Ahg! Is my computer the only one to do this!

[Ben]

I've been scouring the web the last couple hours to no avail... So i'm
posting here

Well, here's the deal. I've been dual-booting Windows XP home SP2 and
linux(with Grub) on my computer for awhile now, but I got a copy of Pro
from my school(MSDNAA)and i'm installing it on a new 160 gig drive I
just bought. Well, I disconnected my 80 gig so that windows doesn't see
it because I still wanted to be able to boot into it, no problems
installing just problems dual booting from the other drive, And I figure
it has to do with the fact that the 80 gig wasn't plugged in when I
installed pro, So I put in the pro cd and reboot to install windows with
the 80 gig plugged in this time.

Here's my problem, I get to "Setup is inspecting your computer's
configuration..." and I see that for a few seconds when the screen goes
blank with the HD access light non-stop on. Now here's whats weird, I
disconnected the 160 gig, still does it, But if I disconnect the 80 gig,
it works normally. Any ideas?

Also, My 160 gig is on a seperate PCI IDE controller, and the 80 gig is
on the motherboard, Don't know if this could affect it

Thanks ahead of time,
-Ben

 

[Steve N.]

I've been scouring the web the last couple hours to no avail... So i'm
posting here

Well, here's the deal. I've been dual-booting Windows XP home SP2 and
linux(with Grub) on my computer for awhile now, but I got a copy of Pro
from my school(MSDNAA)and i'm installing it on a new 160 gig drive I
just bought. Well, I disconnected my 80 gig so that windows doesn't see
it because I still wanted to be able to boot into it, no problems
installing just problems dual booting from the other drive, And I figure
it has to do with the fact that the 80 gig wasn't plugged in when I
installed pro, So I put in the pro cd and reboot to install windows with
the 80 gig plugged in this time.

Here's my problem, I get to "Setup is inspecting your computer's
configuration..." and I see that for a few seconds when the screen goes
blank with the HD access light non-stop on. Now here's whats weird, I
disconnected the 160 gig, still does it, But if I disconnect the 80 gig,
it works normally. Any ideas?

Also, My 160 gig is on a seperate PCI IDE controller, and the 80 gig is
on the motherboard, Don't know if this could affect it

Thanks ahead of time,
-Ben

I'm not sure exactly what order you've done things in or how far you've
gotten but I'll hazard a guess.

In my experience you need to install any instances of Windows first,
then install Linux. GrUB (or LILO) usually modifies the MBR of the 1st
boot drive and the Windows install chokes on that. Even when installing
Windows to a second drive it will need to write and modify NT boot files
on the first bootable partition, if it doesn't see a standard MBR there
it won't work.

In your case I would rewrite the MBR on the first boot device (FDISK
/MBR from Win98 boot disk or FIXMBR from WinXP boot CD), install the
second instance of Windows, then do an "upgrade" re-install of Linux.
You didn't say which distro you have but I believe most will do an
"upgrade" installation which should keep files and users intact. I'd
also make a Linux boot diskette just in case. That way if at some later
time Windows screws with the MBR you can still boot to Linux a setup
GrUB as the bootloader again.

Hope this is helpful. If not post back with greater detail.

Steve

 

[Kerry Brown]

Here's my problem, I get to "Setup is inspecting your computer's

configuration..." and I see that for a few seconds when the screen goes
blank with the HD access light non-stop on. Now here's whats weird, I
disconnected the 160 gig, still does it, But if I disconnect the 80 gig,
it works normally. Any ideas?

Also, My 160 gig is on a seperate PCI IDE controller, and the 80 gig is on
the motherboard, Don't know if this could affect it

Ben

Are either of the drives jumpered as cable select? I have seen one case
where Windows would not install until the boot drive was set as a master
drive. When set as cable select I could install Windows 2000 and Windows
98SE. Windows XP would usually stop with a blue screen during the install.
Sometimes it would just lock up. Once the drive was set to master XP
installed no problem. I was uprading a customer's PC. Took a few hours to
find that one.

Kerry

 

[Steve N.]

I'm not sure exactly what order you've done things in or how far you've
gotten but I'll hazard a guess.

In my experience you need to install any instances of Windows first,
then install Linux. GrUB (or LILO) usually modifies the MBR of the 1st
boot drive and the Windows install chokes on that. Even when installing
Windows to a second drive it will need to write and modify NT boot files
on the first bootable partition, if it doesn't see a standard MBR there
it won't work.

In your case I would rewrite the MBR on the first boot device (FDISK
/MBR from Win98 boot disk or FIXMBR from WinXP boot CD), install the
second instance of Windows, then do an "upgrade" re-install of Linux.
You didn't say which distro you have but I believe most will do an
"upgrade" installation which should keep files and users intact. I'd
also make a Linux boot diskette just in case. That way if at some later
time Windows screws with the MBR you can still boot to Linux a setup
GrUB as the bootloader again.

Hope this is helpful. If not post back with greater detail.

Steve

Afterthought...

Another method which might be easier/faster, if your Linux installation
will boot, create a Linux boot diskette before doing anything else:

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO/preparation-fallback.html

Then re-write the MBR as described before, install the second WinXP, use
the Linux boot diskette to get back into Linux then setup GrUB.

Steve

 

[Ben]

Ok, Thanks, i'll try that, But is there a way to do the
FIXMBR from windows? because that is part of my problem,
the windows XP cd doesn't ever get to the selection screen
as long as my 80gig(The one dual-booting linux and
windows) is plugged into the computer.

Thanks,
-Ben

 

[Steve N.]

Ok, Thanks, i'll try that, But is there a way to do the
FIXMBR from windows? because that is part of my problem,
the windows XP cd doesn't ever get to the selection screen
as long as my 80gig(The one dual-booting linux and
windows) is plugged into the computer.

Thanks,
-Ben

Nope, FIXMBR is only avaialable in Recovery Console, you have to be able
to boot the CD to get to Recovery Console (unless you've got it
installed on the 80GB HDD, which I doubt you do - you'd know), you can't
get that far because XP sees a non-standard MBR on the disk and won't
finish loading, so you'll have to use a Win98 or WinME boot disk
containing fdisk.exe to re-write a generic MBR to that disk.

Steve