[plug] Mandrake 7.2 install hassles

[Leon Brooks]

Dennis Plester wrote:
> I had a go at installing Mandrake 7.2 last night, opting to go for a fresh
> install, after the upgrade option was very, very, very slow.

And probably wouldn't work. There's much to be said for having at least /home on
a separate partition: particularly, you can do a new install without losing the
data.

> When the install got to the "install boot loader" stage, it came up with an
> error message which I can't remember now (something like invalid value
> error) and then it skipped on to the next part of the install routine. It
> would not let me go back to boot loader section for love or money. Why this
> happened, I don't know, but I suspect that the Linux hard disk partitions
> are full.

> So as far as I know, I now have a Mandrake 7.2 system ready to fire, but no
> grub or LILO set up. Is there an easy way to get the install bootloader
> section to do its thing by itself without going through the install again?

Try doing an upgrade. Add a single package that wasn't there before. Try using
Custom mode rather than Expert.

> My system has Win98 in the primary partition, which also wouldn't boot after
> the Mandrake install. I got that back via a system disk. Is there an easy
> way to get to the new Mandrake install, and confirm that it actually works?

Make a boot follopy during the install, boot from it and run LILO instead of
grub.

> I know I could probably set up a LILO config from scratch, but that would be
> pushing my limited Linux skills.

the /etc/lilo.conf file will be right, but the installer chooses grub by
default.

-- 
When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign,
that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift