Help getting Linux off a hdd

22-08-2005, 14:25

Ok I had a play with Ubuntu but I need to reclaim the hard drive for a pc job. I dumped the partitions and ghosted an OS onto primary partition only at boot up to be greeted by "Grub load error" "Error 17"
Do I just have to install windows to create a boot something or other,or is there an easier way

Richy99 · 22-08-2005, 14:49

try fdisk /mbr as this wipes the master boot record and should then allow the loading of windows if it is on there

22-08-2005, 15:06

sorted it.Went through windows install untill the first reboot then ghosted complete OS back.

Gareth · 22-08-2005, 15:39

Yeah, that'll do it, Zing. Bit of overkill (could've done it in a lot less steps) but at least it definitely works now

btw, how'd you find Ubuntu? Personally, I'm not liking it much, so will either be reverting back to Mandy or trying a different one.

22-08-2005, 16:37

It was a start,Im thinking about trying something else maybe you could point me in the direction of some good iso's (easy to install please btw lol)

Gareth · 23-08-2005, 17:05

I've found Mandrake to be the easiest to install so far... not that Ubuntu was difficult, but there was a question on partitioning which a novice trying to dual-boot might struggle with. I could imagine them inadvertantly wiping their Windows partition when installing Ubuntu, if they don't pay attention and just click without double-checking.

The Mandrake install was even easier than the Ubuntu one... all the times I've installed it, it's correctly picked-up the correct settings and the default options have all been correct. It's a bit prettier than the Ubuntu installation too

The Red Hat install I used a few years ago (think it was Red Hat 8... can't remember now) was good too, but haven't really used Red Hat nor Fedora for a long time now.

Am gonna give Gentoo a go soon, but from what I've heard the installation is a real biatch cause it's targetted specifically for your environment/purposes.

philip.j.fry · 23-08-2005, 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gareth

The Red Hat install I used a few years ago (think it was Red Hat 8... can't remember now) was good too, but haven't really used Red Hat nor Fedora for a long time now.

Anaconda (the Red Hat installer) is great, just don't try the upgrade option. Tried to go from FC3 to FC4 last night and it broke my install

At first I thought it might be the installation DVD but it managed a complete reinstall perfectly.

23-08-2005, 17:44

I now have a headache