Another multi boot Newbie Linux post!

I am currently trying to get my dual boot to work with Win2k on hdd1 and Mandrake9.2 on my second hdd.

I have a running install of win2k on my first hdd. I then rebooted with my Mandrake cd and proceeded with the install on the second hard drive. I selected the auto partition which gave me 3 partitions since I know nothing about Linux. It made one part labled just '/' another 'swap' and finally 'home'.

I then select to put lilo on a floppy. But the installer refused to write to the floppy(no error). So I reinstalled and chose to write lilo to first sector of hd not mbr. Which seemed to go without a hitch.

When I reboot with the floppy the pc just prints "99" several times to the screen and then stops.

I then thought I would try using ntldr, so I add and entry like so:
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Mandrak e9.2" /fastdetect

when I do this I get the following statement:
"Windows 2000 could not start because of a compter disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from teh selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware..."

So I rebooted with my Knoppix cd to see what my lilo.conf file contained. Here is a copy:

Code:

---

boot=/dev/hdb1
map=/boot/map
default="linux"
keytable=/boot/us.klt
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
image=/boot/vmlinuz
        label="linux"
        root=/dev/hdb1
        initrd=/boot/initrd.img
        append="devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi hdf=ide-scsi acpi=ht resume=/dev/hdb5"
        read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz
        label="failsafe"
        root=/dev/hdb1
        initrd=/boot/initrd.img
        append="devfs=nomount hdd=ide-scsi hdf=ide-scsi acpi=ht resume=/dev/hdb5 failsafe"
        read-only
other=/dev/hda2
        label="windows"
        table=/dev/hda
other=/dev/hda3
        label="windows2"
        table=/dev/hda
other=/dev/fd0
        label="floppy"
        unsafe

---

What do I need to do to get lilo working in this application? :confused:

P.s.
My fist HDD has 4 partitions:
1. small fat16
2. Win2k ntfs
3. Software ntfs
4. backups fat32 (just in case I use Win98)
My second HDD was auto partioned by installer like so:
1. /
2. swap
3. /home
and I believe they are formatted ext3?

I made a mistake in my previous post here is my actual partition info!

I found a web site that said to do something like this:

1. boot off of cd to rescue.
2. type: dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1
3. Then: mcopy /bootsect.lnx a:

but I get an error saying mcopy is unrecognised! And I don't know how to copy it to hda5(fat16).

I have a Knoppix cd that seems to work well but I am Linux illiterate and can't figure out how to copy 'bootsect.lnx' to my first hard drive. It seems like to me this should be an easy task!

Did you read your lilo.conf file. You said your linux was hdd2 but you file says it is hdb1. I would be able to help you if you used grub, for that is all I have used. Sorry.

here is what I do. I get a copy of the utility called fdisk. and delete all partitions. Then I format the first section as windows(in my case hdb1) then I format the second section as linux boot(in my case hdb2). Then I format my swap(hdb3) and then the rest for all the linux I want(the rest of the hard drive)(hdb4). look here

Thank you for your input. I greatly appreciate it.

I am now currently replying from my Mandrake os. I broke down and used Partition Magic to do the booting for me since I was obviously being very dense. I think it would be best for me to try and learn a little about Mandrake first before I completely hose my system. :rolleyes: