Another Newbie--LNX4WIN Problem?.....

[drdeathgnj]

OK here everything is in short form:

I downloaded Mandrake 7.2 ISO's, burnt them, they are perfect. I made a bootdisk{didn't try cd-rom boot yet} and restarted.

I boot to Mandrake Installer. I then type "lnx4win" at the prompt and hit enter.

Mandrake starts its installation and probing of my system devices. It go's thru a bunch of system devices and ect. ect. and then it stops? I can't type anything and I sat for a good 5 minutes just incase its a slow process and still nothing happens.I then just take bott disk out and go back to WINME. Evrything is fine. It appears Linux install gets hung up going thru all the devices and bios in my machine, but doesn't tell if theres a problem?

I am very NEW to Linux and would like to know if anybody else had this problem and how to fix it and move on to installing Mandrake?
I have multiple 27gig hardrives and really don't want to go messing with my partitions just yet. I wanna try out Mandrake thru the WIN install and then move to its own partition down the road if I like Linux.

Thanks much for any and all help!!

[demian]

Any error messages at all? Try to switch to virtual terminals (ALT F1-F6) and search for any messages that describe the problem.

[njcajun]

Actually, there is a very long process involved after the device configuration and before you actually see files copying over and installation happening. It has to create a huge file in Windows to use for it's own 'virtual hard drive', and it takes awhile.

Though my experiences with it are limited, they are all bad, and with Redhat 7.0 being so damn easy at this point, you're better off just dual booting.

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Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it.

[drdeathgnj]

HMMMMM Thanks for the reply I shall give it another go maybe on installing. But when it runs thru all my devices and IRQs and such and then just appears to stop, I don't here any HD chatter or anything thats what makes me think nothing is going on?

The dual boot situation can be done easily enough but the whole process is both intriguing and frightening to me! I don't wanna F up my Windows system,ya know what I am saying?

[drdeathgnj]

OK if I give Mandrake its own Partition on my HD, Whats the Concesence on how it will go?
I don't wanna go this route yet but with little to go on here I figure I must move on!

[Econoline]

If you have 27 Gigs of HD space then it is the best choice, and there's no problems, to do a stand install to Linux's own partition. I am currently usign Linux from a lnx4win install and it is considerably slower than a standard install, believe me.
Also, about that thing when the screen goes black forever, it's trying to test or start the X Windows System (this is the core for all desktops to run). With Mandrake 7.2, the install is pretty stupid with detecting video card and monitor because it will just choose generic drivers when it doesn't know which proper one to choose. I found myself in the same situationo. The 2nd time around doing the install, I pressed CTRL + ALT + F1. That got me back to the intstall GUI and it continued the install, giving me options to choose video card, monitor, resolution, colour displau ,etc. The smart thing to do the next time you try to install is to choose the "expert" install option instead of "recommended" or "customized". That option should let you choose everything yourself.

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http://members.home.net/sebzag/Linux%20vs.%20Windows.gif

[smije]

I have the same problem, but I've just tried getting 7.2 installed. It gets to hdd: then just stops, I've let it sit for hours with no results. I gave up, I've put in slack, RH, deb, suse, and drake7.1 and never had a problem. I'm just going to wait for 7.5 (?) and hope whatever bug it is has been resloved.

[drdeathgnj]

HMM Well I see my problem is quite basic. Heres a kicker, I built a simpler version of my system for my MOM. I went over to her computer tomight and ran the Mandrake LNX4WIN Install and it go's thru all the finding device parts in her computer and guess what? It makes it thru the whole install with no problems. So theres something on my system that is F'ing it up.

Here is my entire system and my Moms system from top to botom!

:MY SYSTEM:
ASUS P3B-F Flagship MB AGP 440bxChipset
P3 600e 256 L2 Cache
228megs PC100@147mhz
3DFX V5 5500 AGP 64meg sdram
10/100 bps Ethernet PCI
Promise Ultra66 Controller PCI
Monster3D Sound Aureal Vortex2 Chipset
3.5 Floppy
Iomega ZIP 100meg IDE
Generic 50X IDE CD-ROM
Plextor 8x4x32 CD-RW IDE{Attached to 66}
Maxtor 4.2gig 5400rpm{not partitioned,WinOS}
MaxtorPlus 27gig 7200rpm{Partitioned inhalf}
MaxtorPlus 27gig 7200rpm{Partitioned inhalf}
WinME 4.90.3000
Microsoft IntelliMouse
Standard keyboard PS\2

:MOMS System:
ASUS P3B-F Flagship MB AGP 440bxChipSet
P3 600e
64megs PC100 SDRAM
3DFX V3 3000 16megs SDRAM AGP
Mach2 WinModem v.90 56K PCI
Generic COMP USA 32bit soundcard PCI
3.5 Floppy
4.2 Quantum BigFoot 5400rpm IDE
Generic 50X CD-ROM IDE
Standard KeyBoard
Standard PS/2 Mouse
WinME 4.90.3000


Well there ya have it! The meat of both systems.
Does anything stick out in my system that would make Mandrake hault on the initial device probing?
Now again I ran Mandrake on MOMS system and it worked and went thru to graphical interface and installed fine.
After typing "lnx4win" on my system it starts to load and then starts doing that long device list thingy{in that dos looking environment} and then haults. Now I noticed it always haulted in the same spot. It would find pretty much everything and then at the very end it read my HardDrives and then haults?
Any thoughts people?
I have tried everything from disabling my Ultra66 Controller in my BIOS to disabling evrything but nothing worked? I even put all my IRQ setting on AUTO and then Manually did everything but it still won't go forward.

Any help would be appreciated.

[drdeathgnj]

UP!!! Someone check out my systems up there! thanks!! Need Help Suggestions!!

[drdeathgnj]

UP

[drdeathgnj]

Everyone is stumped right?

[drdeathgnj]

UP Someone check out my Two systems up there and tell what would keep Mandrake from getting past the device finding part?