----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles A Edwards" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 7:59 PM
Subject: [newbie] 7.1, Win2000 and VIA Chip Set
> Hi to All
> I have been running Mandrake, first 7.0 and now 7.1, quite happily on a
> modified Quantex 450 PII.
> Since there have been recent post from users having problems with 7.0
and
> Win2000, and also post regarding VIA chip sets I decided to install 7.1
on
> my second home system which contains both.
>
> I built the system myself and the specs. for it are:
> Processor......Althon 650MHz
> Motherboard.FIC SD11 / VIA 686A chip
> Memory........192MB (3 64MB 168pin DIMMs)
> Video............Creative Blaster NVIDIA TNT/ 16MB
> Sound...........Creative SBLive Value
> CD-ROM.....Creative Blaster 48x
> Removable ...NEC 100MB ZIP drive
> Hard Drives..2-12.5 IBM Deskstar UDMA66 7200rpm
> Monitor........19in ADI MicroScan 6P
>
> I had installed on the system Win98 and Win2000, both on the first hd
and
> I was using the Win2000 bootloader.
> To install Mandrake 7.1 I chose the Automated mode. There were several
> reasons for this. It's easy, all my recognised hardware would be auto
> configured / mounted, I wanted Grub to auto install, and if I used
another
> mode and had to choose pkgs. I would not know what even half of them were.
> I let the installation auto-allocate and use all the 2nd hd the
> remainder of the installation process was as smooth as silk and took about
> 35 min.The process completed and the system was ready to be restarted. One
> moment of truth had arrived. Would Grub and the Win2000 bootloader be able
> to co-exist?
> With a click of the OK button Linux shuts down and the system reboots.
> The Welcome to Grub interface appears and I am offered 4 boot options;
> 1) linux
> 2) safe mode
> 3) windows
> 4) floppy
> I let linux remain the default OS and it loads cleanly, OKs all down the
> line. The KDE login screen appears and I do so. And again with Mandrake I
> am tickled pink, everything from the the amount of system RAM to the
> smallest partition on my hd has been configured/mounted and with a click
of
> the mouse are ready for use.
> I logout and choose re-start and watch to see if the VIA 686A chip
causes
> any shutdown problem. Everything unmounts as it should all in their own
> order. Restarting and shuting down several times I experience only clean
> mounts and unmounts.
> When the Grub screen next apears I choose to boot windows. The Win2000
> bootloader appears offering me the choice of Win2000 or Win98. I choose
> Win2000 and it to boots as it should.
> Two conclusion which before I thought to be true, I now hold to be
true;
> 1) Problems with Mandrake/linux and VIA chips do not occur with the 686A
> chip
> 2) Any problem Mandrake 7.0 and Win2000 have is caused by Lilo. Win2000's
> MBR/bootloader is a different animal than that of Win98 or WinNT and when
> Lilo is installed instead of replacing or overwriting the MBR, Lilo causes
> it to become corrupted and Win2000 to be inaccessable. This problem does
not
> exist in 7.1 when Grub is used as the bootloader.
> For someone who is not asking a question or giving an answer, I agree
> that this is a long email, but if you will bear with me, I need to stand
on
> the soap box for just a momment.
> I am a [newbie] and I will always be a [newbie]. There will always be
> much more that I do not know or understand about Linux than I will ever
have
> the time to learn. When I run an installation and it offers choices for
> Custom and Expert with a disclaimer that unless I really know what I am
> doing or really am an expert I should not install in this mode. I believe
> it. If more people would only select the Recomended (in 7.0} or Automated
> {in 7.1} installation method there would fewer people needing to post
> problems to this list and many more people like me. A very happy Linux
> Mandrake user.
> Thanks for letting me take up your time.
>
> Charles
>
> :-):-):-):-):-):-) I'm all smiles
>
>
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