to create the bootsector file everytime you update LILO
config. With GRUB, this is no more required. Just create the damn
bootsector file once, GRUB will take care of reading the grub.conf file
& you'd be off booting into the custom kernel.
--
Kunal Gangakhedkar
--------------------------
MCA Student @ VJTI
kunal(a)vjtimca.net
kgangakhedkar(a)softhome.net
kgangakhedkar(a)hotpop.com
--------------------------
7725
days inactive
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11 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
ambarish pathak -
Kunal Gangakhedkar -
N.a.v.i.n ....D.h.a.n.u.k.a -
Nikhil Karkera -
Rajesh Deo -
vishal gupta