Loper said:
Which brand? Dell machines are known to have an NVRAM configuration problem. All you need to do in this case is unplug the machine from the wall and press-and-hold the power switch for about ten seconds.
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*****...I fear that all my machines since the XT have been of the generic "IBM compatible- whatever's in the box brand". I never felt I could afford branded machines. 8-( The last branded machine I owned had "Commodore 64" on it.
...I tried the power switch thing with no result .
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Arkaine23 sed:
That's very odd, since knoppix doesn't touch your hard drives unless you tell it to.
But to fix the problem, I'd suggest booting your windows CD and choosing to go to the recovery console. Run the commands:
fixmbr
fixboot
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... Sadly, the Windows CD will not boot. I always get the "Windows protection error"! The only way I can get into the machine at all is via a start-up disk and XP does not allow you to make an XP start-up disk so I have to use a 98 or ME startup floppy and then I suppose Windows does not like the different version and won't play ball!

... I cannot re-install windows from DOS, ("This program can not be run in DOS mode") and I can't get into Windows at all or I would just re-install!

...Actually, I tried Knoppix on this other machine too , (also a generic), and all went well except that it would not recognize my mouse (either serial or wireless), although there is no problem on the other machine that still boots Knoppix without problems, but seemingly disables the CD drive as soon as it loads!

... I've tried to install about four versions of Linux over the years and all of them asked too many questions that I did not have answers for!
...I thought that perhaps Knoppix, since it runs directly from the CD was my salvation, but I guess that I'm not nerdy enough for it either! Duh....

I suppose eventually someone will sell me a hard drive with Linux pre-installed and I can say good-bye to rich Bill forever!

...Thanks for your assistance anyway fellows!

Frank Halliwell E-mail- [email protected]
Homepage at http://home.pacific.net.au/~rhymer/