hey i have 2 or maybe one problem well at least they are connected together well I want to install winxp and mandrake 9.1 on my computer to have a dual boot setup my computer 1400mhz amd 512mb sdram a7v133 (with a ultra100 promise on board) 3 hdd 40gig Maxtor (I want winxp on it which is already installed but I can re format it and reinstall it if necessary) (ntfs obviously) 120gig Maxtor (for storage and winxp use ntfs) 30gig quantum for linux 1. now I need someone to tell if this is the way to go connecting the devices the 40 gig connected as prim master with win xp 120 as prim slave and the 30 gig as the second master ___ this is on connected to the promise controller and cd and cdrw connected to the primary ide on the mobo please tell if this is a good configuration for optimum use of a dual booting system 2. using the configuration stated earlier I installed mandrake using the default setup of everything and using the 30gig hdd everything goes fine and smooth until reboot time the computer turns on and all I get is : “L 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 … 99 99 restart computer now” and this happens every time I get winxp up and running by fixmbr from the winxp cd please help me on any of the two questions thx I have been around computers for a while but I just started my experience with linux which I wanted to start a long time ago so please if talking about linux be gentle Thx again

Until I upgraded mobos, I had a PCI Promise Ultra100 controller and was using it (4 hdds, cdrom, and cdrw). As long as you enable it in bios, Mandrake should see it. Caveat: if you have a FSB that is NOT recognized by Mandrake's kernal, then you WILL have problems. I learned this the hard way: Mandrake install swapped mobo IDE and Promise, then swapped back to normal for boot: no boot, as things were in reversed order!!!! I'm using an ASRock Socket A w/Athlon XP1700+ and the KT266 FSB isn't recognized by Mandrake 9.0 or before. I think it is recognized by 9.1. I am waiting for my Mandrake Powerpack Subscription CD set for 9.1 (part 3 of 3 in subscription: started w/8.2). I hope it is, then I will have to get another ultra100 controller (wince). If things go right, you should be able to put things where you want them. Just make sure your boot (root) partition is at the beginning of the drive and make it about 6 gigs (no more than that) and you will be fine. /home should be separate, plus you will need the swap partition. I have 4 partitions for linux: / linux swap /usr (don't skimp on this one) /home Hope that helps you. Charles