[Luna] Questions about linux.

[Jeff Clark]

I'm not sure I would tell someone who has had issues to simply replace 
the bootloader on their primary drive with windows installed.  That's 
the straight road to the windows-no-bootie department.

Since you already have a flavor of Linux installed on a secondary drive, 
give grub4dos a try.  It works with NT/XP bootloader, which is much 
safer for the casual user IMHO.

http://freshmeat.net/projects/grub4dos/

-Jeff

Jake Morin wrote:
> Len,
>
> I guess I could try that.  Most people have told me not to install the
> bootloader on the first disk...something about messing with the mbr
> (master boot record?)
>
> There is no simple way to describe it.  You can look at these threads:
>
> http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=274259&highlight=first+time+install
>
> and
>
> http://www.flaglug.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=20
>
> Let me know if you think I should definitely install LILO on the first
> drive.  I'm not really psyched about putting that HDD at risk though.
>
> Thanks Len,
>
> Jake
>
> On 10/24/06, Len Bright <lpbbright at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> Jake,
>> So you installed the boot loader on the 2nd disk, the one with Linux
>> OS installed, is that correct?  Have you tried installing the boot loader on
>> the
>> Windows disk? If not, probably the simplist thing for you to try is
>> reinstall Linux
>> and install the boot loader, grub or lilo, on the Windows disk, if you have
>> not
>> already tried that.  I suggest making Windows your primary drive, Linux the
>> secondary drive, and install your boot loader on the Windows disk.  Also,
>> what was the problem you ran into when you attempted your installation on a
>> single hard drive?
>>
>> -Len
>>
>>
>> Jake Morin <jacobmorin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  I am subscribed.
>>
>> I just seem to have been having the worst time with linux. I'm not
>> all that dull when it comes to computers but I've had a hell of a time
>> with linux.
>>
>> First, I had harddrive issues when trying to install on a single
>> harddrive. So I decided to get a second harddrive. I did, and now I
>> have a whole new set of problems.
>>
>> I have set the linux drive to master, the windows drive to slave,
>> loaded the live cd of mandriva one. Installed mandriva with lilo.
>> But for some reason, my computer always boots straight into windows.
>> I switched the cables, the jumpers, the power cables...all hardware
>> has been systematically checked. I checked the bios, sure enough,
>> linux as master, windows as slave. I can't get into linux to change
>> the lilo file because I have to unplug the windows drive to even reach
>> the linux.
>>
>> When I do unplug the windows drive, lilo loads with a 10 second time
>> out (so I know it isn't a lilo time situation).
>>
>> Like I said, I spent about 20 hours before with the single harddrive
>> issue and I'm just growing tired of all this fuss. I've tried what's
>> supposed to be two of the most user friendly distros (Ubuntu and
>> Mandriva). Hell I've even tried GRUB with Ubuntu and Mandriva.
>>
>> Maybe it's windows fault, maybe it's linux's fault, maybe it's my
>> fault. Don't really know to be quite honest. But if you know, feel
>> free to tell me :)
>>
>> Jake
>>
>>
>>