Linux Mint 9 Install problem

[jnbrown]

I tried installing Linux Mint from the CD and part way through I got an error saying it could not read the CD or write to the HD.
I moved the CD to another drive and tried it again and the second time the install said it was successful. When my computer boots and I get the GRUB screen it appears there are two Linux Mint installs. If I pick the first one I get the log in screen and I type in my username / password. Then the screen flashes white and goes back to the log in screen.
If I pick the second I get some kind of command prompt.
I booted XP and checked in the disk manager and besides XP I have the following partitions:

4.42GB
5.01GB
287MB
490MB

I am thinking I need to somehow get rid of the two Linux Mint installs and the four partitions and start over but not sure how to do this.

Thanks

[rokytnji]

If I pick the second I get some kind of command prompt.

Try booting up with the Live CD. Do you get to a Desktop running Live?

If so. Open up a terminal and post the output (you can do this running live cd and being online running live at same time) of

sudo fdisk -l

That is a Lower case L after fdisk -

This will tell us which is Linux and which is Windows partitions.

[jnbrown]

Here it is:


Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 8682 69732278+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 8682 10012 10685441 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 8682 9258 4632118 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9950 10012 501760 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 9259 9913 5255168 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 9913 9949 293888 82 Linux swap / Solaris

I made a gparted live CD. I think I should just delete all the Linux partitions and reinstall Mint?

[rokytnji]

Yep. Gparted will do the trick.

Just leave sda1 alone and delete sda2,sda5,sda6,sda7,and sda8 and leave them unallocated (empty)

Then point mint installer to largest unallocated partition.

[devils casper]

In any case, Mint should boot up fine to a nice Desktop. Could you post your machine's specs here? Which Graphics Card do you have?