Hi can anyone one tell me how to install "mandrakes linux",i tried to partion my disk but ended up killing everything.
i need to know how to partition the disk because when i tried it just gave me a load of numbers and shit,then turned my c:> into an A:>.Which meant i couldnt boot up or even go into safe mode because it thought i had no c drive or somthing.I would be most greatfull for any help on this matter,
thanks.

Here's some help...find someone that knows how to do it and ask them to. Installing Linux can be a pretty shitty process...I've had to deal with all that formatting and repartitioning and it's not to fun. And don't bother calling a local computer shop unless you feel like spending some $$ and answering a billion "why do you want this" questions.

assuming you used Fdisk, you still need to format the drive to be linux useable. I'm a slackware man myself, and I'm not too sure of how the mandrake linux works, but if you downloaded it to your hard drive then partitioned it, yer pretty much screwed. If you've got a CD, set your BIOS options to boot from the CD (usually gotten to by hitting F1 or esc or something while the comp's booting.) If I remember correctly Mandrake's pretty user-friendly, so I'd suggest trying booting from the CD and seeing what happens. Post back and tell me what happened, if that don't work we'll think of something...

Did you make a backup of your hard disk before you started?

Are you trying to install Linux and Windows on the same machine?

What drive letters did you have when you started? Just C: and A:?

Do you have a CD-ROM copy of Mandrake?

Mandrake will want a partition of your disk all to itself. If all you have now is one big C: drive partition, it will wipe that out when installing itself.

It sounds like you no longer have a C: drive. A: is your floppy disk drive.

hi thanks for replying all,yes i have linux on disk,yes i was trying to install it on the same machine as windows.i was also thinking of just buying another hard drive and installing it on that,what do you think?.Anyway thanks for your advice,speak to you all later.

There's a disk called Partition Magic...it's supposed to make it a hell of a lot easier...may want to check into it...

linux mandrake should've come with a partition magic disk, not the full version but enough to partition your drive for linux, at least the one i installed did.

well, if you can get the new hard disk, that would seem like the easiest way.

1) LILO will be able to boot off of both disks without more complex partitioning schemes. (int 13 isn't very friendly to big disks.)

2) Only need to create 2 partitions one for each disk (not the best way but the easiest).

3) If you had data on one of the disks you wouldn't need to worry about repartitioning. But as it sounds that is probally a moot point.