FDISK problem

[psyklops]

I've read plenty of HOW TO's but they dont address this issue.

Objective: To reformat my hd and create two partitions. One for Linux. One for Windows.

Problem: Ive made a boot floppy for win 98. When I did a test run everything seemed fine. However when I ran fdisk I eventually ended up with this error when trying to repartion my primary dos.
"Total disk space is 19564 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes). Maximum space avalible for partition is 16 Mbytes ( %). Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space (%) to create Primary DOS Partition.............................: [ 16]
end quote.

Maximum 16 Mbytes!? What the hell...! If I add any percentage (I want 50%) for DOS primary, or any number over 16 I get this:

"Request partition size exceeds the maximum avalible space."

Now, Ive tried this after I reformated my hd. Ive tried this attempting to create both a FAT32 and FAT16(32 is what I want though). Nothing allows me to make a partition beyond 16Mbytes. I even disabled my rollback program but nothign seems to work. At my wits end with this Linux stuff. Any help would be God like and much appreciated!

[sarah31]

Hello!

I was just wondering if the LBA option in your Bios has been disabled? That is the only thing that I can think of that might be limiting the partitioning of your drive. Enabling it may help out. I may be off base with this one so you might want to wait for a few more answers.

[psyklops]

No, the LBA Mode Control was enabled on my hd when I tried fdisk.

[Slackn00b]

Total disk space is 19564 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes). Maximum space avalible for partition is 16 Mbytes

That line tells me that SOMETHING is filling up your disk space. You said you had a win98 boot disk, is win98 the only OS on your HDD now? When you get to the fdisk menu, choose option "4" to view partition information. You may have a non-dos partition or an extended dos partition that's using up all the free space. You'll have to delete all the partitions, (Option "3" IIRC) exit fdisk, then run fdisk again to create the layout you want. If you want to dual boot, install Winders first, then Linux. If you want to use only Linux, get rid of that win98 boot disk and use a Linux boot image.

[z0mbix]

I had a very similar problem last week where DOS fdisk could not see the linux partitions, so I had to re-run the first part of the linux install, delete all partitions and write them to the partition table, then restart the box, and run fdisk in DOS again. Don't know if this is relevant as I don't know if you've had or got linux partitions on there.

[psyklops]

SlackN00b:
I used option three before I posted on the board. It showed only one partition. A primary DOS FAT 32 system that was using 100% of the disk space... I had Linux 7 on a partionless install but I erased that .img file.

Could it be my rollback program? Partition Magic wont work with one active. Ive tried disableing it at reboot, then repartition but I came up against the same problem...

Cheekyzombie:
Ive ran the first part of the install for RH linux but it only shows one partition, the primary DOS taking up all the space.

[Slackn00b]

OK, that clears it up a bit. The rollback program sounds like winME (yuk). You're going to have to delete your primary partition before you can do anything else. That's what's using 100% of the drive. You may be able to boot to a floppy (DOS) and use a program called FIPS (Comes with most distros) to resize your partition. NHF (http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/installation/preinstall.html) Hope this answers your questions

[ 04 December 2001: Message edited by: Slackn00b ]

[psyklops]

Slackn00b:

Im using Win98 not ME. I was told ME meant mellenium edition. Dont know if thats true or not. So, my comp has the rollback prog name GoBack installed by Gateway back in the day. Its the only thing that allowed me to bring my system back online, when I reformatted it and hit the brick wall with fdisk... Thats why Im a little hesitant about erasing it with my primary partition... If I hit a different brick wall then Ill be out of luck. My rollback will have been removed along with the primary partition. I wont be able to recover a system.

I did try to use FIPS. I had to disable my rollback for it to work but unfortunately I hit a brick wall with hidden files on my hd which prevented me from reclaiming disk space. I couldnt' find the hidden files in the registery so I gave up on it...

[Slackn00b]

Yes, ME is Millenium Edition, and a POS. Things are getting clearer as we go... If all you have is your Gateway recovery disks, most of those fdisk/format your drive back to the way your system was when it left the factory. About the only way to set up a dual boot is to either install another drive and boot Linux from it using LILO or GRUB, or to try to find a full copy of win98 somewhere. That roll back program should be somewhere on the disks you got with the system, but I've never used it so I can't tell you much more about it. Does the setup program give you any partitioning options? Probably not, most companies like Gateway are in bed with Microsoft, and actually discourage the use of other operating systems. If you have a win98 CD other that the recovery disk, go ahead and FIPS the drive, get rid of the hidden files in DOS (Real DOS not win98 DOS) by typing "attrib /?" that will give you the command line options for inhiding the hidden files. This is not reversible, if you want to run Linux on the same drive, you'll have to wipe everything and start from a blank drive. No matter what else, you should have the CD's that came with the system to put it back to running Windows if you have to. You should know that you probably have a winmodem too, so Linux might not like that. You'll have to boot from a DOS 6.22 or earlier floppy - do a google search for boot disks, it's out there.

[ 04 December 2001: Message edited by: Slackn00b ]

[Mr Myaghi]

A tip for everyone using fdisk.
Don't use it, use gdisk instead. It comes with norton ghost but it's free so you can download it from symantecs site. It can do everything that fdisk can do + more. You can run it in batch mode which is awsome. Fdisk sometimes doesn't allow you to delete a linux partition. You'll never have this problem with gdisk. Formating with fdisk might take 20 minutes but with gdisk it taks 20 SECONDS! plus it makes better clusters. I'll never use fdisk again under any circumstances after I've tried gdisk, you'll think the same trust me! :cool:

[DMR]

GoBack definitely needs to be disabled. It changes the partition type to its own format (Type 44), making it incompatible with partition managers. As for the hidden files, both the "image" and "mirror" programs create hidden files at the end of the Windows partition. Look for image.idx and mirrorsav.fil, both of which can prevent you from resizing the partition. If they exist, remove their hidden, system, and read-only attributes and run a defrag program.

[psyklops]

Mr Myaghi do you have a link for gdisk?

DMR I had GoBack disabled used fdisk and it still didnt work, so... It looks like Im going to have to either delete my primary partition and hope I dont hit a wall. And could you tell me where I can find these inage.idx or mirrorsav.fil? I thought they were in the registry? Ive looked there before but I couldn't find them. Where are they stored specifically? Will it say image.idx or mirrorsav.fil?

Slackn00b I ahve the original windows cd so thats no problem. I also have the recovery disk so thats no problem either. Ill try that command to find the hidden files. I thought they were in the regestry? If I can find them then maybe I can use FIPS and prevent myself from reformating and repartioning.

Thanks for the help guys. Ill get Linux up and going if it kills me. :D

[ 04 December 2001: Message edited by: PsyKlops ]

[Slackn00b]

PsyKlops, Sorry for the delay. It sounds like DMR has dealt with goback before and definately has the right idea. You have the win98 CD, so if you want to wack the whole drive and reinstall you can, but you should be able to see the two image files in windows explorer. They won't show up in the registry other than maybe the path to them under HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE_SOFTWARE_GOBACK or something similar to that. Under 98, hidden/archive files should show up as "greyed out" or real pale icons, but you might have to adjust your view options to show all files. Or click start/find/files or folders, and search for them by name. Right click them, uncheck the system/hidden/read only boxes under properties, and get rid of them. Then FIPS/FDISK/CFDISK should be able to edit the partitions. Be sure to boot to a floppy, not your win98 hard drive, and if it tries to load, disable goback. You may need your win98 CD in the drive if win98 format isn't on the floppy, but that's easy too. You have almost 20 gig, personally I'd set it up 12 gig for the win98 and 8 gig for Linux, but it's your computer, thus your call. The only thing I dual boot is an old 486 laptop thet won't even run 98, I'm stuck with 95 if I need to boot to winders. Good luck!

[DMR]

The issue with the two files (which, incidentally, have nothing to do with the GoBack problem) isn't about registry references, it's about their physical position on the partition. They live at the end of the partition, and as their attributes (R/H/S) prevent them from being moved by defragging programs, you can't shrink the partition. Here's a short description I found, with the fix: 3. Data at end of hard drive after defrag
-----------------------------------------
a) Windows swapfile isn't moved by defrag. You must uninstall it using the
386enhanced part of the Control Panel and reinstall it after using FIPS.

b) The progs IMAGE and MIRROR, store hidden files in the last sector of the
disk. These files are image.idx and mirorsav.fil. Delete them before using
FIPS (they'll be recreated next time you run mirror). In the root directory:
attrib -r -s -h image.idx
attrib -r -s -h mirorsav.fil
del \image.idx
del mirorsav.fil

c) Search for hidden files.

d) DO NOT MOVE DOS HIDDEN FILES ibmbio.com, ibmdos.com or something similar.
These reside in the first sectors of the disk anyhow.Hope this helps...