Before reformating the hard disk, make just one partition for Win, but don't take the
whole HD, leave the space you need for Linux unpartitioned. This way you won't resize
your windows partition to make space for Linux. I don't know if this can avoid the
problem you had, but at least you won't mess with Win partitions (resizing) to install
Linux, reducing the risk of a problem.
Hugo
>----
- Original Message -----
>From: "Richard Garand" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2000 8:45 AM
>Subject: [newbie] Help! Mandrake install destroyed windows registry,
>keyboard doesn't work in gnome, DSL connection can't be
>configured......
>
>
>> Yesterday i tried to install mandrake, but with problems
>that got worse
>> every time i tried to fix them, i had to repartition my disk
>and reinstall
>> windows. Here's everything i remember, can anyone help me with these
>> problems?
>>
>> The first time i tried to install mandrake, i chose "customized"
>> installation. After repartitioning and selecting packages, i
>got some erro
>rs
>> (before it started installing the packages). I started
>windows and ran the
>> installer again, choosing "Automated". This time the only
>problem was that
>i
>> couldn't configure my printer (an HP Deskjet 720C), but the
>installation
>> worked. I restarted my computer and went in to gnome under
>my normal user.
>>
>> The first thing I did was try to change the screen
>resolution. I went in
>to
>> the gnome control panel (i think that's what it was) and
>didn't find any
>> resolution option, but i did change a few things in some
>other area, try
>all
>> the window managers, and choose Enlightenement. I'm not sure
>what i did
>> after; i think i closed the control panel, ran gnomeicu
>(which crashed),
>ran
>> licq, and found out that i couldn't connect.
>>
>> My internet connection is DSL using a Startech (that's all i
>know about
>it)
>> NE2000 compatible ISA card. I tried to run the control panel
>again, but
>when
>> the root password dialog came up, i tried to click in the
>password area
>and
>> type the password, but nothing happened (i think pressing
>enter did close
>it
>> though). I tried restarting the computer, and had the same
>problem. I went
>> in to root and ran drakconf, then went to the network
>configuration. I
>don't
>> know where to enter the information, but i looked around and
>found a few
>> settings i knew, but i still couldn't type anything. I
>opened a terminal
>and
>> an editor, and the keyboard didn't work for them.
>>
>> I logged out then logged in to the KDE, and this time the
>keyboard worked.
>I
>> tried to enter my network information, but licq still didn't work. I
>decided
>> to go back in to windows to see if i could find some help. When i
>restarted
>> the computer and grub came up, it was configured to run
>linux by default.
>I
>> changed this (in linux) to run windows by default, and then
>restarted my
>> computer. When grub camp up, it has windows selected, but after the 4
>> seconds were done, it would run the commands to start
>windows, pause for a
>> second, and return to the grub menu.
>>
>> I got out the windows(98) installation diskette and started
>the computer
>in
>> dos. I went to c:\windows and tried to run win, but i got an
>error about a
>> resource missing. A few reboots later, i found that windows
>couldn't open
>> the registry. I checked in c:\windows, and the registry
>files weren't
>> there.
>>
>> I went back to the KDE (before this, in linux, i had found
>all my windows
>> files in /mnt/windows/. I tried to run XMMS with my windows
>playlist (when
>i
>> was still using gnome), but it kept going through the
>playlist (in about
>3-4
>> second, i had 120-140 files) like i was holding the down
>key) and looked
>in
>> /mnt/windows/, but it was empty. When i checked in dos, all
>the files were
>> still there. I tried to find a way to get windows running,
>but it wouldn't
>> work.
>>
>> I ran windows setup to see if i could replace the registry,
>but it said i
>> had to format the hard drive. Since there was nothing I could do, i
>deleted
>> all the partitions, made one partition that filled the drive, and
>> reinstalled window. When i installed mandrake, i had one
>12GB partition,
>but
>> i resized it to ~9GB and added a 2.5GB partition for
>mandrake and a 128MB
>> swap partition after the main partition.
>>
>> What cause the problems i had? How can i get a normal
>mandrake install
>> without destroying windows? Can i skip installing a
>bootloader (keep the
>> windows loader) and make a boot diskette that will run linux?
>>
>>
>
>
>
