[gogalthorp]

Burn at the slowest speed possible. Use only premium DVD disks.

You need to point the menu.lst entry for windows to the partition for windows. Use the same logic in naming as you did for the Suse partition.

[seifullaah73]

i can't seem to find the partition for windows
i went to my computer and and i have hda3 and hda4 the others are called i.e. tmp/app/3/image
hda3 is root and the other is another partition for free space to download files into
thats all there is.

do i have to reinstall windows then after that reinstall opensuse without deleting any data.

the speed is from 1x to 126x which one shall i choose

[Jonathan183]

Originally Posted by seifullaah73

i can't seem to find the partition for windows
i went to my computer and and i have hda3 and hda4 the others are called i.e. tmp/app/3/image
hda3 is root and the other is another partition for free space to download files into
thats all there is.

do i have to reinstall windows then after that reinstall opensuse without deleting any data.

the speed is from 1x to 126x which one shall i choose

If you re-install Windows you will loose all existing data on Windows partition, if you reinstall Linux you will loose all data from Linux root partition

For burn speed use lowest speed eg 1x ... I suggest you run fdisk -l command again and check your Windows partition is still present ... is the output of fdisk as post #3?

Ed: if the output of fdisk -l is as post #3 then you need chainloader (hd0,0)+1 to load Windows, as your Windows partition appears to be on hda1 eg your original menu.lst file entry is correct to load Windows.

Why have you got iso image mounts in the fstab you posted?

[seifullaah73]

i tried to type setup (hd0) and it can't find stage1 even though i did it in systemrescue disk and now when i take the cd out and type it in again error 15 file not found.

If you re-install Windows you will loose all existing data on Windows partition, if you reinstall Linux you will loose all data from Linux root partition

well i don't have any important files in windows but i do have in linux

Ed: if the output of fdisk -l is as post #3 then you need chainloader (hd0,0)+1 to load Windows, as your Windows partition appears to be on hda1 eg your original menu.lst file entry is correct to load Windows.

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 2611 20972826 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 2612 3395 6297480 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda3 9102 11712 20972857+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 15247 24124 71304503 83 Linux

yup still the same

Why have you got iso image mounts in the fstab you posted?

what do you mean i don't see any iso image mounts

/dev/hda4 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocha rset=utf8 0 0
/dev/dvdrecorder /media/dvdrecorder subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocha rset=utf8 0 0
/dev/cdrecorder /media/cdrecorder subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocha rset=utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs noauto,fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0
/tmp/app/1/image /tmp/app/1 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0
/tmp/app/2/image /tmp/app/2 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0
/tmp/app/3/image /tmp/app/3 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0
/tmp/app/4/image /tmp/app/4 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0
/tmp/app/5/image /tmp/app/5 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0
/tmp/app/6/image /tmp/app/6 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0
/tmp/app/7/image /tmp/app/7 cramfs,iso9660 user,noauto,ro,loop,exec 0 0

/dev/hda3 /local ext2 acl,user_xattr 1 2
/dev/hda2 swap swap defaults 0 0

i am going to reinstall windows but i will need more space for the partition
and after that i will insert suse installation dvd and go to other options to repair boot loader.

hopefully that should do the trick
or do i do something else

[seifullaah73]

I think if it were me I'd simply reinstall Suse. You can preserver your personal data (ie /home), When the install comes to the partition scheme manually do the selections. Be sure that that the installer is pointing to the correct root partition and is set to reformat and that the new home points to the old home partition and is set to NOT format and it is to mount the partition as /home. This will preserve your personal data and settings.

could you give me a step by step instruction on how to do this i didn't understand what you said

[Jonathan183]

I'd try using the SuperGrub CD to fix the Linux boot ... and backup data before going further with this. You can resize partitions and reinstall operating systems after you have data backed up to a safe place eg CD or DVD.

[gogalthorp]

[quote=seifullaah73;597483]could you give me a step by step instruction on how to do this i didn't understand what you said[/QUOT]

It is hard to explain because it is a GUI. Just start a regular install after a couple of screens it will come to the selection of partitions. The installer will suggest a partitioning scheme for the install. override it ie do not accept the default. You will then be able to define your own partitioning scheme. It is important to pay attention to the screens and not just accept the defaults without knowing what you are accepting.

At that point be sure that the three partitions definitions are pointing to the correct real partitions ie swap points to the current swap root points to the current root and home points at the current home. You want to set the root partition definition to reformat but you want to have the home partition NOT format. Double check that the mount point for root is / the mount point for home is /home.

Then let'er rip. This will format the root and install the the OS and any APPs you select at a later stage of the install in root but it will leave the /home directory (partition) alone preserving your data and settings.

Note if had installed a Video driver that will need to be reinstalled and any other drivers you might need.

[seifullaah73]

I insert the Installation dvd and go through

pass the license agreement until i reach a page where there are titles i click on partitioning

and get the following options

accept proposal
base partition setup on this proposal
create custom partition setup
create LVM based proposal

i click on create custom partition setup

which results in the following options

1: 1. IDE, 186.3 GB /dev/sda/ WDC-WD2000JB-00G

custom partitioning (for experts)

i choose custom partitioning

and a list of partitions are presented

dev/sda 186.3 gb wdc-wd2000jb-00g
dev/sda1 20.0gb win95-fat32 LBA
dev/sda2 6.0gb linux swap................. swap (no fullstops, just to separate it)
dev/sda3 20.0gb linux native
dev/sda4 68.0gb linux native

i think they just used s instead of h so sda4 is where root is installed and sda3 is the other linux partition.

so which one do i chose to not lose all my personal data in home when doing the installation i also don't want to lose any data in sda3
then after this the installation should start without erasing my files right

p.s. i just did an update installation as i was running opensuse 10.0 and i did an update installation to 10.3 did all the procedures and there were some conflicts which i just ignored only at that stage and then did the installation.
and after installation finished when i go to opensuse i get the following error message

kernal panic - not syncing : attempted to kill init!

what does this mean

i am going to do a repair from the dvd "repair installed system"
now i am running this from the live cd

it would appreciated if you could help

thanks

[Jonathan183]

Originally Posted by seifullaah73

p.s. i just did an update installation as i was running opensuse 10.0 and i did an update installation to 10.3 did all the procedures and there were some conflicts which i just ignored only at that stage

I don't think a separate home partition was a default setup for SUSE 10.0. There is no separate home partition indicated by any of the fstab entries I have seen so far. You will need to backup data rather than selecting a partition not to format. You need to boot from a live CD/DVD and copy data you want to retain somewhere else (eg to a usb drive etc).

Copying data to an external drive or CD is the safest option, if you are unable to do this then I suggest you mount the fat32 partition and copy data you want to retain onto that partition.

[silentsoldier]

seifullaah73--how's it goiing. silentsoldier here.

for the 'windows' section in your menu.lst, get rid of the (hd#,#) and leave the 'chainloader +1' line as it is. Question:did you replace the '#' symbols with actual numbers?

It would help if you post exactly as you menu.lst file looks...