Uh, which Presario?
HH

"Joe Bachman" wrote in message
news:d2845b59.0406201445.31abb74e@posting.google.c om...
> Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
> attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
> my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
> whatever good that did.
>
> The Fedora install went very nicely, but when I shut down and tried to
> start back up by booting into Windows, the machine went into an
> automatic "restore" frenzy, with my hard drive spinning and grinding
> for over 30 minutes. When it was all done, six months of
> modifications on the Windows desktop were history.
>
> My user files C:\Documents and settings\owner\ exists, but is empty,
> and new folder that serves the same purpose is called:
>
> C:\documents and settings\Owner.YOUR-LK4RLMSU41
>
> As I said, fortunately, I saved all my user files.
>
> I am supposed to be able to undo the system restore, but when I tried
> to do that, the only retore points available were from dates and times
> after the computer was messed up.
>
> Many of my application program files are intact, but I cannot run the
> programs as they inform my that they can't find various registry
> entries that they need. These prgrams are still found on the Start
> menu, but they don't show up on the Control Panel in "add/remove
> prgrams."
>
> Needless to say, the dual-boot screen at startup is history, but
> Computer Manager shows that my Linux partitions are intact (and I
> suppose the files installed therein are, too.)
>
> What happened?!!? What triggered Windows into performing this
> unneeded system restore, and how can I prevent it from doing so in the
> future?
>
> Is it possible for me to boot up Linux without having to reinstall it?
>
> What's the best way for me to get my Windows applications running
> normally again, as well as getting "my Documents" into its proper
> folder?
>
> This hasn't been totally bad, as Windows seems to run faster now that
> a lot of my junk loaded in at startup and registry clutter is gone.
> But I do want to get Norton antivirus and my firewall up and running.
>
> This really annoys me, I'm ready to just wipe the hard drive and make
> the thing a 100% Linux machine. The little of saw of it when I was
> running it impressed me greatly. However, I still need windows
> becuase I sometimes bring work home, and my daughter has some games
> that only run on Windows, and I hadn't wanted to totally dump the
> familiar until after I went up the Linux learning curve. So i really
> want to be able to get this dual-boot thing to work.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> Joe

"HH" wrote in message news:<_GoBc.625$J82.484@fe25.usenetserver.com>...
> Uh, which Presario?
> HH

55300NX

>
> "Joe Bachman" wrote in message
> news:d2845b59.0406201445.31abb74e@posting.google.c om...
> > Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
> > attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
> > my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
> > whatever good that did.
> >

Joe Bachman wrote:
> Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
> attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
> my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
> whatever good that did.
>
> The Fedora install went very nicely, but when I shut down and tried to
> start back up by booting into Windows, the machine went into an
> automatic "restore" frenzy, with my hard drive spinning and grinding
> for over 30 minutes. When it was all done, six months of
> modifications on the Windows desktop were history.
>
> My user files C:\Documents and settings\owner\ exists, but is empty,
> and new folder that serves the same purpose is called:
>
> C:\documents and settings\Owner.YOUR-LK4RLMSU41
>
> As I said, fortunately, I saved all my user files.
>
> I am supposed to be able to undo the system restore, but when I tried
> to do that, the only retore points available were from dates and times
> after the computer was messed up.
>
> Many of my application program files are intact, but I cannot run the
> programs as they inform my that they can't find various registry
> entries that they need. These prgrams are still found on the Start
> menu, but they don't show up on the Control Panel in "add/remove
> prgrams."
>
> Needless to say, the dual-boot screen at startup is history, but
> Computer Manager shows that my Linux partitions are intact (and I
> suppose the files installed therein are, too.)
>
> What happened?!!? What triggered Windows into performing this
> unneeded system restore, and how can I prevent it from doing so in the
> future?
>
> Is it possible for me to boot up Linux without having to reinstall it?
>
> What's the best way for me to get my Windows applications running
> normally again, as well as getting "my Documents" into its proper
> folder?
>
> This hasn't been totally bad, as Windows seems to run faster now that
> a lot of my junk loaded in at startup and registry clutter is gone.
> But I do want to get Norton antivirus and my firewall up and running.
>
> This really annoys me, I'm ready to just wipe the hard drive and make
> the thing a 100% Linux machine. The little of saw of it when I was
> running it impressed me greatly. However, I still need windows
> becuase I sometimes bring work home, and my daughter has some games
> that only run on Windows, and I hadn't wanted to totally dump the
> familiar until after I went up the Linux learning curve. So i really
> want to be able to get this dual-boot thing to work.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> Joe

AFIK, Fedora Core, in the initial public release, did exactly this on a
dual boot install. This *feature* was apparently fixed in a subsequent
re-release. Google Groups: fedora core for some info on this.

Q

You do mean S5300NX, right?
HH
"Joe Bachman" wrote in message
news:d2845b59.0406201742.1aad60da@posting.google.c om...
> "HH" wrote in message
news:<_GoBc.625$J82.484@fe25.usenetserver.com>...
> > Uh, which Presario?
> > HH
>
> 55300NX
>
> >
> > "Joe Bachman" wrote in message
> > news:d2845b59.0406201445.31abb74e@posting.google.c om...
> > > Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
> > > attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
> > > my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
> > > whatever good that did.
> > >
>

"Quaoar" wrote in message
news:...

Concerning my Fedora dual-boot problems with Windows XP:

> Joe Bachman wrote:
> > Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
> > attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
> > my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
> > whatever good that did.
> >
> > What happened?!!? What triggered Windows into performing this
> > unneeded system restore, and how can I prevent it from doing so in the
> > future?
> >
> > Is it possible for me to boot up Linux without having to reinstall it?
> >
> > What's the best way for me to get my Windows applications running
> > normally again, as well as getting "my Documents" into its proper
> > folder?
> >
> > This hasn't been totally bad, as Windows seems to run faster now that
> > a lot of my junk loaded in at startup and registry clutter is gone.
> > But I do want to get Norton antivirus and my firewall up and running.
> >
>
> AFIK, Fedora Core, in the initial public release, did exactly this on a
> dual boot install. This *feature* was apparently fixed in a subsequent
> re-release. Google Groups: fedora core for some info on this.
>
> Q


Ah yes, my googling found quite a bit of net.taffic on this topic.
What seems to happen most frequently is that Windows XP just hangs
when one attempts to boot with GRUB, the bootloader supplied with
Fedora. If one reinstalls Windows, then GRUB is eliminated, and one
can't access Fedora without using a boot floppy or CD.

I suspect that COMPAQ's installation of XP has a command to do a
system restore if XP hangs when booted. Is there some way I can view
what commands the computer runds when Windows is booted up?

The real problem, however, lies not in Windows, but apparently in the
Linux 2.6 kernel. Installation alters the partition "geometry," in
some way. Apparently this can be fixed fairly easily. Then one needs
to re-load GRUB so one can dual boot without having to boot from a
floppy or CD.

So my understanding of what I need to do is as follows:

1) Set a Windows System restore point just in case I mess up again,
and back up any data (not much) I've added since the last system
restore.

2)Insert the Fedora "Rescue CD" I downloaded aburned, or Disk 1 of the
Fedora Installation CDs. This will allow me to start up Fedora.

3) Log on a "root" (I think this might be necessary, the writeup was
unclear on this pint.)

4) Fix the disk geometry using the command(s) recommended at:

http://lwn.net/Articles/86835/

http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedor.../msg02114.html

5) Reinstall/update the GRUB bootloader in the MBR ("master boot
record?")
(How to I view the contents of the MBR, and the message that are
generated whne the computer boots up?)

That should fix the problem.

Does this seem right?

Am I missing anything?

Thanks, Joe

Joe Bachman wrote:
> "Quaoar" wrote in message
> news:...
>
> Concerning my Fedora dual-boot problems with Windows XP:
>
>> Joe Bachman wrote:
>>> Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point"
>>> before I attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with
>>> Windows XP on my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my
>>> data files, for whatever good that did.
>>>
>>> What happened?!!? What triggered Windows into performing this
>>> unneeded system restore, and how can I prevent it from doing so in
>>> the future?
>>>
>>> Is it possible for me to boot up Linux without having to reinstall
>>> it?
>>>
>>> What's the best way for me to get my Windows applications running
>>> normally again, as well as getting "my Documents" into its proper
>>> folder?
>>>
>>> This hasn't been totally bad, as Windows seems to run faster now
>>> that a lot of my junk loaded in at startup and registry clutter is
>>> gone. But I do want to get Norton antivirus and my firewall up and
>>> running.
>>>
>>
>> AFIK, Fedora Core, in the initial public release, did exactly this
>> on a dual boot install. This *feature* was apparently fixed in a
>> subsequent re-release. Google Groups: fedora core for some info on
>> this.
>>
>> Q
>
>
> Ah yes, my googling found quite a bit of net.taffic on this topic.
> What seems to happen most frequently is that Windows XP just hangs
> when one attempts to boot with GRUB, the bootloader supplied with
> Fedora. If one reinstalls Windows, then GRUB is eliminated, and one
> can't access Fedora without using a boot floppy or CD.
>
> I suspect that COMPAQ's installation of XP has a command to do a
> system restore if XP hangs when booted. Is there some way I can view
> what commands the computer runds when Windows is booted up?
>
> The real problem, however, lies not in Windows, but apparently in the
> Linux 2.6 kernel. Installation alters the partition "geometry," in
> some way. Apparently this can be fixed fairly easily. Then one needs
> to re-load GRUB so one can dual boot without having to boot from a
> floppy or CD.
>
> So my understanding of what I need to do is as follows:
>
> 1) Set a Windows System restore point just in case I mess up again,
> and back up any data (not much) I've added since the last system
> restore.
>
> 2)Insert the Fedora "Rescue CD" I downloaded aburned, or Disk 1 of the
> Fedora Installation CDs. This will allow me to start up Fedora.
>
> 3) Log on a "root" (I think this might be necessary, the writeup was
> unclear on this pint.)
>
> 4) Fix the disk geometry using the command(s) recommended at:
>
> http://lwn.net/Articles/86835/
>
> http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedor.../msg02114.html
>
> 5) Reinstall/update the GRUB bootloader in the MBR ("master boot
> record?")
> (How to I view the contents of the MBR, and the message that are
> generated whne the computer boots up?)
>
> That should fix the problem.
>
> Does this seem right?
>
> Am I missing anything?
>
> Thanks, Joe


The entire issue resides with Fedora Core. FC is the beta version of
the commercial Red Hat; it is a test bed being foisted on an unaware
public believing it to be a simplified Red Hat distro. FC will never be
a finished, final product suitable for production usage, IMO. Red Hat
admits that only their commercial Red Hat is intended for distribution
as a finished, stable product.

One should not be required to jump through hoops to reliably install a
dual-boot Linux. For example, Mandrake 10 simply installs. No big
deal. No crossing fingers behind one's back, colored smoke,
incantations. Suze has a new release available for download. Only Red
Hat seems to want to fool the public into believing that FC is the
"public" distro. Frankly, Mandrake 10 *is* a finished product, installs
easily, works reliably, is continually updated for security issues, bug
squashing, version updates.

Why settle for a second-rate, unstable, and dangerous Fedora Core when
there are many other more suitable distros to choose from?

Q

On 22 Jun 2004 05:57:22 -0700, Joe Bachman wrote:
> "Quaoar" wrote in message
> news:...
>
> Concerning my Fedora dual-boot problems with Windows XP:
>
>> Joe Bachman wrote:
>> > Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
>> > attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
>> > my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
>> > whatever good that did.
>> >
>> > What happened?!!? What triggered Windows into performing this
>> > unneeded system restore, and how can I prevent it from doing so in the
>> > future?
>> >
>> > Is it possible for me to boot up Linux without having to reinstall it?
>> >
>> > What's the best way for me to get my Windows applications running
>> > normally again, as well as getting "my Documents" into its proper
>> > folder?
>> >
>> > This hasn't been totally bad, as Windows seems to run faster now that
>> > a lot of my junk loaded in at startup and registry clutter is gone.
>> > But I do want to get Norton antivirus and my firewall up and running.
>> >
>>
>> AFIK, Fedora Core, in the initial public release, did exactly this on a
>> dual boot install. This *feature* was apparently fixed in a subsequent
>> re-release. Google Groups: fedora core for some info on this.
>>
>> Q
>
>
> Ah yes, my googling found quite a bit of net.taffic on this topic.
> What seems to happen most frequently is that Windows XP just hangs
> when one attempts to boot with GRUB, the bootloader supplied with
> Fedora. If one reinstalls Windows, then GRUB is eliminated, and one
> can't access Fedora without using a boot floppy or CD.
>
> I suspect that COMPAQ's installation of XP has a command to do a
> system restore if XP hangs when booted. Is there some way I can view
> what commands the computer runds when Windows is booted up?
>
> The real problem, however, lies not in Windows, but apparently in the
> Linux 2.6 kernel. Installation alters the partition "geometry," in
> some way. Apparently this can be fixed fairly easily. Then one needs
> to re-load GRUB so one can dual boot without having to boot from a
> floppy or CD.

I don't think it is the kernel, it was likely a fault with whatever Fedora
uses to partition (do they still use Disk Druid?). SuSE 9.1 tried to do
the same thing to me (wanted to change heads from 240 to 255 and different
cylinders), but I caught it, because I had just fixed my partition table
after 64-bit Win XP Pro had done that to me. I was lucky and managed to
recreate my partition table from a Mdk 9.2 based rescue CD with no data
loss.

So I told SuSE's partitioner to leave my partitions alone and installed
GRUB on a partition instead of MBR. With GRUB on the active boot
partition, it comes up first, which can either boot 64-bit Linux, or hand
it off to NTLDR for XP Home or 64-bit XP Pro.

--
David Efflandt - All spam ignored http://www.de-srv.com/

I report back in some embarrassment. Fderoa Core 2 is now installed
on my system. It turns out that there was no problem with either
fedora or the Linux kernel. It was entirely my fault for not paying
attention. That, and a rather wierd disk partition setup that Compaq
uses.

It turns out that in Windows I have a C:\ drive that contains windows
and all my user files, and a D:\ drive that contains special Windows
backup files. In other words, if you boot to the D:\ drive, yopu get
the special COMPAQ system restore.

On the other hand, in linux, for some reason the D:\ drive is the one
reported as "hda1," and the C:\ drive is "hda2." So when I set GRUB
up to boot to windows, I should have set it to boot to hda2. Of
course, when I had the opportunity during GRUB setup, the program
defaulted to hda1 as the alternative boot. So basically, any time I
would instruct GRUB to boot me to Windows, it booted up a system
restore.

I ended up having to wipe my Fedora install and reinstall it. That
meant that I zapped the linux partitions using Windows diskmanager,
and then simply re-installed it. I'm not sure how I realized that the
partition naming was a problem, but I should have realized it when
running disk druid, and I could see that the hda1 partition only had
~5 GB and the hda2 partition had ~79 GB. Just like Windows Disk
manager says that D:\ had ~5 GB and C:\ has ~79 GB.

Anyway, Fedora Core 2 is now up and running on my machine, which is
good becuase I did something in windows that rotated the image in my
monitor, so until I can figure out how to turn it around, I'll have to
stick with using linux. Actually, it was pretty impressive. Excpet
for my stupid mistake setting up GRUB, the install was totally
uneventful. Not bad for a non-geek who not only installed linux, but
did so from downloaded iso disks. Maybe linux is ready for the common
desktop.

Joe


efflandt@xnet.com (David Efflandt) wrote in message news:...
> On 22 Jun 2004 05:57:22 -0700, Joe Bachman wrote:
> > "Quaoar" wrote in message
> > news:...
> >
> > Concerning my Fedora dual-boot problems with Windows XP:
> >
> >> Joe Bachman wrote:
> >> > Too late, I realized that I should have set a "restore point" before I
> >> > attempted to install a Fedora Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP on
> >> > my Compaq Presario desktop. I did back up all my data files, for
> >> > whatever good that did.
> >> >
> >> > What happened?!!? What triggered Windows into performing this
> >> > unneeded system restore, and how can I prevent it from doing so in the
> >> > future?
> >> >
> >> > Is it possible for me to boot up Linux without having to reinstall it?
> >> >
> >> > What's the best way for me to get my Windows applications running
> >> > normally again, as well as getting "my Documents" into its proper
> >> > folder?
> >> >
> >> > This hasn't been totally bad, as Windows seems to run faster now that
> >> > a lot of my junk loaded in at startup and registry clutter is gone.
> >> > But I do want to get Norton antivirus and my firewall up and running.
> >> >
> >>
> >> AFIK, Fedora Core, in the initial public release, did exactly this on a
> >> dual boot install. This *feature* was apparently fixed in a subsequent
> >> re-release. Google Groups: fedora core for some info on this.
> >>
> >> Q
> >
> >
> > Ah yes, my googling found quite a bit of net.taffic on this topic.
> > What seems to happen most frequently is that Windows XP just hangs
> > when one attempts to boot with GRUB, the bootloader supplied with
> > Fedora. If one reinstalls Windows, then GRUB is eliminated, and one
> > can't access Fedora without using a boot floppy or CD.
> >
> > I suspect that COMPAQ's installation of XP has a command to do a
> > system restore if XP hangs when booted. Is there some way I can view
> > what commands the computer runds when Windows is booted up?
> >
> > The real problem, however, lies not in Windows, but apparently in the
> > Linux 2.6 kernel. Installation alters the partition "geometry," in
> > some way. Apparently this can be fixed fairly easily. Then one needs
> > to re-load GRUB so one can dual boot without having to boot from a
> > floppy or CD.
>
> I don't think it is the kernel, it was likely a fault with whatever Fedora
> uses to partition (do they still use Disk Druid?). SuSE 9.1 tried to do
> the same thing to me (wanted to change heads from 240 to 255 and different
> cylinders), but I caught it, because I had just fixed my partition table
> after 64-bit Win XP Pro had done that to me. I was lucky and managed to
> recreate my partition table from a Mdk 9.2 based rescue CD with no data
> loss.
>
> So I told SuSE's partitioner to leave my partitions alone and installed
> GRUB on a partition instead of MBR. With GRUB on the active boot
> partition, it comes up first, which can either boot 64-bit Linux, or hand
> it off to NTLDR for XP Home or 64-bit XP Pro.