<ATTENTION> READ THIS BEFORE YOU INSTALL FEDORA CORE 2 LINUX

[kl_ravi]

Hi Friends,

First of all let me tell you all that I am not a fan of either linux or Windows and I don't want this discussion to proceed towards Linux Vs Windows arguements. I am posting this thread for the knowledge of First timers and I would like Team Digit to highlight this subject.

Recently one of my friends purchased RED HAT FEDORA LINUX 2 BIBLE Published by Wiley Eastern Ltd.

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyT...764557459.html

He installed Linux and everything worked fine for him until he found that he was unable to boot into Windows. He had dual boot of Windows ME and WIndows XP

All his data was fine and Intact. So he made a backup of his data and tried to reformat the hard disk. But something untoward happened and he was unable even to boot into Linux or Windows. Now he had a dead PC.

Myself along with another friend tried to do a google search and we have found some interesting results. I would like you all go through the following links before you start installing Linux....

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla....cgi?id=115980


http://forums.winxpcentral.com/showthread.php?t=10202


http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_...g=feed&subj=tr


http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...?oneclick=true


http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/softwar...9150055,00.htm

I would like Digit guys to visit these links and carry an article on this subject in their forthcoming editions of digit.

Thanks and regards

[tuxfan]

Hi!! I feel all the distros that come with books are stripped down versions. They are not too reliable. Please don't install from them. I also have the same book, but didn't dare to install form the CDs. I don't even know whether they are working or not.

BTW, even I have heard about some problems with Fedora Core 2 installations and therefore have not ventured to install it. What you can do is install PCQ Linux which is based on Fedora Core 1, but gives you an option to install Linux kernel 2.6 (the one which is included on Core 2).

[Ricky]

Any way.. Not yet evaluated fedora 2 but my few good friends were saying that it is buggy and unstable !! hw ? donno, will ask next time !!

Anyway .. analysing your links.. will soon give data !!

[GNUrag]

The initial releases of FC-2 have a bug in anaconda... These CDs were distributed last month at our lug meet... the disk 2 is actually FC 1.91 so anaconda freezes... however Redhat might have released new releases by now since its been quite a few months

[Hexus]

Fedore Core 1 is much stable I believe. I'd rather use RedHat 9 that any distros.

Another reason Y U should stick to Windows, Ravi, I would say take your HD , attach it to another PC , then format & then install Mandrake 10, best Linux ever

[busyanuj]

thanks for the info.

[kl_ravi]

Fedora bug prevents Windows from bootingBy Online Staff
May 31, 2004

A bug in the recent release of the Fedora Linux distribution causes the geometry of a hard disk, as reported in the partition table, to be altered during installation, according to a message posted to the Fedora developers mailing list.

In the event that the machine in question was a dual-boot, with Windows, the change may cause Windows boot failure, the posting.

The problem was noticed in Fedora Core 2, the second release of the distribution.

Fedora is "a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project" which Red Hat announced last November when it announced that it was ending the Red Hat Linux product line.

"Although this bug is severe, it is recoverable and no data should be lost," the post said

The posting outlined methods whereby users who are technically adpet could recover from the problem.

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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...?oneclick=true

[kl_ravi]

Red Hat Linux upgrade bug hides Windows

By Stephen Shankland, Special to ZDNet

09 June 2004 Add your opinion

Forward in Format for




Red Hat's newest hobbyist and developer version of Linux, Fedora Core 2, caused trouble for some who found they couldn't start Windows after installing the Linux upgrade side-by-side with it.
The bug had cropped up in testing, but after Red Hat released Fedora Core 2 in May, many more users reported their systems no longer would boot Windows.

No data on the Windows side was destroyed, and some manual hard drive reconfiguration fixed the problem.

"We do not think this is a severe problem," said Red Hat programmer Cristian Gafton in an e-mail interview, because information isn't destroyed, the problem is repairable, and "a very small fraction of systems are affected."

However, he added, "We recognize that it is an annoying issue for the users that are affected by it and we are working on publishing a fix that will address it."

Fedora Core is designed to satisfy the appetites of those who want the latest software while maturing Linux improvements more quickly for use in the corporate product, Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The company makes no pretenses Fedora's stability; the Web site includes the disclaimer, "The Fedora Project is not a supported product of Red Hat."

Until 2002, Red Hat offered an identical version of Linux as a free, unsupported download or as a paid product with support. Now only Fedora Core 2 is available for free, while Enterprise Linux, which changes more slowly, costs between US$349 and US$18,000 per one-year support subscription.

The problem with Fedora Core 2 apparently had to do with changes made to a computer's description of the physical layout of its hard disk, data called the partition table, Gafton said.

In some cases, Fedora Core 2 would use a different convention to record the information, and Windows XP wouldn't recognise the disk. In other cases, the problem stemmed differences in how Windows, Linux and a computer's BIOS--basic input-output software used in the early stages of starting a computer--handle the partition table information, Gafton said.

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http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/softwar...9150055,00.htm

[kl_ravi]

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

Another reason Y U should stick to Windows, Ravi, I would say take your HD , attach it to another PC , then format & then install Mandrake 10, best Linux ever

Hi gxsaurav,

His problem was solved....Here is the solution from one of the above links....

==============
EXTRACTED TEXT FOLLOWS........

All that you need is set your disk to LBA mode in BIOS. Dont leave
there AUTO. Thats all. Linux read BIOS access mode wrong and grub
setup something wrong on MBR - its why windows boot manager cant be
find in MBR and windows cannt start.

Attention. Please, check what access mode you realy normal use to
access disk. Changing access mode from Large to LBA for example can
lead to lose data from your disk!

If you use another access mode than LBA and setting them in BIOS
doesnt work, try backup your data and repartitioning disk in LBA mode.

Additional Comment #15 From Radek Vendelberger on 2004-04-27 11:59
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla....cgi?id=115980

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The above worked for my friend. However seeking expert advice would help in such complicated cases.