Trouble installing Mandrake w/ Windows XP
Ok, I am completely new to Linux. I thought I'd give it a try. I downloaded the ISO files for Mandrake and burnt them to discs. When I try to reboot my machine w/ the discs in I get nothing. It autimatically goes straight to my Windows log on screen.
Ok, I am completely new to Linux. I thought I'd give it a try. I downloaded the ISO files for Mandrake and burnt them to discs. When I try to reboot my machine w/ the discs in I get nothing. It autimatically goes straight to my Windows log on screen. Am I doing something wrong? I am currently running Windows XP Home Edition. Is this the problem? Please help. I really wanna try Linux and get away from M$. Thanks.
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Jody did you burn the disks as an " iso image " ? if so then check your BIOS to see if your CD is set to boot on start up...
Checking your BIOS, depending on your machine, some you would hit the delete key on start up, I have a Sony and it is my F2 key... Look in your computer manual, it should give you the instructions... All you want to do is to set your CD to be able to boot ... It is usually a sequence such as CD, your hard drive, floppy...
Quote:Yes, they were burnt as ISO's. Sorry, I am completely computer illiterate when it comes to technical things. How do I check my bios to see if the cd is set to boot? Am I too stupid for Linux? lol thanks.
When your machine boots up, the first screen you see will have a line, usually at the bottom that says something like: "press del to enter setup" (the del may be replaced by f1, f2, or whatever. Press the key indicated, and then find in the bios program where the boot sequence is. The location will vary from bios to bios, so I can't help you find it. Another poster describes it well enogh that you can recognise it. I hope this helps. 8)
When your machine boots up, the first screen you see will have a line, usually at the bottom that says something like: "press del to enter setup" (the del may be replaced by f1, f2, or whatever. Press the key indicated, and then find in the bios program where the boot sequence is. The location will vary from bios to bios, so I can't help you find it. Another poster describes it well enogh that you can recognise it. I hope this helps. 8)
Ok,
thanks everyone for their help so far. I got the cd to boot and to begin installation, however - after analyzing the usb devices (the first part of install) I get an error message saying I might have hardware issues, or there may be a bug in the kernel. I re-downloaded install disk 1 hoping there was nothing wrong w/ my hardware, but I keep getting the message. I also get another message that looks like this after the initial message:
error in exec of stage 2 :-(trying to execute '/user/bin/runinstall2' from the installation volume
the following fatal error occured
FATAL ERROR IN STAGE 1: I/O error
I can't recover from this.
You may reboot your system
Quote:
What gives? I really wanna try Linux. Should I give up on Mandrake and try another distribution? If so, what do y'all recommend? Thanks.
thanks everyone for their help so far. I got the cd to boot and to begin installation, however - after analyzing the usb devices (the first part of install) I get an error message saying I might have hardware issues, or there may be a bug in the kernel. I re-downloaded install disk 1 hoping there was nothing wrong w/ my hardware, but I keep getting the message. I also get another message that looks like this after the initial message:
error in exec of stage 2 :-(trying to execute '/user/bin/runinstall2' from the installation volume
the following fatal error occured
FATAL ERROR IN STAGE 1: I/O error
I can't recover from this.
You may reboot your system
Quote:
What gives? I really wanna try Linux. Should I give up on Mandrake and try another distribution? If so, what do y'all recommend? Thanks.
Quote:Yes, they were burnt as ISO's. Sorry, I am completely computer illiterate when it comes to technical things. How do I check my bios to see if the cd is set to boot? Am I too stupid for Linux? lol thanks.
By the way, hang out here for a while, and you will become technically litterate, believe me! And you are not stupid, after all, you are trying Linux, are you not? That sounds pretty smart to me. 8)
By the way, hang out here for a while, and you will become technically litterate, believe me! And you are not stupid, after all, you are trying Linux, are you not? That sounds pretty smart to me. 8)
It could be a corrupted disk which can be caused by many factors, but usually from the writing speed being set to fast. I download and burn a lot of Linux ISOs, and you should never burn an ISO image any faster than x8. What speed did you burn it? Is the surface clean and scratch free?
Hi Mel! Good to see you again!
'/user/bin/runinstall2 (key word "runinstall2 = install files from disk#2.
If you were prompted to install disk2,and did so,that's a bad disk #2 .
If that's the case, the installation file on disk#2 is corrupt.I know you booted with disk2 but the boot file has it's own little partition and has nothing to do with the installation files other than to boot the machine.
If you were not prompted to insert disk2 then the installation
program which is loaded into memory,on startup,from disk 2 is corrupt.
BTW,I found that running the install CDs in a DVD drive causes
the same problem.
Disk 1 is also bootable and has the installation program.Try booting from disk1.Disk 1 and disk 2 have different problems
with different hardware.
If you were prompted to install disk2,and did so,that's a bad disk #2 .
If that's the case, the installation file on disk#2 is corrupt.I know you booted with disk2 but the boot file has it's own little partition and has nothing to do with the installation files other than to boot the machine.
If you were not prompted to insert disk2 then the installation
program which is loaded into memory,on startup,from disk 2 is corrupt.
BTW,I found that running the install CDs in a DVD drive causes
the same problem.
Disk 1 is also bootable and has the installation program.Try booting from disk1.Disk 1 and disk 2 have different problems
with different hardware.