Introducing myself

[nightflier]

Okay, now we have a better idea of what your system looks like. You are correct, we do need to get the boot loader installed somewhere.

I would try to boot to VL using the CD. As root run "vasm", go to filesystem, LILO and try to install from there. If you want to multiboot using LILO/GRUB, it should go in the MBR, even though it says "possibly unsafe". If it messes up, you can repair using your XP install disk (assuming it's not a "restore disk"). If that doesn't work, you may try to install to root partition and use the alternate procedure to add it to the XP boot menu.

You are in a good position since you have your old hard drive as a backup. Trivia: the reason why moving a partition takes longer than cloning is that when cloning, you have two drives, one reading and one writing. When moving, one drive has to do all the work.

If you end up starting over, I would just clone the drive and leave Windows on the first partition. Unless the machine is ancient it should work just fine.

[lagagnon]

Please boot the VL Install CD choose "Exit" at the second install screen, type "fdisk -l" and post that output to this thread. There is still something wrong with your partitions if you cannot write lilo to the MBR.

[maurolust]

Here goes the output
(I copied it manually, was there a smart way to copy + paste that? ):

Code:

disk/dev/hdc:  1 heads, 195371568 sactors, 1 cylinders

Units= cylinders of 195371568 * 512 bytes

Device Boot    Start    End    Blocks        Id    System
/dev/hdc1*    1          1       58597087+  7    HPFS/NTFS

Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(261, 0, 1)   logical = (0, 0, 4192966)

Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(1023, 254, 63)   logical = (0, 0, 121387140)

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys(1023, 254, 63) should be (1023, 0, 195371568)


/dev/hdc2    1          1       2096451     82    Linus Swap

Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(0, 1, 1)   logical = (0, 0, 64)

Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(260, 254, 63)   logical = (0, 0, 4192965)

Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys(260, 254, 63) should be (260, 0, 195371568)


/dev/hdc3    1          1       26989200     5    Extended

Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(1023, 254, 63)   logical = (0, 0, 141388066)

Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(1023, 254, 63)   logical = (0, 0, 195366465)

Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(1023, 254, 63) should be (1023,  0, 195371568)

/dev/hdc4    1          1       10000462+     83    Linux

Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(1023, 254, 63)   logical = (0, 0, 121387141)

Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(1023, 254, 63)   logical = (0, 0, 141388065)

Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(1023, 254, 63) should be (1023,  0, 195371568)


/dev/hdc5    1          1       21743946     83    Linux
/dev/hdc6    1          1       5245191      b     Win95 FAT32

partition table entries are not in disk order
Units= cylinders of 195371568 * 512 bytes

Device Boot    Start    End    Blocks        Id    System
/dev/hdc1*    1          1       58597087+  7    HPFS/NTFS

Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):

Thank you very much!

[uelsk8s]

Very odd partition table.
You should not be able to have both a hdc4 and a hdc5
partition numbers 1-4 are reserved for primary partitions.
you can only have 4 primary partitions, and if you have 4 primary partitions you should not be able to also have an extended partition.
I would suggest repartitioning the drive with a good partitioning tool.

[nightflier]

(I copied it manually, was there a smart way to copy + paste that?

You could just type
fdisk -l > output.txt
- that creates a text file (output.txt) with everything in it.

Or, if you're running X-windows, most terminal emulators will allow you to copy and paste using mouse or keyboard.

[maurolust]

(I copied it manually, was there a smart way to copy + paste that?

You could just type
fdisk -l > output.txt
- that creates a text file (output.txt) with everything in it.

Or, if you're running X-windows, most terminal emulators will allow you to copy and paste using mouse or keyboard.

And where would that .txt be saved? (sorry for the sequel of really stupid questions) . Better use the .txt, I might have missed something.

Very odd partition table.
You should not be able to have both a hdc4 and a hdc5
partition numbers 1-4 are reserved for primary partitions.
you can only have 4 primary partitions, and if you have 4 primary partitions you should not be able to also have an extended partition.
I would suggest repartitioning the drive with a good partitioning tool.

Partition 3 is an extended partition, 1 (NTFS), 2 (Swap), 4 (Root) are physical, 5 and 6 are logical (as Uelskate spotted earlier. My bad, I posted something wrong on Sunday). Besides that, is there anything wrong with my partitions? I guess the different beginning/ending thing comes from the fact that I moved partition 1 to fit the swap partition (2) in the beginning (there was no need for doing so, right? Huge waste of time... )

[rbistolfi]

And where would that .txt be saved? Huh(sorry for the sequel of really stupid questions) . Better use the .txt, I might have missed something.

The txt will be in the same dir where you executed the command. You can know where you are typing pwd, but it is in your prompt too..
So, if you are in /home/your_username/,

Code:

$ pwd
/home/your_username
$ fdisk -l > output.txt

Will end with a file named output.txt in  /home/your_username. You can use absolute path too. So doing fdisk -l /home/your_username/output.txt will end with the file in the specified path.
You can copy and paste using your mouse. Select the text, and go to the "destination window" and click your middle button, or both at the same time if you have a two button mouse.

[exeterdad]

Or you could specify where you would like the output.txt file to be by:

fdisk -l > /home/yourname/output.txt

[maurolust]

Raw txt file output, no space for human flaws now (sounds like famous last words coming from a noob).

Code:

Disk /dev/hdc: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1   *         262        7556    58597087+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc2               1         261     2096451   82  Linux swap
/dev/hdc3            8802       12161    26989200    5  Extended
/dev/hdc4            7557        8801    10000462+  83  Linux
/dev/hdc5            8802       11508    21743946   83  Linux
/dev/hdc6           11509       12161     5245191    b  W95 FAT32
Partition table entries are not in disk order

[nightflier]

Solving this puzzle might be an interesting challenge for advanced users, but may not be the best way for you to get started.

If I were you, I would start over. Clone the drive, leave Windows on the first partition, add swap and Linux partitions and re-install. That way you will have more of a standard setup that would be easier to work with. Just my $0.02. 

[maurolust]

You're obviously right. I'm just postponing that whole process again, I'll be back by christmas. Thanks for the attention.