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    Linux, XP, and MediaDirect 3?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by mfmbcpman, Dec 2, 2006.

  1. mfmbcpman

    mfmbcpman Notebook Consultant

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    Does anyone have Linux, XP, and MediaDirect 3 installed and working? I have been trying to install Ubuntu 6.1, XP MCE, and MediaDirect 3. If you have these three installed please tell me how you accomplished it.

    However, something must be getting screwed up because when I have all 3 installed, I am presented with a flashing cursor after the BIOS loads.
     
    mfmbcpman, Dec 2, 2006
    #1
  2. booger

    booger Notebook Consultant

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    Are you able to boot into any of the 3? Your MBR could be screwed up. When installing a multiboot system always install linux last. Post more details on how you set it up.
     
    booger, Dec 2, 2006
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  3. MC.

    MC. Notebook Enthusiast

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    I aint that simple... I was using grub to handle the boot process, and then tried to repair media direct to use it again (stopped working after reinstallation of xp), and it screwed grub. And media direct didn't work either.
    Then I repaired grub, and it wouldn't boot xp no matter what... so I had to do a "fixboot"...
    Summing up, I'm hopeless.
     
    MC., Dec 2, 2006
    #3
  4. booger

    booger Notebook Consultant

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    The media direct part of the tri-boot seems to be the main issue. Try gag, it is a 3rd party bootloader and is easy to install.

    If possible, post a copy of your grub.conf file from when it was working with media direct.
     
    booger, Dec 2, 2006
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  5. vespoli

    vespoli 402 NBR Reviewer

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    fixmbr will overwrite GRUB...
     
    vespoli, Dec 2, 2006
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  6. mfmbcpman

    mfmbcpman Notebook Consultant

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    I got it working. First, I put in the MediaDirect disk and followed that and allowed 20 gb for the c drive. Then, I installed XP MCE on the 20 gb c drive. Next, installed MediaDirect through Windows.

    Then I had to install Ubuntu which was difficult figuring out the partitioning. MediaDirect creates a D drive from any unused space so I had 3 partitions at this point: the 55 mb Dell partion, 20 gb c windows, and an extended partition that contained the d drive and mediadirect.

    So, I had to delete the d drive within the extended partiton and create 2 partitions from that, one for filesystem and one for swap.

    Once I figured it out it was fine, just sounds really complicated

    Final Partitioning = Dell 55 mb partition, 20 gb ntfs partiton, and an extended partition containing (50 gb for linux, 256 mb swap for linux, and 2.01 gb for mediadirect)
     
    mfmbcpman, Dec 3, 2006
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  7. booger

    booger Notebook Consultant

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    Your swap space should be 1.5 to 2 times the amount of ram. According to your signature it should be 3.5 to 4 gigs.
     
    booger, Dec 3, 2006
    #7