Sorry- I wasn't intentionally ignoring your thread. Holidays have been hectic both business-wise and family-wise, and getting back to this thread is one of the things that fell through the cracks.

Unfortunately- I can't (even with the info you've given on the drive) know for certain if it comes with overlay software pre-installed, or if that is even the root of the problem.

Also (and again unfortunately)- it's dinner time in my end of the world, and given that I (and all other members who work here) do so on a totally volunteer basis, I need to log off and take care of "real life" issues such as feeding the kids.

well,
I do appreciate all of the support you have given me thus far.
I think my problem is with my ide controllers and I am going to update my mobo's bios to see if that helps.

On the contrary -- I have an inborn joy that you are off the threads and spending quality time with those things that are timeless importance.
enjoy ~

-Soral 3.0

however -- I will still keep using this post and I will declare whether or not flashing my bios helps or not.

Ok- do keep us posted, and thanks for understanding the real-world vs. online dillema; part of me thinks that if it would pay for the rent and food, I'd make online support a full time job. But.... dat just not da way da cookie crumbles.

:)

<sigh>
mobo's bios are updated
live cd still not working...
and stopping at the same place....

Yay!
I can boot linux now!
Apparently, because I have an asus mobo -- I didn't have to configure the sata drives as raid in bios before installing windows -- however it is required to run linux.

I also enabled the SATA boot rom.

dunno if it helped or if that was my problem...
Anyone know what that is?

I didn't have to configure the sata drivesas raid in bios before installing windows -- however it is required to run linux.

Drives, as in plural? Everything you've posted so far indicated that we were only dealing with a single hard drive here; is that not the case?

Doh.
No -- it's a typo
I was dealing with a single SATA drive.
sorry for the confusion
but somehow the livecd's work...
do you know what the boot rom is?

-Soral 3.0

hmmm...
for some reason,
qparted refuses to see my hard drive...

Also, when I try to reinstall windows from bootup -- windows can't see any mass storage.
-Soral 3.0

do you know what the boot rom is?

Why do you ask?

Very basically, the Boot ROM is a Read-Only Memory circuit (usuallly a separate chip) which stores low-level instruction code (pre-programmed, permanent, and architecture-specific) that is executed when a computer first starts up. When the CPU is powered on, it reads and runs the code stored in the Boot ROM. That code is then responsible for locating a boot device (floppy, CD-ROM, Hard drive, etc.) and loading the next stage of boot code located on that device. Most network cards also have a Boot ROM, which allows a networked computer to be booted remotely.

I don't know why your drive is suddenly not being detected; does it show up correctly in the BIOS?

thanks for the explaination of boot rom -- I ask because I had no idea what it is and google failed me.

Well, I believe that I solved the "failure to see the hard drive" problem...
My asus mobo has two serial ata configurations in the bios -- Enhanced and Compatability.
It was set on the enhanced mode -- which was apparently designed to work better with NT and XP.
The compatability mode was designed for legacy os's -- and I guess linux is in the legacy os's.
Anhow it works -- I'm happy.

However -- If you will still bear with me -- I still have some partitioning questions.
The extent of my partitioning knowledge is that I know how to resize the windows primary partition in qtparted to create a separate 20 gig partition.
I got that -- But when I get to the prompt with the options on how to FORMAT that 20 gig partiton -- I get extremely intimidated.
I want to install linux in this partition -- but I don't know what options are optimal for a linux installation in that partition...
Like, should this be a primary or extended partition?
what partition type should it be? (ex3? ex2? FAT? etc.)
and I don't understand the concept of unallocated space...
I need to relearn how to use google....
-Soral 3.0

The answers to all of your partitioning questions are really much too lengthy for me to post here in one big lump-sum, but over the past number of years I (and others) have posted these answers for people who were trying to set up Win/Linux dual-boot systems. Give a read through the info in the following links and (if your brain hasn't exploded as a result of doing so), get back to us with any questions that you have:

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=1055016&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
http://www.justlinux.com/nhf/Installation/How_to_Create_a_Multiple_Partition_System.html
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=1055020&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
The multi-boot/multi-OS HOWTOs at http://www.tldp.org

Oh, and just FYI: Google has a Linux-specific search section. Instead of just going to www.google.com, go to www.google.com/linux instead. ;)

sweet -- thanks for all the resources
I can't seem to find them myself...
Thanks for the linux-specific google engine!
-Soral 3.0

yay!
I got my drive partitioned!
my 160 gig hd is now two drives -- one ntfs -- one ext3
I now have win xp and xandros opencd linux installed on my system
thanks for all you help DMR....
the Wobat of Happiness sniffles upon your good deed.

-Soral 3.0

Very cool; glad you finally got it going, and the Wombat is glad that the snuffling helped! :mrgreen:

Now that you can actually get started using Linux, here's a site you're really going to want to bookmark: The Linux Doncumentation Project.

The place has tons of free online (and downloadable) guides, FAQs, HOWTOs, and other resources that cover everything from basic system configuration to advanced networking topics.

I want to install linux in this partition -- but I don't know what options are optimal for a linux installation in that partition...
Like, should this be a primary or extended partition?
what partition type should it be? (ex3? ex2? FAT? etc.)

linux cannot be installed on a extended partition ( extended means a container for the logical partitions)
, so it should be
a primary partition or logical partition .you can create extended partition and create logicals inside it.
well today linux supports every file system.but making it ex2 and mount it as / will make your life easy.

commented: Threads Old. Taste It. -2

why does not use gparted. Its proven usefull.
i suggest download the image and burn to cd or ufd and boot..
there you go...resize windows partition and create a 2 partition (root n swap).

Gparted is available as a live CD which can do most of what PartitionMagic can do... and is free.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.