Does anybody know how to reinstate LILO / GRUB following an XP installation? I have no boot options to boot Linux (Knoppmyth) following an installation of XP.

Is there an easy way to change the boot loader? I am a newbie and changing config files is stil daunting!!! Is there an easy way? I only need two options: XP and KnoppMyth

Any tips would be welcome,

Regards

Dean

HI,

Unless you have a zillion or two tweaks, the easiest way for a new person to recover is simply do an auto upgrade. M$ is greedy and will hog the boot sector of your drive so in the future, install M$ first then linux will share the boot sector (the friendly way)

If you wish to try for the learning aspect, try this from tjc:



There has been a few threads on simular areas lately
Mike

Hi, and many thanks for the advice.

I have tried to run an auto update, to reinstall and a manual install but still it will not boot.

I have also tried to use chroot, but, again, without success. I cant log on to my configuration and modify / access / install bi lino.conf file.

Finally, how do I use the Knoppmyth CD as a rescue disk? Do I just run the frontend? If so, how do I modify my files on my HDD?

Any further help would really be useful.

Regards,

Boot off the KM CD and when prompted to choose what to do\install
Alt-F2 to another terminal
mount your hard drives / somewhere
chroot <directory where hdds / is mounted>
lilo -v
reboot

This will only work of the partitions are setup the same way as before you Re-installed WindowsXP

_________________
KnoppMyth Folding@home
How to setup F@H
F@H Stats Page

Hi,

Before you run lilo -v and are wanting a dual boot, you will need to check a couple of files. My drive is a serial so an ide would be hda instead of my sda

Edit /etc/lilo.conf and check these lines:
nano /etc/lilo.conf
vga=788
#part: /dev/sda1, typ: 222
#part: /dev/sda2, typ: 7
# /etc/lilo.conf - See:

prompt
timeout=1200 (gives you two minutes to choose)

# append=""
append="splash=silent apm=power-off nomce"

other=/dev/sda2
label="WinNT(sda2)" (you may have a small dos partition like mine in hda1)


then edit /etc/fstab
nano etc/fstab

# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sda4 /myth ext3 auto,users,exec 0 0

Mainly in the fstab is to besure there is a /myth and it is auto

Hope this is helpful.
Mike

Many thanks for your help guys.

I have taken a drastic step and reformated my HDD and re-installed XP first. But now I cannot install Knoppmyth.

In Auto Install Knoppmyth does not see XP. Having tried this earlier it just formated over XP and left me with nothing as the MBR / boot was corrupt. I have reinstalled XP (for the 4th time), ran fixmbr, fixboot, etc... and XP is ok again. But, I cannot install Knopmyth using auto as it wants to overwrite hda (which has XP on it).

So, I figured the manual approach was the way forward. But, again, I am really having problems with the Manual install - keeps saying format failed and I get stuck in a loop in the install menu structure (my only option is partition or quit but quit does not work). I have created the four linux partitions but I cannot load the config due to XP using hda1 and I don't want to have to re-install this a 5th time.

Are these normal problems?

Any advice?

Standard procedure for auto-install is to nuke the hard drive. So that's normal.

Note that dual booting, while nice for a workstation, is not as nice for a PVR. If you have booted under Windows, your scheduled recordings won't take place. This is why there's less info about dual booting as far as KnoppMyth goes.

Having said that, I searched the forum for "dual boot" (selecting "search for all terms") and found this as the third or fourth thread. I haven't done this but it seems like useful info for you, so give it a shot.

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... =dual+boot

Many thanks for your very prompt reply.

I am actually not using this machine as a PVR, more a media player (playing pre-recorded TV / movies / etc), viewing pictures and listening to mp3's. So no problem with not being able to record.

Uhm... Now you have me thinking. Maybe I should be using some other solution instead on MythTV as I am not actually using the PVR functionality!

All I really need is a simple solution with large buttons for navigating / playing my media on a TV. Is Knoppmyth still the best choice?

Hi deansewell,

If you have a "spare" computer to play with, maybe just simply install KnoppMyth on it for experimenting / evaluation? After you go through the various install paths a few times, you will get the feel and be able to install it on just about anything x86. It is a great friendly learning tool besides being a great friendly PVR

Anyway, if you would really like to try one more time for a dual boot, maybe we can help. Start with the details...
CPU
Mem
HD Size
Audio
Video
are some primary bits of information that are really helpful for folks to see to offer suggestions. For example, size needs to be large enough to hold two systems. Mem determines swap size, some cpu and mother boards may have historical issues.

Mike

Thanks, and good point. Please see signature below...

_________________
Motherboard -- VIA EPIA SP8000
CPU -- see MBoard
RAM -- 512mb
HDD -- Seagate, 40gb
Vid / Sound / LAN -- On board
TV -- No TV card, playback only
OS -- KnoppMyth R5C7

Hi deansewell,

With those parts, it should work. Assuming dual boot..
I would suggest a setup as this, using R5B7
hda1, 6 gig install xp as fat32 (space is then shareable with KM)
hda2, 4.5 gig manual install Knoppmyth (it formats properly)
hda3, 512 meg for swap (requires manual setup)
hda4, ~28 gig as ext3 for /myth

If you have something available, print out the pamphlet, http://mysettopbox.tv/doc.html

Boot up and and select a manual install selecting the partitioning and make the partitions simular to the suggestions. Set the types 82 for swap and 83 for the / and /myth Try 0b for the M$ hda1. write it and quit. quit and reboot, reset is ok too and faster.

Install M$ first, then make sure it is working.
Boot up and auto upgrade into hda2 as this loads all the base system. Load lilo into mbr. You want to quit (not reboot) and go to a #
# is your root prompt and # will also serve in a file to act as "skip this line" dual purpose so keep that tid bit in the corner for now
First fix lilo so it will boot,
# nano -w /etc/lilo.conf
There will probably be one or two lines very near the top that start with:
part: (I forget the rest )
make it be gone or simply
#part: (I still forget the rest but skip it anyway)

now scroll to about halfway, look for
prompt
timeout=150 (15 seconds) change it to be
timeout=1200 (2 minutes, you can always press enter earlier)

scroll to the bottom, you should see something for M$
Control x y enter

if all is well, the next step will make it dual bootable. Do:
# lilo -v (this installs the loader, I think there is a complaint about backup - it is no concern)

Now let us fix things so KM knows about the two new partitons we are going to set up. A couple of simple edits..
#nano -w /etc/fstab
You will see a few things simular to this, make them match.
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000 0 0
if the /dev/hda3 is not marked as listed here change it to match.
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda3 none swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hda4 /myth ext3 auto,users,exec 0 0

Control x y enter and it should be saved.

Now we can fix swap while at a # prompt
# mkswap -a /dev/hda3 (this makes it)
# swapon (this activates it)

CAREFULLY & EXACTLY do this as outlined in the pamphlet...
# mke2fs -j -O sparse_super -m0 -i8000000 -L myth -M /myth /dev/hda4
# mount /myth

upon reboot it gets tricky so have your notes handy, review the Pamphlet for the overview and use as your guide. When the system comes up and you have the terminal window open for a password, wait. do alt x and open a new xterm window. do su - and become root.

Again if all is well, you should simply get a #
# df -h (should list / & /myth)
# top (should see swap of ~512 meg and zero used)
Press q to quit top.
# ls /myth (probably blank)

If you are still with me, excellent! Now enter the admin password where it was so patiently waiting After it is completed, it will drop to a prompt,
# ls /myth (should be folders in there)
# reboot

There should be a lilo menu, which will time out and auto boot into KnoppMyth after 2 minutes.

I am going from memory, so there may be a couple of things left to do.. If you get this far, stop and give us a status report. If ls /myth was empty, we need to fix that. We will need to check a couple items before proceding beyond setup.

Mike

Wow Mike -- many thanks for the tips. I will try them this weekend.

Fingers crossed!

Thanks again.