Linux Troubles/Vista/ Damn Mandriva

Okay I have Vista running on one hard drive and have had ubuntu running on the second.

Both are nearly identical drives from western digital.

Anyways long story so grab a beer.

thousands of years there was a giant red ape...

Okay I had Vista running. I installed Ubuntu 6.06 on the second drive. Okay everything is working...cept wireless on Ubuntu. So naturally I look around for solutions... don't find much able to help me. NDISwrapper or something did not come with my copy... nor did wifi radar or anything helpful. All the coding and sudo gedit didn't help me. So I download Mandriva live one. That works off the cd and I get wireless internet. Mild success...now time for full installation. Installs on second drive WD 2500KS (after deleting Ubuntu with Gpartitioner). Success. Reboot. Kernal Panic! Kill All. Failure Syncing?

Damnit. Reboot oh goodie can't find Vista. Can't find Grub boot loader.

Run WD 2500KS (second drive which linux is supposed to be). Mandriva bootloader shows up. Linux, Linux Failsafe, Windows are the options. I choose Linux... kernal panic, failed to sync, kill all again. Reboot. Run 2nd drive again, boot into Vista. Vista running like a champ. Okay...

Install Ubuntu again... maybe hopefully **** works this time or more patience to figure out wireless. Nothing. Let's try Fedora... Fedora running, but no internet available as well. Okay... let's try Mandriva again as well, burn in Vista again, maybe 1st cd is scratched. Install Mandriva. Smae **** happens again. Cept this time I have lost the Mandriva bootloader. Instead it begins to load and locks up my computer. Nothing. Reboot. Run first hard drive through bios. Mandriva begins to boot, locks up. Reboot. Bios again boot second drive. Mandriva loads up. Locks. Okay.

I begin to get pissed off. So I shut down pull out my hard drives. Record the manufacture numbers to distinguish which will be the primary drive and wil hold Vista.

Vista install disc...reinstall vista... clear both hard drives in doing so. Hard drive 2 is clear and so is hard drive 1. Hard drive 1 running Vista successfully. 2nd hard drive not noticed by Vista, okay... odd. It's there in device manager but not accessible. Okay. Fine. Reboot Install Vista on 2nd drive. Dual Vista's running. Yay.

Install Fedora Core DVD on top of second Vista...cool installs. Bios run second drive WD2500KS. Mandriva bootloader? WTF?!

Okay... here's the problem.

I don't want the Mandriva Bootloader anymore. That damn penguin is smirking at me. Any form of Linux after Installation will not run, cept ubuntu, because the damn Mandriva (or something) bootloader is locking down my computer. If I choose Linux the computer locks up. If I choose Windows, Vista will load properly.

I've been dealing with this for two weeks.

Any one think they can help?

My most successful install has been ubuntu, but my issue is that I don't want a lot of coding to run Ubuntu to get wireless. I don't want to run up and down the stairs or reboot into Vista just to get online. I have tried to follow the codes, but the results are what I should be seeing according to what I have printed in the past. I have checked my commands and to no avail.

I am almost ready to give up on Linux if this **** keeps going on.

Is Fiesty Fawn easy on wireless internet? I am using WPA and for some reason I could not get wpasupplicant to run properly on 6.06 nor even find it. It always asked for WEP. I'm tired of this mess of install and reinstall. I just want to run Linux and play with beryl and kiba and stuff. This is too much of a hassle.

 

What wireless card have you got?

 

Feisty should be better because it comes installed with network manager, which supports a multitude of wireless cards, and supports WPA. I think you should try 7.04 before you give up completely.

 

Why still use Dapper Dark? Not even Edgy? Ndiswrapper is just a wrapper, you need actual Win driver to make it work. After correct installation steps, you still have to scan it every time you turn the switch on. Just use "sudo iwlist wlan0 scan", then you will see the AP.