Another multi boot Newbie Linux post!

[Bajanine]

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:

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?

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?

[Bajanine]

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

[Bajanine]

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!

[linuxdude]

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

[Bajanine]

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.