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[Javaguy]

well, I have got my computer to dual boot windows 3.1 and XP so Im back on the retro gaming scene... almost
a few questions first
1) My motherboard comes with a realtek AC'97 inbuilt 8 channel audio thing. Its uh, nice but it wont work in 3.1. I have tried using the soundblaster drivers that come with 3.1 on the drivers menu but whatever port/interrupt number I choose it says its wrong.. I found some drivers for what I think is the card I have but when I select unlisted driver and prompts me for a location.. I click ok (after choosing the right place) and the window just refreshes.. stunts without sound just isnt as fun
2) 3.1 wont recognise my CD rom.. no problem but when I tried the oakcdrom driver and editing the config.sys file like everyone does (apparantly) when I start dos it says something like oak cd rom driver © someone blah blah and just has a flashing cursor.. so I cant start windows or do anything (to start my version of windows I have to type win at the dos prompt)

another thing.. I fancy installing debian too for my share of linux fun but before I do.. do I have to install it before/after xp.. will it try and format the C: drive like dos did (so I had to install dos first then create another partition for xp to go on)

if anyone could answer these questions/solve these problems I would be grateful

thanks :bye:

[BeefontheBone]

Don't know about the first bits, but I can answer this:

I fancy installing debian too for my share of linux fun but before I do.. do I have to install it before/after xp..

Best bet with Linux distros is always to install them AFTER any other OS's, especially Windows and OSX. The Debian installer will immediately spot the other systems and set up GRUB to boot for you.

[win98]

Mabey you made a mistake in the autoexec.bat or config.sys when you installed the driver.

[Cockroach]

1) My motherboard comes with a realtek AC'97 inbuilt 8 channel audio thing. Its uh, nice but it wont work in 3.1. I have tried using the soundblaster drivers that come with 3.1 on the drivers menu but whatever port/interrupt number I choose it says its wrong.. I found some drivers for what I think is the card I have but when I select unlisted driver and prompts me for a location.. I click ok (after choosing the right place) and the window just refreshes.. stunts without sound just isnt as fun sad.gif

I believe my mobo came with the dos driver. Not completely certain as I use an old ESS in it's place.

2) 3.1 wont recognise my CD rom.. no problem but when I tried the oakcdrom driver and editing the config.sys file like everyone does (apparantly) when I start dos it says something like oak cd rom driver © someone blah blah and just has a flashing cursor.. so I cant start windows or do anything (to start my version of windows I have to type win at the dos prompt)

do you have the oakcdrom in config.sys and the mscdex(sp) in autoexec with all the switches and things?

another thing.. I fancy installing debian too for my share of linux fun but before I do.. do I have to install it before/after xp.. will it try and format the C: drive like dos did (so I had to install dos first then create another partition for xp to go on)

you should go DOS/WIN31, XP, Linux. DOS on C:, XP on D:, and Linux anywhere you have room after the rest (putting it on another HDD will also work). And as BoB said, the installer should automatically detect the other OSes and make places for them in the boot loader. I'd also recommend having something like Knoppix around in case you accidently wipe out grub playing with Windows/DOS.

[Javaguy]

okay thanks for that
and Im certain I didnt make a mistake in the config.sys lines.. well the thing I found said I should write two lines in config.sys one for mscdex and one for oakcdrom.. do I need to write something in autoexec.bat too?
I got another "universal" driver by samsung that doesnt detect the CD drive :ranting:

[Javaguy]

:angry: stupid linux.. debian to be precise
after agges i managed to install it, set my log in details and I cant log in! it says tom login:
then what do I type??
so I typed my username.. tom
then it said password: and I couldnt type anything. only press enter which takes me to the next line.. if I type my password there it appears in letters not **s and after about 5 seconds it says login incorrect

eg tom login: tom
password:
****login incorrect

replace the **s with half of my password (the most I got to type) and thats the problem

oh, and it deleted a windows file so windows XP wont work anymore
aand then my cd-rom drive spat the windows cd out spinning god knows how fast and wedged it into the cd drive... scratching it so I cant re-install windows. I heard jokes by windows haters about how windows tracks down and deletes linux.. I didnt think it would be the other way round :not_ok:

[plix]

The first of your problems is an easy fix: DON'T HIT ENTER. When you're prompted for your password type it in and then hit enter. While typing your password you won't see anything at all (no symbols, no text, no nothing). Then hit enter and wait a few seconds (it'll seem like longer). You'll then get a command prompt.

By hitting enter what you were doing is sending an empty password and while you waited for it to authorize you you typed in your password. The thing is, while you were typing in your password after hitting enter you were just sending text to an executing TTY with no program capturing the input (so it just echoed what it was getting back to the screen). The prolonged delay before the command prompt is intentional to vastly reduce the effectiveness of dictionary password attacts.

The problem with XP is lacking in any sort of real description so I really can't tell you what the problem is there. At the very least, a name for the "missing file" would be a big help.

[Javaguy]

okay thank you
debian isnt a nice GUI then?? :blink:
can I install a GUI?
as for the XP file, I will look
its something to do with booting it....
anyway I will look, I still hate debian for killing windows though

[Reup]

The Debian installer never deletes any windows files unless you tell it to (by wiping the partition tabel for instance). If you're unable to log in to Debian, how exactly were you able to delete that file using linux?

[Javaguy]

nono I didnt delete the file myself, nor did I tell the installer to. It just uh, went..
im into debian now, so thats good but being an idiot I dont know what to do, or more importantly how to install the GUI so I can retreive my copy of detroit :P.. or get on the net, use WINE, be happy..

oh, the windows file:
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll

it says something like "windows cant start as the following file is missing/corrupted *file* please re-install the file"