On Mon, 2004-01-19 at 09:53, Martin Mielke wrote:

Hi Kennethm

[snip]

...

...

Anyone can shed some light?? I'm running out of ideas on this issue...

A dead cmos battery perhaps.

Nope; it's a dual system (Linux + WinXP) and it works fine with XP...

Martin

Please please please do not respond to the poster AND the list. The poster is ON the list and does not need TWO copies of your reply. -- Ken Schneider unix user since 1989 linux user since 1994 SuSE user since 1998 (5.2)

Hi list, I'll try this out tonite when I come home: http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue63/okopnik.html Let's see what happens... (keep your fingers crossed ;)) Regards, Martin

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 12:39:33 -0500 "Paul W. Abrahams" wrote:

On Monday 19 January 2004 12:01 pm, Martin Mielke wrote:

...

Hi list,

I'll try this out tonite when I come home: http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue63/okopnik.html

Let's see what happens... (keep your fingers crossed ;))

If you really want to clear a hard drive entirely (which is what the article seems to be talking about), try using the floppy-based disk utilities you can download from maxtor.com. I don't think that Martin wants to reformat his entire drive.

Since I do regular Linux installfests, I generally carry a standalone DOS diskette and Partition Magic. I would suggest that Martin also take a look at the anti-virus or firewall software that might be running on XP. That could very well be the culprit. I've used fdisk /mbr many times. I have found that sometimes you need to run it multple times. dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 can be run from the SuSE rescue system. - -- Jerry Feldman Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2-rc1-SuSE (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFADE7z+wA+1cUGHqkRAiAnAJ0R0BkOFIxyA9jF29IWnvxZ/ZQGUgCfc692 l7XkihbxeedbqjgNsD4EA9Q= =Hpcz -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:18:56 +0100 "Martin Mielke" wrote:

...

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 can be run from the SuSE rescue system.

Will this __safely__ correct/delete the MBR so I can reinstall it using the boot CDROM? Please, keep in mind that the hard disks contain much information and I cannot afford myself it to be lost somehow... No guarantees, but this does not wipe out the partition table.

However, I think your problem might stem from something running in Windows XP. Anti-Virus software monitors changes to the MBR. You need to make sure that after you boot XP, you tell the A-V either not to monitor the MBR or to record the changes so it does not try to fix the LILO/Grub MBR. - -- Jerry Feldman Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2-rc1-SuSE (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFADS1i+wA+1cUGHqkRAnCRAJ9/cloCKL9D3m6HqAQBzQTher4voQCffQUE wyR2NFfBiGWcIlPd4iBiZTc= =50+W -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

...and hi again ;) Some more notes on this issue... As I told you, my system freezes with an error like "L 04 08". I just found this http://electron.phys.dal.ca/Bootdisk-HOWTO-12.html and this http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~mibe/linux/lilo/user/d4hnode78.html.

From the former, I identify "L" as:

L The first stage boot loader has been loaded and started, but it can't load the second stage boot loader. The two-digit error codes indicate the type of problem. (See also section ``Disk error codes''.) This condition usually indicates a media failure or a geometry mismatch (e.g. bad disk parameters) --- and from the latter I read this: --- 0x04 ``Sector not found''. This typically indicates a geometry mismatch. If you're booting a raw-written disk image, verify whether it was created for disks with the same geometry as the one you're using. If you're booting from a SCSI disk or a large IDE disk, you should check, whether LILO has obtained correct geometry data from the kernel or whether the geometry definition corresponds to the real disk geometry. (See section 3.4.) Removing compact may help too. So may adding linear. --- and: --- 0x08 ``DMA overrun''. This shouldn't happen. Try booting again. --- I will try with that "linear" option tonite at home and will let you all know about my (near death) experience :-) Regards, Martin

Martin Mielke writes:

...

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 can be run from the SuSE rescue system.

Will this __safely__ correct/delete the MBR so I can reinstall it using the boot CDROM?

No, it will also erase the partition table. Use dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=446 count=1 instead and SEE the LILO documentation. The structure of MBR is explained there and also the messages "L", "LI", ... They indicate there may be something wrong with your disk geometry. -- A.M.

Carl William Spitzer IV wrote:

Don't forget BootIT which runs from a single floppy. You just have to google for it as I forget the URL. sometimes having multiple tools for the same task does pay off.

I do hope the EU backs off so the Knoppix guys can keep developing and testing more tools to add to their distro.

CWSIV

OT: Development on knoppix has not stopped. new updated versions keep being issued. Perhaps the website facade misleads. Regards Sid.

On Mon, 2004-01-19 at 13:41, Jerry Feldman wrote:

...

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 12:39:33 -0500 "Paul W. Abrahams" wrote:

...

On Monday 19 January 2004 12:01 pm, Martin Mielke wrote:

...

Hi list,

I'll try this out tonite when I come home: http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue63/okopnik.html

Let's see what happens... (keep your fingers crossed ;))

If you really want to clear a hard drive entirely (which is what the article seems to be talking about), try using the floppy-based disk utilities you can download from maxtor.com.

I don't think that Martin wants to reformat his entire drive.

Since I do regular Linux installfests, I generally carry a standalone DOS diskette and Partition Magic. I would suggest that Martin also take a look at the anti-virus or firewall software that might be running on XP. That could very well be the culprit.

I've used fdisk /mbr many times. I have found that sometimes you need to run it multple times.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 can be run from the SuSE rescue system.

- --

-- Sid Boyce .... Hamradio G3VBV and keen Flyer Linux Only Shop.