All yesterday I spent trying to dual boot Win XP and Linux Ubuntu onto my IBM Netvista P3, 790MHz, 128MB RAM, 20GB HDD. It had been running fine earlier with both OS's but I thought I could improve it. This morning when I just thought I had the partitions right the computer hung at boot up. The screen says : Realtek RTL8139(X) PXE/RPL BootROM Press F10 key to change bootstrap selection. Current Selection is --Disable network boot...... at which point it is frozen. Pressing F10 before this screen appears allows various choices for network booting but I don't want these any way - just to boot from within itself. I have checked the BIOS and ensured that the order for booting is : Floppy, CDROM, HDD1 but can't boot from any of these devices. On power up the CDROM LED comes on (before the IBM logo/BIOS entry point) but not after and the floppy LED does not light up nor does it attempt to read a startup disc. Same is true for the CDROM when I use installation or live CD's for Ubuntu that should be self booting. Any suggestions? (Yes, I should have known - If it ain't broke, don't fix it -sigh) tia Nick

Just one point of clarification. In the IBM BIOS screens things may be different but the normal setting for the boot disk is HDD0, not HDD1. Do you want to boot from a different HD other than the Master on the Primary partition?

Hi OtheHill, I have tried all HDD's 0-3, but with the same result. I notice the HDD LED flashes a numer of times and was wondering whether the MBR was corrupted-but shouldn't the floppy and CDROM take precedence any way if that's how it is configured in startup? I'm afraid I don't have a really clear idea of the order of events following powerup. The Realtek screen where the system hangs suggests that there is a pre-boot stage allowing settings from the network to be used ie it talks of PXE (Pre Boot Execution Environment) and RPL (Remote Program Load?). The LED on the ADSL-Modem/Router comes on at startup. I have tried to ping the affected IBM computer with a range of IP addresses (192.168.1.3-9) without success. Last night I lifted the cover and found the Realtek (RTL 8139C) chip but it is soldered into the main board. I was hoping it may have been removable, as I have another one on a network card that I could have tried. I have drivers/software for this on a CD but can't access it from the NetVista. Maybe its possible to do this from the network, but at this stage I don't know how or indeed whether this is the where the problem is. thanks Nick

You can still install a PCI NIC. For simplicity disable the onboard in the BIOS. My son has a dual boot the same as you and this morning he came down saying he had problems with his system saying system disk error. To make a long story short, somehow his default boot order changed to Linux first. I don't understand why the computer wouldn't boot into Linux. He had to rush off to work so I didn't get the details but the co-incidence just hit me. I'm thinking malware. You are correct that the boot order you have set should let you boot to CD. You may not be aware but if there is a valid bootable HD in the boot order and you set to boot to CD before HD you only have a few seconds to hit any key to boot from the CD when that screen appears. If you don't watch, it can go right by. Why it would be attempting to do a network boot when that option isn't selected is strange.

There doesn't appear to be any reference to disable network booting inside the BIOS. I think this is done by hitting F10 at power-up, which was the default setting when this problem arose. I'm starting to get the feeling that this computer was specifically designed to be part of a (commercial) network (hence name NetVista??) It is made by International Business Machines. Ie the machine looks at the network first, even before its local bios. Maybe there is some advantage for sys admins? Anyway I have submitted a request for help from IBM so I'm hoping that after the easter break I'll get some feedback. There is also a similar post on Experts Exchange but they want dough just to check-even if the answer may not be applicable. If all else fails I might give them a go. thanks Nick

Impatience finally got the better of me so last night I decided to disconnect the hard drive. The very brief flash from the LED made me suspicious. Joy o Joy! The system sailed thru the Realtek screen and delivered an A: prompt. Plugging the data cable to the mobo whilst still booted didn't allow fdisk to work-just a No Fixed Disk message. Nor could it continue on and load win98 no matter whenever I connected during the startup process. But without the HDD I was also now able to run a live CD with Linux Ubuntu. Then I tried the Install CD reconnecting the HDD after the first few screens, and eventually was able to get it to go thru provided I didn't attempt custom installation. So I now have (fingers crossed) a fully working computer with OS. If I do find out more about the exact sequence of events for this bootROM'ed box, partition requirements etc I will retry to dual boot the 2 OS's again. For now I'm just happy to have the computer back as halfway thru this saga and no feedback from the forums I thought I had a new electronic doorstop for easter. signing out from NetVista Jagera27

You are chancing damaging components by making or breaking connections under power. The ONLY hardware you can do that with is USB devices.