Install error thingamajigy

Prometheus · #1 6th April 2004, 10:17 PM

Hi guys....

Im trying to install Fedora on a system (like the 3rd one now) with 2hdds. I have installed fedora on hdb and xp on hda before, but this time hda is NTFS and when i go to install Fedora, it gives a an error about the filesystem and instability with boot loders. and gives the options ignore and cancel. Im assuming its referring to the MBR, but can that even be NTFS? I just dont get what that error is saying. Also, the wireless keyboard is recognized (usb), but the mouse isnt. I go to the select screen for hte usb mouse, but from there anaconda crashes and reboots. ANy help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Prometheus

kel · #2 6th April 2004, 10:57 PM

With regard to the bootloader, I suspect that the message is warning you that having grub installed in the MBR (you are right, it is not NTFS) might result in difficulty getting the system to boot the OS found on the NTFS partition. If this is a concern, there are a number of discussions on this site of the way in which one can get grub to multi-boot and I direct to them.

As to the mouse issue, I have no specific knowledge of this issue, but here's what I'd do, unplug the mouse and install using 'text' mode. This will allow you to get the system installed and running. After the complete install, plug the mouse back in before/during reboot, then you can work towards the mouse configuration with out the annoying reboot business (although it still may be a pain in the *ss).
This will leave the system booting into 'runlevel 3',non-graphics, but you can then use 'redhat-config-mouse' to choose the USB mouse and 'redhat-config-xfree86' to set up your X11 configuration. Finally (assuming that has worked), you set the system to start up with X11 on by editing the file /etc/inittab.
Change the line
id:3:initdefault:
to read
id:5:initdefault:
and reboot (type "/sbin/init 6")
or you can cheat by typing

$ /sbin/init 5 ; exit

to get to the login window....

Prometheus · #3 6th April 2004, 11:40 PM

it just seems strange to me that ive never had that error before. It said something about the boot loader may not function correctly, and thats the part that worries me. It said something along the lines of "file system may cause the boot loader to work incorrectly. Choosing ignore may cause some system stability problems" then lists the options ignore or cancel. If the boot loader doesnt work correctly, them im screwed. Ive never seen the error before on other installs, so i just dont get it. Oh well, ill wait till tomorrow to do it, i gotta do homework tonight anyway. If i mess up the computer before i get the homework done, itll be a real late night. Later.

By the way, has anyone else done a 2 hdd install with xp on a NTFS partition and Fedora on a separate ext3 hdd? Im sure somebody has done it, so if you could tell me how u did it and any problems along the way it would help a lot. thanks

Prometheus · #4 7th April 2004, 03:09 PM

Just thought about this this this morning, if i just hit ignore, then it royally screws up the MBR, is there any way to just get rid of GRUB out of the MBR and restore it to the default windows MBR without reinstalling everything? Never tried it, so i dont know. Mostly i just wanna know your intrepretation fo the error though. Thanks.