[vox-tech] Problems with dual boot system (Win 98/RH 7.2)

[vox-tech@lists.lugod.org]

On Mon, 14 January 2002, jwkaralius@ucdavis.edu wrote:
> When I do 
> reformat the MBR, do I need to reinstall some default settings, is that 
> what sys c: does?  (I'm a plant biologist, not a CS major, so please bear 
> with my ineptitude.)

Yes.  It is also what LILO or GRUB does as well.  sys c: is not multi-boot aware, so if you must use win98 (I use w2k or wXP) and you still want the dual boot option.  Install Windows on one hard drive.  Install Linux and pick LILO or GRUB as your boot loader.  They write just enough information at the start of the hard drive, that the system BIOS is able to tell it where to look to load the OS, the boot loader (sys, LILO, or GRUB) then loads more information so that it knows HOW to load and WHERE to look to load more.  sys is very limited and is had coded for one location.  LILO can be told where to look from a conf file, and GRUB can do a search for all bootable partitions and let you pick.

One trick with win98 that you can try is to re-install it over your current installation.  This is a last resort sort of thing, but works often enough.  This will at least enable you to boot up and backup your data before you start afresh.  (win98 needs to be reloaded every once in a while anyway, it's why I don't use it.)  Can't find .dll's, vxd, etc ranges from inconvienient to bad.  It can mean you hosed your registry, the OS hosed your registry, your file system corrupted and it can't read/find squat, or you have a hardware problem. Normally, it should pretty much only nuke the OS file system, so perhaps you had a power spike or something to cause it to cross drives/partitions.  

I'd advise a nice inexpensive UPS.  But I ALWAYS advise a UPS for home computers.  a 250-300w range is more than adaquate MOST times.

-sp