it's like the matrix...

Toyler · #1 6th August 2005, 04:09 PM

Hi,
boy is this stuff hard. After installing FC4 onto a clean second hdd2 (the frst has XP pro on it) all I se when booting is a stream of apparrently random characters leading nowhere.

haven't seen this reported here must problems seem to be around hanging boots.

FYI the installation DVD passes the test and I've tried installing frub on the MBR and /boot sectors with the same result.

AMD system well spec'd

it's like the matrix but much less entertaining

T

fpoole · #2 6th August 2005, 04:18 PM

Hahah! I like your take on it.

First --did you install to the first drive or second? I have my Windows install on the second and GRUB on the MBR of the first, so everything is fine. If there's a lot invested in your Windows side, it's probably a good idea to back up the Docs and Settings of users as well as anything else you've got. If they're both fresh installs, I'd just wipe the disks clean and install Fedora first. Also, if you want to be able to read/write to the XP drive in case of emergency (read: malware), use FAT32 instead of NTFS. NTFS is currently read-only for Linux, and requires extra software.

jim · #3 6th August 2005, 04:19 PM

boot off the DVD
type linux rescue at the prompt
answer the questions
at the prompt type
chroot /mnt/sysimage
type ls
is there a /boot directory?
you can also try cat /etc/grub.conf

this will show the contents of the file
note the section

Quote:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,5)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda7
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0

post back with this information