Very Computer

Help!

I just bought the May 98 Red Hat 5.1 *kewl*
When I get to the install part, after choosing between DiskDruid
or fdisk (either one), I get an error saying that I "don't have
any hard drives available".

History:
- 80386 w/IDE controller
- Installed Win95 on 1033Meg Seagate 2099 cyl, 16 heads, 63 sectors (*ah
crap*)
- Much later, used PartitionMagic to resize to about 800 Meg
        (have 228 left...)
- Booting install with
        boot: linux hda=2099,16,63 hdb=cdrom

CD-ROM is detected and works well...
Any ideas?
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| B.Eng. Computer       (450)476-4392 |
| Software Systems Developper         |
| Dept. 49, CF-18 Systems Engineering |
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I am not totally sure here, but I think there is a problem with booting
linux partitions starting with cylinder number > 1024. With that weird
geometry for your disk (2099 cylinders for 1033MB) you are probably
past the limit, therfore no go.

I don't know what to propose here, except to suggest backing up
the windows partition, repartitioning so that linux comes first,
as it SHOULD. then putting windows back on, if you possibly
can do that. If you don't have a way of making a backup,
I would strongly suggest you get yourself a second disk
(4.3 GB IDE's are <$300, SCSI's similar). Either that
or find yourself a real linux guru, who knows a way around
this!

Have fun!

- dave k.

You might be able to do something with the advanced options
of fdisk to change the geometry, but I ***DO NOT***
recommend this without first having a good backup of your
data.

(this fdisk menu looks sort of promising, but dangerous)
Expert command (m for help): m
Command action
   b   move beginning of data in a partition
   c   change number of cylinders
   d   print the raw data in the partition table
   e   list extended partitions
   h   change number of heads
   m   print this menu
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   r   return to main menu
   s   change number of sectors
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit

- dave k.

Greetings:
  You are correct about there being a 1023 cylinder boundary with
Linux's LILO boot loader.  IMHO, LILO has to point to the Linux
boot sector "within" the 512Mb (1023 cylinder) boundary.  I've
tried installing older kernels past the 1023rd cylinder, installed
LILO, and upon startup got the infamous "LI" lockup while at the
LILO prompt!

  I believe this gentleman's problem is different!  The initial
problem is that the RedHat 5.1 installation routine is not seeing
Stephane's hard drive at all, so that he can begin partitioning
the drive!

  I would like to suggest an alternative to Dave's idea.  Go ahead
and backup the remaining 200 and some-odd-meg of drive space, if
it's in use (MSDOS?).  Create boot floppies as you would for a
"Slackware" installation, and boot your machine using these disks!
Use the Linux "fdisk /dev/hda" command (if you 1st IDE device is
the currect drive), and try accessing your hard drive from here!
If you can, try installing Linux from the Slackware routines.

Let me(us) know what happens,
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    THE PRECEDING REFLECTS THE VIEWS OF THE AUTHOR
   AND NOT, NECESSARILY, THE VIEWS OF EDWARD JONES.
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Good point. I think you are right about what he meant.
Certainly he should be able to boot from floppies, I've
done it myself, but didn't think of it for some odd
reason.

-- dave k.