Civileme....you are of course correct about the need for a Linux
/boot partition under the 1024 cylinder limit (oops, I got so
involved in the BootMagic question I failed to note the need for
a Linux /boot partition). But, BootMagic also needs to be
installed on a dos/windows (not ntfs) partition that ends before
the 1024 cylinder limit, else it will refuse to install.
Alan
Civileme wrote:
>
> Alan Shoemaker wrote:
> >
> > Steve....what is it you don't understand about the error
> > messages you've received from the BootMagic installation?
> >
> > As a guess I'd probably go with #1 as the reason. Which is that
> > your windows partition (the one that you're trying to install
> > BootMagic on) is larger than 8 meg (8 meg on today's drives, is
> > the size that corresponds with the 1024 cylinder limit), so
> > BootMagic cannot (will not) install.
> >
> > One solution is to shrink your windows partition down to around
> > 8 meg (so that it ends on the 1023rd cylinder or less).
> >
> > Or alternately, you could move your windows partition a little
> > bit so that there's some free space at the beginning of your
> > drive and make a dos partition (fat16), install dos, and install
> > the dos version of BootMagic. I have a drive like this, it
> > contains a 200 meg dos partition at the very beginning of the
> > drive (with dos versions of Partition Magic and BootMagic
> > installed) and then two different distro's of Linux.
> >
> > The other reason (#2 BootMagic already installed on a hidden
> > partition) is far less likely to be the cause.
> >
> > Concerning the ATA/66 controller, I've no experience with it. I
> > do believe that there is a solution though, I'm just unfamiliar
> > with it.
> >
> > Alan
> >
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello all,
> > >
> > > First I'll state my current system configuration:
> > >
> > > Gateway 700MHz PIII, 192MB PC100, IBM DeskStar 27.4GB running on Promise PCI
> > > ATA/66 Controller Card, 32MB nVidia GeForce 256, Soundblaster Live!
> > >
> > > I am currently running into two problems during installation of Mandrake 7.0.
> > >
> > > The First: After partitioning my drive using Partition Magic to a 4.084GB
> > > partition for Linux, I try to install BootMagic. The intallation within
> > > Windows gives me an error message to the effect of: BootMagic Installation
> > > cannot complete because: 1. There is no FAT16 or FAT32 partition available
> > > under the 1024 cylinder or, 2. BootMagic is already installed on a hidden
> > > partition. Any ideas?
> > >
> > > The Second, more important problem: When running the DrakX installation
> > > utillity from CD-ROM I get to the drive mounting point, only to find that
> > > Linux is not recognizing my drive (I suspect this is because my hdd is
> > > running from the ATA/66 Controller) I have tried all the drivers listed and
> > > none of them will work. Also I found some instructions geared for Red Hat 6.1
> > > where you enter "text" at the boot: prompt and make changes manually.
> > > Mandrake 7 gives me the message, unable to locate kernel image "text".
> > >
> > > Is anyone willing to give me detailed instructions on how to fix this? I
> > > have never even seen Linux running except for screenshots, so please explain
> > > in plain terms.
> > >
> > > Thanks very much!
> > >
> > > Steve Gillson
> > > "DJ Phrenzy"
> Steve,
>
> There is a driver for the Promise Card, but it must be used
> post-install, The install kernel does not support Ultra DMA Mode
> 4 (ATA/66). There are various reasons for this, but the largest
> one looming is that the advanced pentium code has uncovered all
> sorts of timing flaws in big name brand drives, and they will
> destroy your data reliably or give you "lost interrupt" errors
> running under 586 code and Ultra-66. Your IBM dirve is one of
> the few and the rare that have the timing right to the
> specifications.
>
> The trick on the Boot Magic is to make a small partition (like 10
> Mb) below the 8Gb limit of the 1024 cylinder limitation of BIOS
> code and call it /boot. Mandrake will install the kernel there
> for booting and point to root directory from there. Then Boot
> Magic can see the boot area for linux. The partition must be of
> file type ext2 (standard linux). If you have a huge Windows
> partition, then you will need to use a tool to reduce it or split
> it or move it up the disk enough to get the /boot partition the
> first 1024 cylinders.
>
> Civileme
