Re: [Sheflug] Re: You need Linux help?

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

On Tue, May 09, 2000 at 01:30:02PM +0100, David Oates  (99264383) wrote:
> Yes I do! 
> 
> 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. I  was 
> 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. So I used Windows98 startup disk to look  at the partition 
> table using fdisk, but an error came up 'Error  Reading Disk' and could 
> go no further into fdisk. 
> 
> So at the dos prompt I typed in 'fdisk /status' and this showed me  the 
> status of my partition table. 
> 
> It said that I had a 6.5 Gb partition, a 5 Gb partition (Windows c:),  
> and an 18.9 Gb partition on my Hard Disk. My Heard disk is only  6.5 Gb 
> big. 

Do you have a Linux rescue disk (a floppy) that will let you run
fdisk?  It would be nice to know exactly what is in there.  The DOS
fdisk is not generally as helpful as it should be.  I'd like to know

(1)  What numbers the dparam.com command gives for the disk's geometry
     when you run it in DOS.
(2)  What number Linux fdisk (assuming it's a fairly recent one) gives
     when you run it under Linux; and preferably with at least a
     2.2.14 kernel or later.

I have done only a couple of Corel installs, and I'm not aware of
the options there may be for interfering with the default install
process.  Certainly I'd rather see you create Linux partitions
under a more predictable environment, then reboot the machine
and be certain DOS is happy, then see if you can get Corel to
install in the partition you created in this way.

If you don't have such disks I can supply a pair (boot and root)
together with instructions (I didn't make them myself!).

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