Linux Cannot install F14 on a PC with Windows XP from CD/USB

L

lazygarfield

Disciple
Hello,

I currently have Windows XP on my PC. But I got fed up of it today, so I decided to install Fedora. I have a CD for v14 so I tried via that first. The installation went smoothly and all the partitions were allocated and I restarted. But, I got a message saying that the "hal.dll" file in Windows' root directory was corrupted and I would have to reinstall that file. Not even a mention of Fedora anywhere.

Anyway, so I put in the Windows XP and thought that I would press R, go to the Repair Console and fix the hal.dll file. Opened some tutorials for doing so via Google search. But, I dunno how/why, my Windows XP disc always directly proceeded to the "which partition to install to" kind of page. Didn't get any option for going to the Repair Console (alteast, no screen like what the tutorials mentioned).

So, I got out my pen drive, created a LiveCD via the LiveUSB creator and then tried to boot via that. It boots and as around 70-80% of the logo fills up, I get a message "No root device found. Sleeping forever". I really don't know what this means.

Anyway, since then, I've reinstalled Windows XP once, then reinstalled Fedora once via the CD (still get the same "hal.dll" is corrupt error) and the pendrive always stops loading at around 70-80% and gives that same ol' message. So what do I do? I desperately need my Pc working again and would like it to operate Fedora only.

Please help guys!
 
Why not try Mint once? Atleast just to see if it boots?

Also - WINDOWS COULD NOT FIND START BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING FILE IS MISSING OR CORRUPT

WINDOWS ROOT>\SYSTEM32\hal.dll

That message is rather misleading. It happens because the boot.ini file that tells the boot where to look for 'Windows' is damaged, so it is looking for files in the wrong place - hal.dll just happens to be the first one it looks for. You will need a real XP installation CD, not a recovery disc. Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password requested is blank, and TAB over. Type:

Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini [enter]

DEL C:\boot.ini [enter] [to delete the bad one]

BootCfg /Rebuild [enter] [to search for Windows installations and make a new one]

Remove the XP CD and hopefully boot into Windows.
Click to expand...
 
Hi, thanks. I have tried Mint once and liked it. But the NVidia drivers for it really messed up my display resolution (black bar letterboxing, ugh) and without the drivers, any sort of media playback was patchy... so I let it go. Ubuntu does the same thing for me. The only Linux build that hasn't done this yet is Fedora, which is why I use that.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my OP, I am inserting a real XP installation CD and it's loading the files and then moving straight on the screen where I'm supposed to delete partitions and tell it where to install the OS. Not seeing any screen (like shown in the tutorials) where you can press R and go to Repair Console.
 
Wait. I have only ever tried the drivers that the "Restricted Drivers" application in Ubuntu/Mint displayed. And they created all these problems. You mean to say if I install the drivers via this method, I won't face those problems?

PS - Problems: Black bar letterboxing, stretched videos etc.
 
Thank you for all the help people. Fiddled around with the GRUB loader a little bit and things worked! But my troubles are not over yet. I am facing problems with Media playback, about which I am now posting a new thread. Please have a looksee.
 
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