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Topic: How to format MBR of the HD

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new_dsl_user2 Offline

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Posts: 1
Joined: April 2005

Posted: April 12 2005,22:36

Hi, I have used many versions of linux, and I can say that DSL is the best distro for old hardware. I work at a public school and DSL is giving a new life to our existing machines. Thank you. I have two questions:

1. The machine that i am trying to install DSL on used to run Vector Linux with the boot-loader lilo. I did a Frugal install by using the menu option under Tools, and kept the default answers to all the questions. The process goes smooth, and then the machine reboots. When the machines boots from the HD in the next boot time, lilo starts and still boots the old linux image which tries to boot Vector Linux. There is only one Linux option on the lilo boot menu and that is the Vector Linux one. What can I do? If I need to format MBR of the HD, how do I do that in linux?

2. Our school provides IP addresses through DHCP, but when DSL boots even though it gets an IP, it cannot get online. It says "Error connecting to network". Then, I go through the netcardconfig and choose static IP, enter all the info and it works. What can I do in order not to enter all that info everytime I boot into DSL?

Thank you.

AwPhuch

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Posts: 1404
Joined: April 2004

Posted: April 13 2005,01:54

1. Get Ultimate Boot CD or Darik's Boot and Nuke and wipe the harddrive, I use the quick method (all 0's one pass) to erase all data from the drive...then on install it will take care of the rest

2. How many IP's will your network assign? Are you sure its DHCP?
If all else fails just create a file to automatically do it when it boots

Brian
AwPhuch

--------------
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http://www.smoothwall.org <-- Ultimate firewall for the world!
http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php/userID:6107 <--My BOINC stats!
./S99LinuxRevolution start

skaos

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Posts: 430
Joined: April 2004

Posted: April 13 2005,13:13

Or you can boot DSL and run the following command:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda
This assumes that /dev/hda is your hard disk. And please note that this wipes the disk completely. If you only need to delete the mbr:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

spotslayer Offline

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Posts: 96
Joined: April 2005

Posted: April 17 2005,13:50

Or if I remember my old DOS days correctly (been several years) you could boot with a DOS floppy that has fdisk and do fdisk /MBR.

D

3 replies since April 12 2005,22:36

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » HD Install » How to format MBR of the HD