Hello!
I'm having A LOT of trouble getting my PC to work *correctly*. I'd like to have Win98SE (8G FAT32)/RedHat Linux (2G + 64MB swap)/OS2 Warp 4 (2G) dual boot on my PC (plus a 800MB FAT16 partition; used to test CDs in Win98 before I burn them). I have been able to dual boot Win98SE/Linux perfectly on this HD before.

My hard drive is a Western Digital 13G (WDC WD136BA) and this is where my problem lies. The settings for the hard drive in my BIOS (LBA) are Cyl: 1662, Head: 255, Sector:633 (total 13611MB). Apparently OS/2 Warp 4 FDISK can only handle hard drives with 1024 cylinders.

Also there are only allowed to be four primary partitions on one hard drive. Also both Linux and OS/2 have to be installed before 528MB on the hard drive else they won't boot.

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After DAYS of trying to get this to work, I tried this (which KIND of worked): I went into LINUX fdisk from a boot disk and set this up:

hda1 16MB Linux Native (/boot)
hda2 2000MB OS/2 (FAT16 >=32MB)
hda3 8300MB Win98SE (Win95 FAT32 LBA) [marked bootable]
hda4 2865MB Win95 Extended LBA
hda5 800MB Win95 FAT16 LBA
hda6 64MB Linux Swap
hda7 2000MB Linux Native (/)
[LILO installed in MBR] - OS/2 fdisk had BOOT MANAGER "greyed out"

for hda4 if I set (non-Win95) Extended then the FAT16 partition could not be reconised by Win98SE. I could not put this outside the extended partition (again, because there are only allowed 4 primary partitions)

OS/2 FDISK was weird. It displayed all the numbers wrong and could only reconise the first FAT16 partition (as C:). It could only see this as 16MB.
It thought the hard drive was 14000000MB or something. If I made changes in here then the other partitions got corrupted.

What I did was quit out of OS/2 fdisk, and format the partition from the OS/2 command prompt. Then OS/2 saw it was a 2000MB disk. OS/2 FDISK still saw it as a 16MB one though (Don't ask me how but I managed to get the installation program to skip FDISK). Then the installation went fine and OS/2 installed perfectly.

OS/2 works PERFECTLY, but cannot see any of the other partitions. This is understandable, except for the second FAT16 partition!

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Win98SE worked perfectly, it can see all three FAT16/32 partitions (C: D: F:). Except I have a "phantom" hard drive (E:), which only brings back "not accessible" errors. In "DOS mode" I see two phantom hard drives (E: G:), both which bring back "Invalid Media".

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Linux's what's bugging me. If I boot into Win98 or OS/2, then Linux (regardless of warm/cold boot), fsck thinks the hard drive was not unmounted correctly and scans it. It brings back hundreds of "Inode x is in use, but has DTIME set, FIXED" messages then it drops to command line with "UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY" error. I run 'fsck /dev/hda7' as it asks, and it brings back ten "Inode x has illegal block(s). CLEARED" followed by "Too many illegal blocks in inode x. Clear inode?". I type yes. This goes on for AGESSSSSS (I just keep the enter key down). Then I get "Unconnected directory inode x. Connect to /lost+found?". I get THOUSANDS of these (no joke). Then fsck ends, I reboot into linux, all seems OK!

But - if I then boot into Win98SE/OS2, then back into Linux, this ALL HAPPENS again!

Help me please! ;) Thanks ppl
FeStY

Your problems with OS/2 have their cause in you using outdated installation disks - you have to get yourself the file ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/os2ddpak/idedasd.exe and update your installation disks according to the readme.

Thanx ;)

Anyone still got ideas on the Win98SE Phantom Drive? It now causes me problems, because everytime I run Scandisk or Defrag it asks me whether I want to format this partition. I thought maybe, because the Linux Partition is under a Win95 Extended partition (vs standard Extended) Win98SE thinks the Linux Native drive is actually a FAT drive? Can Any1 enlighten me on this?

I have just installed Warp4 and Linux on a 390X Thinkpad. All of it works OK. Used Partition Magic on the preinstalled Win98 to delete the empty D: partition. Then I set up two logical drives in the Extended partition formatted for FAT32. This set up C: (1.6 Gb), D: (2 Gb), E: (1 Gb). Then using the same Partition manager I set up the OS2 Boot Manager after the first three logical disks. This becomes the second Primary partition. Also set up 3 Linux partitions totalling 1.4 Gb and added the first Linux partition to the Boot Manager. Then using the OS2 fdisk, I set up the OS2 partitions after Linux and installed OS2 and added it to the Boot manager. Finally I installed Linux, but most important installed LILO to the first Linux partition and not the MBR.

Linux and OS2 need to be in the first 1024 Cyl. but not the first 528 Mb. The Boot Manager and Linux also do not need to be in a Primary partition. That is reserved for Dos based programs and the Boot manager.

It is also a good idea to leave a bit of space in front of and just after the Linux partitions so a disk defragmenter does not damage the Linux installation.

Hope this helps.

A software named Systems Commander will solve all your problems. Its similar to PartitionMagic but more flexible. You can install 100 operating systems on it. It comes with TurboLinux as a bonus.