Hi,

I want to use dualboot and install linux OS to my machine which already has win2000 OS successfully running. Technically speaking I do not see a porblem with this. However my question is regarding my Hardware setup. I have a 80GB hard drive. Since my Dell PC's BIOS capacity is only 30GB, I partitioned my harddrive to 30 and 50 and installed win2000 on the first partition (which has 30 GB). My other partition (which has 50GB is currently used as a data drive). Everything is working happily with this setup.
Now I want to load Linux on my second partition (on the 50GB drive). I heard that, to install a OS, the hard disk space should be within the BIOS capacity. If that is true is there any work around for this situation. I want to install linux on my second partition and I do not want to disturb the first partition (that is the 30GB which has win2000 running on it).
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Kolli :)

Here is a link to the PC reference Guide where this problem is explained. You may find some possible solutions there.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/over.htm

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif.

You may want to see if a BIOS update is available to overcome the size limitation.

When installing linux it will create a boot partiton smaller than ANY BIOS limitation (usually around 100-200 Meg). It is from this partition that the OS is initially loade, and it may bypass any affects that the BIOS limit might otherwise impose.

Are you sure the BIOS limit of 30GB is correct since the BIOS needs to manage the parameters for the whole drive and not just one partition on it. Partition size and position limitations are a little different and relate much more to the OS than to the BIOS.

Hi,

Thank you all for the help. I finally dared to install Linux and it worked like charm. I now have both win2000 and linux running successfully on my machine.
Looks like I was wrong about the 30GB limit. I still do not know the exact limit though. Whatever it is it must be definetly more than 50GB and less than 80GB.

I am now trying to configure my Microsfot wireless modem MN510 with the new linux OS, seems like a tough task :(. Any help or light on this issue would be appreciated.

Thanks
Kolli

I still do not know the exact limit though. Whatever it is it must be definetly more than 50GB and less than 80GB.
As Paul stated above
The BIOS hard drive size limits deal with the whole drive not partition size limits. You have an 80GB drive installed and working properly. You don't have a problem concerning BIOS drive size limits.

PS: Until you hit the 137GB ATA drive size limit. You haven't given us your system specs. You may not need to worry about that one either.

About your wireless MODEM in Linux, good luck ;)

I am trying to get my wireless connection in linux.
My kernel version is 2.4.20 and I want to configure wireless usb adaper (it is a microsoft's MN510 USB adpater and its chipset is prism2 and I also found that it is supported and tested by linux-wlan-ng)

1. I downloaded rpms from http://prism2.unixguru.raleigh.nc.us/rh9-index.html site and installed the modules.
2. I then edited the /etc/wlan/wlan.conf file and updated my SSID
3. I edited /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts.ifcfg-wlan0 and set ONBOOT=yes

After that when I tried to restart the networksettings with /etc/init.d/network restart I got the following messages.


Shutting down loopback interface: [OK]
Setting network parameter [OK]
Bringing up loopback interface [OK]
Bringing up interface eth0:
Determining IP information for eth0... failed; no link present. Check cable? [FAILED]
Bringing up interface wlan0: prism2_cs device wlan0 does not seem to be present delaying initialization. [FAILED]


What am I doing wrong. Can someone tell me if I am missing something here

Thanks
kolli

You didn't say what the "previous setup" was.

But, wouldn't you be better off using a known, easy-to-configure NIC in the Linux setup, and then after it's working, add in the wireless client. Then remove the NIC adaptor.

OK, so if you dont want to do that, there are "several gotchas" regarding wireless clients. Some have to do with auto DHCP and others "security settings."

If nothing else, you should understand the WAP hub settings and client config interface enough to setup the client manually with a hardcoded address and config......

I think the "loopback" messages may be part of the "default batch" setup process, but I never saw those things when I used to setup Redhat 6.??

Good Luck.

Determining IP information for eth0... failed; no link present.

This if I remember correctly indicates a failed attempt to obtain an IP via DHCP. Are you using DHCP or static address on the wireless adaptor?

If you use DHCP try a static address and see what happens.

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. I fixed this issue. I had to generate a new wep key for linux instead of using the old one generated by win2000 setup worked good. Linux rocks :D

Thank you all
kolli