[CentOS] Fun with CentOS and Windows

John Summerfield
Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:23:01 -0000

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

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