Yet Another Fedora Dual Boot Issue (Im a complete Linux noob)

[Loquy]

I recently installed fedora core 2 on my computer (obviously keeping windows on it aswell).
I have two hard disks 1 is 80 gb (My primary one) one is 30 gb (my slave drive).
When it came time to install Fedora i elected to install it on my slave drive since there were no system files on it so that if something did go wrong windows would be unharmed.
I went through the graphical installation procedure and everything went off fine
linux installed, the screen came up telling me to remove all media used in the installation (i presumed this ment installation disks) which i did and then clicked the button marked reboot.
The computer started up fine but unfortunately windows seems to be the default os still and i cant seem to get linux to work no matter what i do it automatically boots to windows (XP Home Edition) if its impossible to run an os off of the slave drive can someone please tell me either a: how to switch my primary and slave drive around without physically doing so or b: how to unistall linux so the i can get my slave drive to work with windows again. Plz help as i dont have the money to spend on a new hard disk and i cant reinstall windows over all partitions as this would wipe off all the stuff saved by other users on this computer (ie homework and stuff to do with my dads artwork and/or framing business) If anybody could plz help it would be much appreciated.

[banzaikai]

Okay, you should be seeing the GRUB bootloader at startup. This is where you'll select which OS you want to use.

If you don't get GRUB, then you somehow managed to skip that part (or just accidentally hit "no thanks" when it asked if you wanted it installed on the MBR). To fix it, just boot up with the FC2 install CD again, it should detect that there's already an FC install, and then it should allow you to re-install GRUB on the MBR without having to re-do the whole thing.

Also, check out this page (http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_2_installation_notes.html) for better info.
And like Stanton, I highly recommend bumping up to FC4/5 - more goodies and less hassle.

The beauty of GRUB is that it'll boot from the fifth partition of the slave drive on a quadrary controller if you want it to. It was, after all, designed with SCSI and RAID in mind. Booting with only two drives in there is child's play...

banzai "grubby fedora wearing" kai

[Loquy]

I tired this and it just goes to the fedora installation menu. I tried updating it and managed to get into a thing about installing GRUB but everytime i do it just tells me that it cant find the kernel and tells me to reboot. :confused:

[mrrangerman43]

Loquy

Hi,
Here is a link, http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144295 saikee knows his stuff when it comes to grub. As long as you have not overwriten your master drive windows will be fine. I had a grub problem (it wasn't grub it was my lack of knowledge) almost like yours. Here is what I, with the help of saikee did. http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144476
Good luck
Dan

[banzaikai]

Boy, I hope I won't have to intentionally fubar one of my boxes and reset it just to give you a step-by-step. Here's what I can offer from memory...

Reboot with FC CD (don't select the update). It should detect both XP and FC installs (actually, it should see everything bootable).

(The sketchy part...)

Somehow, you need to get to that screen where you partitioned everything out (don't worry - data will still be there if you do it right!). What you want to do is select the XP partition (should be hda1), and select "Mount", which will bring up a requester asking for the name of the mountpoint. Just use something like "WinXP" - doesn't matter what you call it. If the FC partitions aren't listed correctly (mount-/swap, mount-/, mount-/home, etc.), then do the same for them. Before continuing, make sure none of the partitions have "Format" listed next to them - this will keep all data intact. Once you hit "Next" or "Okay", then the prompt for GRUB should pop up, since it now sees that you've got two OSes being mounted, and would like to know how you want it to handle the two. This is where you'll select "Install on MBR (hda1)". After this is done, you may be prompted to remove the CD and reboot. Go ahead. You should now see the GRUB splash screen on bootup, with options of WinXP and Fedora (if your dad is running the business on XP, I'd keep that as your default boot).

The other option is to download and use the rescue CD from the FC site. I've never had to use it, so I don't know if it'll do GRUB or not.

banzai "Bootup! Uh-huh! Splash, splash, splash!" kai

[crow2icedearth]

just reinstall fedora . you have to select a bootloader. you can either use grub or lilo. I would sugest grub. Grub can be tricky if you don't know how to use it. if you need help configuring grub let me know.