[Sheflug] Re: You need Linux help?

[Dr A V Le Blanc <nospam [at] mcc.ac.uk>]

On Tue, May 09, 2000 at 02:13:39PM +0100, Foz wrote:
> I partitioned my hard disk with windows98 fdisk to create a  windows 
> partition of 5 Gb. Everythig was fine with the windows  partition, it 
> staryed up as normal into windows98. 
> 
> I then inserted the Corel Linux disk and restarted my computer.
..
> then confronted with various screans then got to the main  menu. I wanted 
> Linux to take over ther rest of the free space on my  Disk (about 1.5 Gb) 
> so I chose that option. I did not creat a Linux  partition as the option 
> on the menu said take up the rest of the free  space on the disk. When I 
> clicked this option and clicked OK. I  came to another screan which said 
> somthing like you want Linux  to take up x amount of free disk space, the 
> x amount was about  1.5Gb, so everthing looked ok. So I clicked instal. 
> 
> It started to in stall Linux on to my computer but the computer  
> restarted. Linux had not finished being installed, it had done about  1%. 
> 
> After this had happend I could no longer get into the Linux menu  screan 
> on the CD rom. So I took out the disk and restarted my  computer and the 
> message 'Invalid Partition Table' came up on  screan and then stoped.

It sounds as though you have at least two problems.  One is some
inconsistency in the partition table, and one is some bug in the Corel
installation.  Apparent inconsistencies sometimes arise when you have
an older Linux kernel (is Corel still using 2.0 kernels?) or an older
version of fdisk.  Another source of apparent inconsistencies arises
when two operating systems have different ideas of a disk's geometry.
To check this out, you'll need to (a) run dparam.com under Windows to
find out what it thinks the disk's geometry is, and (b) notice
what geometry Linux reports in the startup messages.  (Does Corel
actually save the startup messages somewhere on another console?)
You should be certain that the BIOS, the MS system, and Linux are
all using the same geometry.

Real inconsistencies have been known to arise when you install
NT or Windows 2000; I've never seen this with Windows 98, though.
Please don't hesitate to ask me if I can help you any further.

     -- Owen
     LeBlanc [at] mcc.ac.uk
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