Error loading operating system

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Error loading operating system
started by: Jaberwocky6669

Posted by Jaberwocky6669 on Feb. 21 2006,16:28

I ran DSL from a live CD for a couple of minutes and then proceeded to install it onto my harddrive. When still running from the CD it wouldn't connect to the internet or display the correct screen resolution. After I guessed that I wanted to use Grub (for whatever that is) it completed the installation. I rebooted my computer and now I have a screen that says 'Error loading operating system'. I am a totally clueless internet surfer on a windows98 machine. I was using WindowsXP which I had installed on two separate drives. I was going to wipe one of those installations out, but now it won't let me boot into either installation so now I have reverted to as far back as 98! Linux seems like way more trouble than it's worth. If anyone wants my computer details they are 650 Mhz and 128Mb ram, 13 inch monitor (I beleive - well it's freakin' small that's for sure).

Posted by doobit on Feb. 21 2006,16:41

You probably picked the wrong distribution of Linux for you to install to start out with, unless you are a computer hobbieist and like to try different things. DSL is not difficult, but you need to be willing to forget everything you know about Windows and start from scratch. There are other distributions that have more automated installations. Your best bet with DSL, if you have no other Linux experience, is to first learn to use the live CD. You can do a lot with just the live CD, and some place to back up your settings, like a Windows 98 hard drive.

Posted by Trinity on Feb. 21 2006,22:08

Better start with an easier distro like Fedora or Mandrake Rpm based linux distro's. If you dont want to spend time downloading an other distro.. then this is the problem: You wanted to install DSL to hdd but you problably didnt set any linux partitions. How to do that isnt that hard. Just boot again with your dsl cd then open your terminal/shell as root and give this commando: cfdisk. Thats the place were you can make/delete and adjust partitions. you must make one partition by selecting new, then you must set the partition type by selecting Type. the number you need to fil in is 83 (linux partition) and for the end you select Write to set the setting in your partition table. Now you can instal dsl to your hard disk.

By the way Grub and Lilo are bootloaders they make it possible to load more Operating Systems from your hard disk.
Srry for bad English

Greetzz Trinity

Posted by starcannon on Feb. 21 2006,22:44

I like Frugal install best, it gives you the best features of a hdd install along side the best features of the live cd experience.
A good guide is < http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....wto.pdf >
that pretty much walks you through how to set up the hdd, I have hda1 for my disk image i made it big so i can use it to store dsl packages in if i want, I have hda5 for swap, i made mine double my ram i have 288 mb of ram. And I have hda6 wich is where everything else goes like my persistent home and opt directories. Hope that some of this info is useful. And DSL is much more useful than just to hobbiests. I won't even consider surfin the net on my machines with anything other than linux. And dsl runs wicked fast on my older hardware, and runs at the speed of light on my newer hardware. Be sure to push the F1 F2 F3 keys at the boot screen you will see many options in there. Your Screen size should be determined by what your video card likes. 800x600 is usually a safe bet but if its capable 1024x768 is much more comfortable. 16bit color is usually sufficient.
Rob