pure.evil

I am trying to install a version of Linux on a removable SATA hard drive so that I can have a dedicated Linux and XP hard drive. I have tried to install Fedora Core and Ubuntu and got the following results with both. The install goes without a problem and I'm prompted to take out the install disk and reboot. Upon reboot, it gets to the screen that shows the PCI Device listings (names, bus, IRQs, etc) and then stops after ACPI Controller. The cursor just blinks at the bottom of the screen. There are no error messages and nothing I can do (that I know of) except ctrl/alt/del. I'm eager to use Linux but am becoming frustrated, please help.

Stealthangle

Im a noob too but i will take a shot at trying to help you. Now what i do to run linux side by side is the slave and master system. From what i think, you have one hardrive? Correct me if im wrong. If thats the case, i dont you can install linux and windows on the same hardrive due to harddisk formating, since they have to be a diffrent format to run diffrent OS. This is not official information, i learned this stuff from experince with computers and trail by fire.

If your lazy i think you can just unplug one hardrive and hook up the other one to switch from windows to linux.

pure.evil

I figured out the problem, thought I had let all of the forums know but I guess I missed one. Sorry, but thanks for the effort. The problem was that I have an IDE drive used for storing music and I was installing linux on a removable SATA drive (I have 2 removables, 1 for Linux, 1 for Windows so I can choose what to run without compromising space to dual boot from a single drive). The problem occurred during install. The installation gave me the choice of what drive to install Linux on and even though I was unchecking the IDE drive, it was still installing the mbr on it. Although the majority of the os was on the drive I intended it to be on, the first part wasn't and BIOS was set to check the sata not the ide. Long story short, I spent all weekend trying to fix a problem that was as easy as unhooking a cable before installing. Thanks again though. This is what I love about the linux community. . .the fact that there is one.