. I hate Mandrake and i'm using the new slackware. Erm.. trying .
I'm starting to learn a lot, but i've gotten it partitioned and installed all the goodies. Problem is i can't get it to boot. This is a 80 gb hard drive reserved for just linux.
so its installed on dev/hdc1 , but it goes through the little penguin screen and it then asks for a root floppy.
How do i make a MBR ? I've tried using the setup disk, cfdisk wont work it errors on me, and fdisk worked for my partitioning.

Can't really think of anymore info to give on it. Just can't make it boot without the cd.. or go into a KDE or gnome environment.
I'm not going to lie i haven't searched too much yet, but i don't really have time as of now. Hope someone can help me.



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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

Are you using grub or lilo? Does one come up at boot? If so, post your grub.conf or lilo.conf file if you can.

My guess is that you don't have a bootloader installed. I've never installed slack so I can't say how you would go about doing that using the cd, but that's probably what your problem is.

s signature has been formatted to fit your scr

I agree with silverpig, it sounds like you don't have a boot loader installed. You can check if grub is installed by looking in /boot for a directory called grub. If it's there, I'd grab a copy of grubconf(google it) and configure grub that way(or check your programs under gnome to see if it's already installed).

If you don't have grub, check in /etc for lilo.conf. If that's there, edit it to look like this:
boot=/dev/hdc
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
timeout=100
default=windows

other=/dev/hda1
label=windows

image=/boot/vmlinuz... <- check in your /boot directory for the exact vmlinuz name file to go here. note the 'z' at the end, it's not vmlinux... it's vmlinuz...
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-.... <- again, check in your /boot directory for the exact name.

read-only
root=/dev/hdc1

Once you are done modifying that file, save it, then ****TEST**** it with the command: /sbin/lilo -t
This command should return an error if your syntax is off. Once you are satisfied that there are no errors with it, install it with the command:
/sbin/lilo

DISCLAIMER: I haven't worked with Lilo for over a year, this is all from memory. I don't think they've changed it, but they could have. I mostly use Grub now, but I use Suse's tools to configure it(YAST). Keep your windows CD handy to run a repair.

edit - I removed the line "linear". The last time I was working with Lilo was on an ancient machine. You won't need that on modern hardware and it might cause problems.

<i>Cigarettes - No cholesterol, high in fiber, low in fat, how could they not be good for you?</i><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by raretech on 09/20/04 00:57 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

Thanks a lot for the help, i went through and re-installed?.. the MBR with Lilo and it worked this time.
Just for everyone's information the 9800pro works better under slackware 10 for some reason...

But i also installed this on my old Alienware "from my dumb days".
2.8b 1gb rdram pc800 , 80gb ide 7200rpm seagate, Cheapest NVidia i could find in my local stores. FX5200 128mb series. 60 dollars.
I hope that baby doesn't overheat it has no fan.

Now i have to get my onboard sound working, any advice on that would help a lot.
I'm looking forward to having it sit standing proud next to my gaming rig.

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

thank you as well. I think i just went a bit ahead of myself.
I don't think they have an option for grub. It was only LiLo.

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

I was looking at my resources whatever... I have 4x256 rdram pc800 , but it's only reading a tad more than 800 mb total.. It's about right for hard drive space.. "80GB" 56for /home, 8ish for root(didn't know what to give it. or if i'd want it later), 2gb for Swap just in case .

I know it's normal for hard drive space to be off, but 14GB seems a lot.. and it seems i'm missing a stick of RdRam as well.
??

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

What hardware do you have for sound?

Also, when you're checking your resources, where are you checking them at?

Enter this command at a prompt:
free
what does the total next to "mem" say?

<i>Cigarettes - No cholesterol, high in fiber, low in fat, how could they not be good for you?</i>

That's easy. You have to compile highmem support in your kernel.

cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
*scroll through and find the highmem support part and enable it, then exit*
make clean bzImage modules modules_install
cp arch/i386/bzImage /boot/newkernelnamehere

update your /boot/lilo.conf to read from the new kernel on boot.

s signature has been formatted to fit your scr

Well it's reading 904mb.

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

Sounds hard. ^^
I'm up for a challenge.

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

Hmm.. it worked.. it saved my configuration, i think it rebuilt it ^^ it did a lot of stuff that i really don't understand or could read. But it still reads 900mb, i kinda wonder if maybe the memory modules are true 256, it is RDram and we all know how big of a scam that was.

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not..

Well if the kernel compile went alright, you have to copy the image over to your /boot folder. Then you have to tell lilo to load your new kernel.

s signature has been formatted to fit your scr

Do you use Slak? I haven't touched it in years. I'm really surprised the slak kernel doesn't come compiled to support that.

This is one reason why I don't recommend slak for noobs to Linux. I've seen it leave a bad impression on the state of Linux to so many people.

<i>Cigarettes - No cholesterol, high in fiber, low in fat, how could they not be good for you?</i>

I used the Newb version of mandrake and it sucked balls.
To be honest with you i love this.
I'd rather go into something a little bit harder and learn from it than go to newb and work backwards.

Well, when you install it you can choose your kernel as well. Since i have an IDE system the bare 2.4.25ish kernel will do fine they say. And so far it's fine, the thing i don't really understand is it says it would support up to 1gb, but if you have a bit more than you have to make it support 4bg.

Another annoying thing about KDE is how it has all these processes running for me. But i'm slowly but surely figuring out which ones do what.

Slack 10 is going for more simplicity, KDE 3.2 is fairly simple for any of normal tasks, but i didn't want to go to linux for just an alternative to windows. I want to learn how to use it , and hopefully one day be able to take full advantage of it by making it what i want.
I won't let a mere 100mb of missing ram stop me from that .

I really just wish i could find a descent site for general command line things and whatnot. Small tutorials. Seems that all my google searches end in pointlessness.

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not.. <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Johanthegnarler on 09/22/04 09:00 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

<i>I used the Newb version of mandrake and it sucked balls. </i>

I wouldn't recommend mandrake either. For me, I want someone who is first trying Linux to have the best possible experience, so I would recommend a Suse or Lycoris, so they can taste just how good Linux has gotten. From there, if they want to go deeper, than I point them to a slak, or better still, gentoo. Just my opinion on it. I just want everyone who tries Linux to see it at it's easiest to use, most polished out of the box best. First impressions being what they are.

<i>I'd rather go into something a little bit harder and learn from it than go to newb and work backwards.</i>

I can't fault you there, that's a great attitude, but many people don't share it. I just wanted to say something in case you, or someone else who might read this thread, equates your experience with Linux in general, rather than distribution specific. Slak is great for people with your attitude.

<i>I want to learn how to use it , and hopefully one day be able to take full advantage of it by making it what i want.
I won't let a mere 100mb of missing ram stop me from that .</i>

You can learn how to use it on one of the "ready out of the box" distro's, but they won't force you into the lessons. I'm only saying this in case someone else reads this. personally, after what you've said, I think you're using the right distro for your mindset/attitude. You'll get that 100mb working.

I posted this in reply to another post, but just in case you didn't see this, check here:
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<i>Cigarettes - No cholesterol, high in fiber, low in fat, how could they not be good for you?</i>