If you are going to use fdisk, ONLY use it if you are going to install XP on a Fat32 partition. NTFS and fdisk don't play together very well. I've had to fix more installs of Win2000 and XP because a customer decided to do it themselves and fdisked. The WinOs installed, but refused to correctly convert to NTFS...and were very unstable.
The easiest way to do this is totally clear the disk. I normally use a program called AutoClave 0.3 .. free program on the internet, boots from floppy, can be written to a floppy in windows or linux...is a minix version of linux and you have a 5 level choice from 1 to 25 passes to zero the disk or sterilize it. Once the disk is totally 00 , then M$ XP will think it's a brand new drive and ask to partition/format... and then continue to install. Once you have XP installed, use a trial version of Partition Magic or one of the other partitioning tools that work with XP (NTFS) and resize the partition, leaving room for the Fat32 partition and the linux partition. Create the Fat32 partition and then write it all to disk. Boot into XP to make sure it all works. >From there, you should be able to 'restart' and boot the mdk CD1 and load the OS without interference from XP. Mandrake setup should see the NTFS and Fat32 partitions (don't let it do anything to them--use expert mode) and it will see the 'blank' space after those partitions. Because the drive was put in a 00 state, XP will have written the mbr correctly and it should no longer be a problem for mdk. HTH. Erik On Wed, 2002-11-27 at 21:58, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > thanks stephen, but i still got the same problem. > i believe there is something wrong with my mbr coz mandrake can't read the partition >table. I don't know much about this thing but i'm willing to do it. I read that >windows will somehow leave itself on a certain part of the harddisk even if you >format the drive. Well, i downloaded the program to zero the harddisk here. > It says this" > "This procedure performs a pseudo-formatting to the drive. It erases all of your >previous data and reinitializes it to "00" pattern. By performing this task, you will >be able to erase the whole user area including your Master Boot Record, Partition >Table, FAT (File Allocation Table), and all the files and data it refers to. Use this >program if you want to be sure your drive is clean." > > So my question is, after running this program, can i easily boot up my pc properly? >as in, i load in my win98 setup disk? Or will it not load at all and i have to fill >up some other parameters? > > Sean > > > ---- > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com -- Erik Linux User 288105 @ http://counter.li.org ========================================= Bill who? ... Micro what?
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
