Lilo/Grub won't load

[NeoTrunks]

I used to dual boot XP and some flavor of linux on my computer. Within the last week, I bought a 160 GB Seagate Baracuda. I install XP SP2 first, update it, the usual, then try to install Linux. I install linux just fine (doesn't matter which distro, I've tried Suse 9.1 Pro, Ubuntu, and Slackware). Though, when my computer boots off the disc, I get one of several errors. With Grub, I get that error 17, which means that I cannot read from the target partition (would be nice to know which it means). With Lilo, I get a load of 77's. After which, my computer halts. Live CD's work fine. Running off of the hard drive doesn't, though. These are all pretty modern distros, so I know it's not that the kernel can't read the large hard drive. I'm running a pretty old system though. Asus P2-99 Mobo with a slot loading P3 Coppermine at 600mhz. I know that Linux relies on the Bios at boot time to read the hard drive. As of now, there have been no Bios updates to my Mobo since 2000. Am I out of luck?

[markwolfe Veteran]

When you boot a LiveCD, what do they see your target drive for your Linux install as?

Your other option might be to have Windows handle the dual-booting.

http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

[nicedreams]

I've had some wierd problems with one of my drives where I couldn't do that also. I low level formatted the drive and all was well after that. Maybe just finding a program to blow out the MBR and then try to load GRUB.

[NeoTrunks]

When you boot a LiveCD, what do they see your target drive for your Linux install as?

/dev/hda3

That's where it should be. And the files are fine, and can be read or written to.

[markwolfe Veteran]

Well, the only other thing I can think of is to ensure that your BIOS is set to LBA addressing for the hard drives (not Auto or CHS).

If not, then try the NT Boot Loader solution I posted earlier.