ambar

help!
i was using rhl 9 . i recently got fedora4 and formatted my 20 gb harddisk using fdisk in DOS to install it.i also deleted all the partitons. now i just learned that fc4 is incompatible with my sysstem.i want to reinstall rhl9.

on start of installation procedure , it says the mbr is still there and exits.
i want to remove mbr so that i can reinstall rhl9 . how can it be removed!!!!!

help!!!

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babbutycoon

you can use the fdisk command..... in dos. But this some times does not work. If it does not work reinstall Fc4 with minimal packages and unmount the mbr.

ambar

i hav tried fdisk in dos several times!
as for fc4 , i cant install it, its incompatible with my system and its installation doesnt even starts!

devils casper

i think u didn't delete primary partition with fdisk... ??
use the fdisk again n post the details of primary n extended partitions...( including logical )

<=== { casper } ===>

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devils casper

check this link :

http://ilab.usc.edu/rjpeters/faq.html

DOS-based solution :

Boot with a DOS floppy that has "debug" on it; run "debug". At the '-' prompt, "block-fill" a 512-byte chunk of memory with zeroes:

f 9000:0 200 0

Start assembly mode with the 'a' command, and enter the following code:

mov dx,9000
mov es,dx
xor bx,bx
mov cx,0001
mov dx,0080
mov ax,0301
int 13
int 20

Press <Enter> to exit assembly mode, take a deep breath - and press "g" to execute, then "q" to quit "debug". Your HD is now in a virgin state, and ready for partitioning and installation.
{ got these details from rcgreen's reply }


<=== { casper } ===>

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drl

Hi,ambar.

I have had success with GParted. Once I had a disk on which I had written "zeroes" with a vendor test program (to clean everything off) was to write a new "label" with GParted. It's small, so it boots up from the CD quickly, has a GUI, can manipulate partitions, etc.

As with any powerful tool, you can a lot of damage if you are not concentrating on what you are doing ... cheers, drl

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

( edit 1: correction, BeOS -> "empty" disk )

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DrCR

Are you running just one OS exclusively on your hard drive? Just want to verify it's just one.

fixmbr may do the trick for you. If you get really desperate you could install a boot loader to your mbr and setup the wait time to 1.

FYI FC isn't known to be the most stable. If you want RH I would try CentOS (RedHat but with proprietary stuff removed). Not sure if CentOS would have the same incompatibilities you've experienced though. FC users are beta testers for RH it seems.