Re: i386 mbr problem, again

[Phil Pennock <Phil.Pennock@globnix.org>]

On 2001-05-03 at 23:09 -0400, Nick Holland gifted us with:
> It is *possible* that if you do a 'reinit', it might resolve this
> problem, but unfortunately, that clobbers any other partitions on the
> disk, so it is an install-time only option.  In any case where I
> possibly can, I use this command before doing my desired disk layout,
> and I haven't had a problem like this in quite some time.  Now,
> drawing a firm connection between my 'reinit's and my lack of problems
> is improper diagnostic process, but it is suggestive.

No, sorry.

I had this problem yesterday with a brand-new Dell Latitude laptop.  It
had MS Windows 2000 Professional pre-installed.  I chose to utterly nuke
the partition table, but _not_ go fully-dedicated.  (Aside from anything
else, want to play with the power-save-to-disk-partition thingy).

I did a reinit + update + write.  That settled my jangled nerves at
having Redmond software on this thing.  I then set about creating the
partitions which I wanted.

I then had the problems.  Checked the FAQ, but for some reason not
section 14.  Doh!  Searched mail archives, saw a mail (from you, in
fact :^) ) and got a colleague who deals with Windows to produce a
boot-floppy for me.  Used "fdisk /mbr" from that, and things worked.

>           It DOES have the disadvantage of requiring commercial
> software to implement, and that is very possibly why it is NOT in the
> FAQ.  

Out of vague curiosity, has anyone tried using Caldera DR-DOS and the
fdisk from that, here?  I went for convenience, and my system now boots,
so can't really productively test this now.  :^/
-- 
"Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not
 the reason we are doing it" -- Richard Feynman