After Fedora FAIL, success with Ubuntu - BUT...

[jerome1232]

What oldfred said is quite important. Stock XP (whether the installer or the installed system) will typically not run correctly for systems running hard disks in AHCI mode. It almost never has the correct driver for this. XP even lacks the storage controller drivers to properly detect the disks in some SATA systems (mine is one of them).

The only "easy" solution is to configure the BIOS to use 'basic' SATA mode. Then, if that doesn't work, PATA emulation mode. Personally, I find running a modern system in archaic Parallel ATA mode to be unacceptable.

Vista and 7 don't have this issue, if you can stomach their extreme bloat compared to XP.

I wanted to re emphasize this post, when XP came out SATA was new, and drivers weren't all there yet. I've had a few problems in the past with XP and SATA drives, if your bios doesn't allow you to switch the mode of the disk to pata emulation, then the only solution I found then was to obtain the drivers online and put them on a floppy disk and insert it when XP asks if you have additional drivers, or use a program called nlite (if I recall correctly) to create your own XP installation disk with the drivers included.

[Hakunka-Matata]

It's turning into fun now I've let go of emergency mode.

Letting go of emergency mode is invaluable, good stuff.

Leo, Thanks for apprising of your plan, and I applaud your attitude towards getting your installation all sorted. Unix - Linux - Ubuntu, and this forum are & have been a real joy for me over the last several years. Working with people with your attitude are part of the joy, having fun is a big part also. I'm confident you will find a way through to success and enjoy hassle free computing for years to come.

[Hakunka-Matata]

post #61 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1689533
We have had a lot of users who for whatever reason have RAID metadata on their drive which then causes the liveCd to not work as it does not include the RAID drivers. The alternate installer often then works since it has the extra drivers.

IF you have the liveCD working, you need to do a full standared install from that, then if you have problems post a new copy of the boot info script as that gives us many clues about why things are not working.

The other issue many are having including me, is video issues. If only one system it may seem like a boot issue, but it has booted and then found video issue and stopped. I have to add a nomodeset parameter to get it to boot. LiveCD works (now) older versions need parameter even for liveCD. But first boot needs special settings.
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Leo: Although the quoted post does not directly relate to your WindowsXP-Prof installer's inability to recognize the ntfs partition you've prepared for it, it does deal with that type of issue. It lends further credence to me at least that there may be something written in those sectors of your drive that is upsetting the windows installer, and is not revealed via the few tools you've used (to date) to examine the problem. When a problem such as this presents, the more difficult the problem to solve, the more important it becomes to solve it, because of the potential knowledge to be gained. I hope you pursue resolution of this problem, using some of the available tools that have not yet been employed.

[glene77is]

*(: Ubuntu_forums_110521.txt

http://ubuntuforums.org/newreply.php...ply&p=10566156

Leo: Although the quoted post does not directly relate to your WindowsXP-Prof installer's inability to recognize the ntfs partition you've prepared for it, it does deal with that type of issue. It lends further credence to me at least that there may be something written in those sectors of your drive that is upsetting the windows installer, and is not revealed via the few tools you've used (to date) to examine the problem. When a problem such as this presents, the more difficult the problem to solve, the more important it becomes to solve it, because of the potential knowledge to be gained. I hope you pursue resolution of this problem, using some of the available tools that have not yet been employed.

Leo ! Where did you go ?
quote/ It's turning into fun now I've let go of emergency mode. /quote
Leo ? Hope you read this, and simply do what I did.
"START OVER".
Don't give up on Linux !
Ubuntu is the best thing since Jason invented sliced bread.



Hakunka,
I checked into this thread late, about two months late !
You better run XP Installer FIRST, and the reasons are below.

Always,
I welcome the technical and intelligent ( sometimes too terse ) replies
from members of this forum.

For my part,
(1) I do have a "sand-box" computer (Dell, 512 MB RAM, 320 GB HD Pata).
There have been as many as 12 different OS installed, all being directed by Grub4Dos, using a dedicated sda1 primary partition.
(2) I do have a HP-1G RAM-40GB HD, along-side of Parted-Magic and Ubuntu 10.04, (upgraded to 10.10). There are XP & Ubuntu & Parted-Magic installed on the HP, and it is used for business.
(3) There are several 250+ GB USB external HD for backup.
(4) I share the USB external HD via a multi-switcher, and use a KVM switcher for I/O switching.

That said, (follow along with me, please)
(1) there is no good reason that I would accidently allow uBootMgr (with syslinux)
to boot off a USB flash drive and then try to use the syslinux menu on my business HD.
(2) But, I did,
and it promptly wiped out the partition address section of the MBR, leaving the Grub2 intact.

Now,
The Live-CD for Parted-Magic provided some interesting (wierd) info about GRUB2 still being there, and the squirrely addresses, which were obviously garbage, since they were on top and overlapping each other.

So, the GOOD NEWS
for Leo, and perhaps the rest of the guys who were so helpful follows:

I have re-installed XP Pro five times on my HP, alongside Ubuntu and Parted-Magic.
In my careless tinkering, I have
(1) wiped out the MBR totally,
(2) wiped out the Grub2,
(3) wiped out the partition table (last 32 bytes of MBR space) which made the whole HD vanish.
(4) become thankful for back-up files.

I want to relate to you guys just exactly what the XP installer put on my screen
FOUR times during each of the FIVE re-installs I have done.
I am making no mistaking is issue, and you should check it out, telling me if I am mistaken.
The XP installer clearly warned me that :
(1) it requires the entire Hard Drive,
(2) it will wipe out all Partition Info,
(3) clearing the ENTIRE hard drive.

I checked after the XP install, booting theParted-Magic Live-CD to RAM,
and it clearly showed an XP-PRO install that used the ENTIRE hard drive.

For my own needs, I promtly used Parted-Magic Live-CD to :
(1) shrink the XP sda1 primary partition down to 10GB,
(2) create an Extended partition, for two more logical partitions for: (a) Ubuntu Sys (b) Data.
(3) create a primary partition of < 1 GB for the small Swap.

That means that
IF any of your fixes worked,
THEN the XP installer would WIPE OUT all the clean-up work you all did.


************************************************** ************************************************** ******************
This has been a great thread, and while I was anticipating Leo's use of the XP installer in due time,
I was being pulled along (just like in a mystery novel) with great apprehension
because I have seen the XP installer 'clear out' disks prior to use.
I was very disappointed when Leo did not respond again. The little novelette did not play out well.

This was really educational to me.
I also read that M$ requires sda1 as a primary partition for any M$ OS install.
I suppose that M$ believes in itself, and only itself.
I think that Linux has been written with the capability of installing "BESIDE" any other OS.
With Ubuntu's (paid) engineering staff pushing a great "desk-top" OS,
Linux has a virtual foot-in-the-door of every corporation in the world !

My many Grub2 installs pick up every OS except :
(1) Puppy Linux, with the SQFS (Squash File System)
(a) SQF methods are like a "zip" file, and the vmlinux and initrd are not exposed to grub.
(b) SQF technology is really interesting and hack-proof.
(2) Parted-Magic,
(a) which is copied from the Live-CD into C:\pmagic subdir,
(b) then hand-coded into grub.cfg.

On my "sand-box" computer, an 'aside' thought,
I installed Grub4Dos, in a dedicated sda1 primary partition,
and make use of the regular menu.lst method. Has controlled 12 OS on one HD.

Again,
I welcome the technical and intelligent ( sometimes too terse ) replies
from members of this forum.

Leo ? Hope you read this, and simply do what I did.
"START OVER".
Don't give up on Linux !
Ubuntu is the best thing since Jason invented sliced bread.

Buena suerta, ---{^,^}--- glene77is, Memphis, TN, USA.

[Leo Rivers]

Greetings;

What I ended up doing was

Part A

1. Booted Ubuntu Live DVD

2. Reformatted my laptop with a Windows partition in the first position

3. Made a subsequent Swap partition and then

4. Made a LOGICAL partition for a Linux partition to nest in

5. and lastly a Data partition for files (I use Open Office and Mozilla and Gimp on both OS "sides")

Part B

1. I installed Windows in 1st partition at front of cylinder

2. I booted from Live DVD and installed Linux in the LOGICAL partition

Part C

3. - this REMADE GRUB so at boot I can choose between Ubuntu or Windows xp

EASY

It was pointed out my attempts to help were very unhelpful. My medicine is another's poison.

[glene77is]

Greetings;
What I ended up doing was
Part A
1. Booted Ubuntu Live DVD
2. Reformatted my laptop with a Windows partition in the first position
3. Made a subsequent Swap partition and then
4. Made a LOGICAL partition for a Linux partition to nest in
5. and lastly a Data partition for files (I use Open Office and Mozilla and Gimp on both OS "sides")
Part B
1. I installed Windows in 1st partition at front of cylinder
2. I booted from Live DVD and installed Linux in the LOGICAL partition
Part C
3. - this REMADE GRUB so at boot I can choose between Ubuntu or Windows xp
EASY
It was pointed out my attempts to help were very unhelpful. My medicine is another's poison.

Leo,

Great news, and a good way to end a little mystery novelette !
I use Libre(Open)Office, FireFox, GIMP, Audacity as main applications.
Flipping between computers is much simpler that way.

At the Univ. of TN, Memphis, TN, we did research into designing analog IC circuits, computer interfacing, with the application being a population of 956 cerebral palsy/MS/AS clients.
In 1980 I used a AIM-65, from Rockwell, 6502 micro, 4 KB RAM, built-in assembler ROM, and cassette drives. I wrote a variant of the Word Star word processing program, in 6502 assembler code, to use on this special "industrial controller computer".
Then, at the University, we used an Altair 8000, using 8080 micro, and dual 8" floppy drives. ( 5 MB HD was $1200).
Then, we progressed to half-dozen Apple II, with the 6502 micro, and 64 MB RAM, two 5 1/4" floppies.
I remember using the CP/M OS on a Z-80 card, plugged into my Apple II, with 64 KB Ram, 6502 microprocesser. For work I used old Word Star and dBASE. Wrote in 6502, 6803, 8080 machine (hex) and assemblers.
Now, I use Libre, FireFox, GIMP, Audacity applications.,

Ubuntu is simply the best desk-top OS around. Excellent support, leading edge.
It is a RAM hog, and requires more OS HD space, but it does everything.

Puppy is simply the best Live-CD OS around. I combine it with XP and Ubuntu, and neither one knows that Puppy ever runs in the midst. Can run in 128 MegBytes of RAM.
Can download huge applications (such as the ones we use)
and leave Squash files on the HD, never touching the XP or Ubuntu OS !

What you wrote fits into my model. Glad it works.
Hope it proves productive.

So, WELCOME to the forums, check in again, anytime !

(always check in and list the final results,
(1) as a "Thank you"
(2) and so this thread can be marked "Solved".

[srs5694]

I am making no mistaking is issue, and you should check it out, telling me if I am mistaken.
The XP installer clearly warned me that :
(1) it requires the entire Hard Drive,
(2) it will wipe out all Partition Info,
(3) clearing the ENTIRE hard drive.

I'm not sure what the case was with XP, but some OEM versions of the Windows Vista and 7 installers behave this way. OTOH, my retail (upgrade) copy of XP does not have any of those restrictions. I've re-installed it several times, and it's never insisted on taking over the entire hard disk. There may have been an option to do so (I don't remember that detail), but I'm quite certain I've installed it alongside other OSes without running into problems.

That said, what every Microsoft install I've ever made on a BIOS-based computer has done is to wipe the boot loader code from the MBR. This can be an annoyance if you had GRUB or some other multi-OS boot loader set up there, since it renders your non-Microsoft OSes unbootable until you re-install your original boot loader. It doesn't destroy those installations, though.

I also read that M$ requires sda1 as a primary partition for any M$ OS install.

I've read this many times, too. I must be doing something wrong, since I've installed Windows on other partitions many times. In fact, I've installed different versions of Windows side-by-side on the same computer and disk (although I don't happen to have such an installation right this moment).

What Windows does require (on an MBR disk) is a primary partition. Normally this will be the main OS installation partition, but it's possible to install most of Windows in a logical partition and use a primary just for a few critical files. I've never tried to set it up this way, though, and I don't recall what sort of hoops you've got to jump through to do it.

[glene77is]

I'm not sure what the case was with XP, but some OEM versions of the Windows Vista and 7 installers behave this way. OTOH, my retail (upgrade) copy of XP does not have any of those restrictions. I've re-installed it several times, and it's never insisted on taking over the entire hard disk. There may have been an option to do so (I don't remember that detail), but I'm quite certain I've installed it alongside other OSes without running into problems.

That said, what every Microsoft install I've ever made on a BIOS-based computer has done is to wipe the boot loader code from the MBR. This can be an annoyance if you had GRUB or some other multi-OS boot loader set up there, since it renders your non-Microsoft OSes unbootable until you re-install your original boot loader. It doesn't destroy those installations, though.

[/SIZE][/COLOR][/COLOR]

I've read this many times, too. I must be doing something wrong, since I've installed Windows on other partitions many times. In fact, I've installed different versions of Windows side-by-side on the same computer and disk (although I don't happen to have such an installation right this moment).

What Windows does require (on an MBR disk) is a primary partition. Normally this will be the main OS installation partition, but it's possible to install most of Windows in a logical partition and use a primary just for a few critical files. I've never tried to set it up this way, though, and I don't recall what sort of hoops you've got to jump through to do it.

SRS,

Always, thanks for responding.
I basically agree on each point of your re-post.
It is a big world, and I learn something from every re-post.

Really happy to see that Leo has his system up-and-running.

I will be reading your narrative again,
and adding it to the every widening scope of my studies.


glene77is

[glene77is]

Leo: Although the quoted post does not directly relate to your WindowsXP-Prof installer's inability to recognize the ntfs partition you've prepared for it, it does deal with that type of issue. It lends further credence to me at least that there may be something written in those sectors of your drive that is upsetting the windows installer, and is not revealed via the few tools you've used (to date) to examine the problem. When a problem such as this presents, the more difficult the problem to solve, the more important it becomes to solve it, because of the potential knowledge to be gained. I hope you pursue resolution of this problem, using some of the available tools that have not yet been employed.

Hakunka,
Thanks for responding to Leo.
Your posts were good, intelligent reading.

glene77is

[Leo Rivers]

Ever one to take a hint as a command...

... I now have a thumbdrive case on a chain around my neck. It has pockets for 2 thumb drives.

In one I have my Core DATA

in the other I have Lucent Puppy!


I am a nomad now. Got all I need to go.