Partitioning issues and other problems during F8 installation

[mattyg7353]

Hello all. I've finally decided to get linux onto my laptop, and predictably its not going smoothly. I'm pretty new to running my own linux system as i've previously had administrators to sort out problems(!). Prior to starting the installation I spent a long time reading up on the process and decided to do a dual boot with XP.

So using partition magic i set up a 20Gb ntfs partition for windows, set aside 35Gb for Fedora8, and the remaining 105Gb as a FAT32 partition for data.

My first issue with the F8 installation process is that anaconda hangs if i choose the graphical installation, but seeing as i could do it in the text based installer i wasn't too bothered.

My second issue is that I can not set up more than one linux partition. if i ask the installation to make the default configuration in the free space it comes up with a 'partitioning error' message and claims there is not enough space for the partitions (which isn't true!). If I try to do a custom configuration, it will only let me make one ext3 partition - "/". the same error message appears when i make a swap, /boot, or other partition.

so i proceeded with the installation with a 35Gb "/" partition and it went ok, except that after the installation on the 'firstboot', the X server didn't get loaded (third issue). I read about making a new configuration file to sort this, but when following the instructions to /usr/X11R6...... to find the file, the X11R6 folder wasn't there, or anywhere else in the system! X system was definitely highlighted in the package install list.

So if anyone has any insight into either of these problems I'd be grateful for any help! cheers :)

[leadgolem]

When you set a side 35gb for fedora 8, do you mean the space is unpartitioned?
What video card do you have? You probably need a special driver.

[kldixon]

I sounds like you are trying to create a primary partition. A disk can only hold four primary partitions. To get more partitions you make one of the primary partitions an extended partition and then you can create logical partitions in it. In addition, I have heard of problems with partition magic. I think you would be better off with gparted, check out http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ and try to bone up more on disk partitions as there is rather more to it than I have stated here.

[mattyg7353]

My graphics card is the Intel GMA 950 - nothing fancy.

I left the 35Gb unallocated before starting the installation so that Fedora could create its own partitions

[leadgolem]

I agree with kldixon, the partitioning is probably just a matter of primary/secondary partitions.

I'm not familiar enough with the intel 950 to say for sure, but I suspect your first and third issue have the same root cause. Your system is not running your video card correctly. Try searching for your video card by chipset, and/or take a look and see if somebody with another 900 series chip has the same problem.

In a quick search I found something that may help. Boot into runlevel 3, log in as root, then do this.yum install 915resolution
chkconfig --add 915resolution
chkconfig 915resolution onSee if that helps.

[mattyg7353]

I have managed to sort the problems.

Regarding partitions, you were right kldixon about the number of primary partitions. my laptop is a toshiba a105 which comes with a small 'type 88' partition at the end of the disk. so i deleted this primary partition and Fedora was then able to create its default layout.

regarding the lack of X server, it turns out it was booting up in run level 3 as default. not sure why, maybe because i installed in text mode. so simply switching to run level 5 sorted this.

thanks for your help!