Mandrake won't boot up.

[Jessara]

Ok I've installed Mandrake 7.2 and Windows '98. When I try to boot into Linux it starts to load and then stops dead.
Can anyone help me please? I'm totally new at this stuff and have been trying to install over the last few days.

[legaviu]

Assuming you installed Windows first and then Mandrake, what is the last message on screen when it freezes? :confused: :confused:

[Jessara]

It's:

ide1 at 0x170-0x 177, 0x376 on irq 15

[Choozo]

Some notion about the hardware you are running would certainly help :)
From the message you got, I would take a guess that you are running your harddisk(s) on a Promise controller?

[Jessara]

Ok, I'm using a IBM Aptiva 211A.
64MB RAM
3.96 GB HD
40 x speed CD ROM
not sure about the rest of the specs. Is that what you wanted to know?

[Jessara]

Is there any way that I can get my HD back to the default partitions?

[Choozo]

Default partitions? .... depends on how tou installed Mandrake7.2 I guess. But you should be able to reclaim the Linux partitions by running fdisk (from DOS) to remove them, and then restore Master Boot Record (erase LILO) by typing fdisk /mbr afterwards.