[CentOS] Fun with CentOS and Windows

[John Summerfield]

Mark Hull-Richter wrote:
> I installed the memory and the CPU and the motherboard and the new video
> card all together tonight.  CentOS installed very nicely and I'm currently
> running the CentOS-Plus version, with which I _can_ access my Windows
> partitions.  Well, one of the disks is getting flaky and I'm having trouble
> with it - of course, that's the one I need the most.
> 
> Glitches, with which I would be delighted to obtain feedback and/or advice:
> 
> 1) In the boot screen, it tells me "CPU0 Memory information: single 
> channel,
> 64-bits."  I have 2Gb of DDR2 PC6400 (800MHz) memory - is this a 
> problem, or
> does it mean something else entirely?


Is it supposed to be dual channel - typically in my limited experience 
you have four RAM slots in two pairs. If you have two equal-sized sticks 
of RAM, they should be in same-coloured sockets.

otherise, it probably doesn't mean anything.



> (ECS NFORCE4M-A m/b, Phoenix BIOS 6.00PG)
> 
> 2) While the system is booting up, it tells me:
> MP-BUG: 8254 timer is not connected to APIC
> What does this mean and is there a way around it?
Dunno. Unless you get better advice, look for a BIOS upgrade. It doesn't 
look good.
> 
> 3) CentOS does not appear to have the drivers for my video card or monitor.
> I have an e-GEForce 7100gs card and an Envision en910e monitor (yeah, that
> old 19" CRT that has been working fine for 3+ years).  How can I get more
> than 800x600 (need 1280x1024 to work properly? And please don't say buy a
> new monitor - no money for that for a while....

It's not the screen, I'm sure of that:-) You could try various vga/vesa 
framebuffer drivers, they might work.

You could also try booting with VGA=794 (VGA791 if that doesn't work). 
It might not help X (but it might), but if it works, you will have very 
nice virtual consoles: I get 160x64 on my laptop.

> 
> 4) Here's the bad part (sort of) - I can't boot my Windows any more.  It
> comes part way up and reboots, whether I try to run Safe Mode 
> (hahahahahaha)
> or Crashing (I mean Normal) Mode.  The video card is different, and I
> thought that might be the problem, but it should come up in safe mode no
> matter what - no video driver loaded.  (I also went from a P4 to an Athlon
> 64 X2 - could that be part/all of it?).

Backup the data (Knoppix helps here, or simply find the NTFS tools), and 
reinstall Windows. DO NOT reformat the partition, and do have a rescue 
disk for Linux handy:-)

Hopefully, Windows will sort itself out.

> 
> Some of this might be O/T, so please point me at the right place if so
> (except that last one - there is no right place for that stuff....)-;
>
Windows is definitely off-topic, and I've given too much advice already.



-- 

Cheers
John

-- spambait
1aaaaaaa at coco.merseine.nu  Z1aaaaaaa at coco.merseine.nu

Please do not reply off-list