"kernel Panic" When Booting...

Ok...

I booted onto the SuSE CD and selected resue. Here's the results for fdisk -l /dev/hd?:
-------------------------
Disk /dev/hda: 734 MB, 734408704 bytes, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 22 cylinders. Units=cylinders of 16065*2048=32901120 bytes

Disk /dev/hda does not contain a valid partiton table

Disk /dev/hdc: 40 GB, 40007761920 bytes, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders. Units=cylinders of 16065*512=8225280 bytes.


Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 13 104391 89 Linux
/dev/hdc2 3320 4863 12402180 7 NPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc3 131 3319 25615642+ f W95 ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdc4 14 78 522112+ 82 Linux Swap
/dev/hdc5 3146 3319 1397623+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/hdc6 131 3145 24217924+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order.
--------------------
There....

Ok...oops, now I gotta reboot (the external HD was unplugged, and I'm typing this in live, as it's too much to remember).

ok, here's the result for fdisk -l /dev/sd?:
----------------
Disk /dev/sda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes, 240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10637 cylinders, Units=cylinders of 15120*512=7741440 bytes.

Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System
/dev/sda1 1 27 204088+ e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 29 10637 80204040 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 29 133 793768+ 82 Linux Swap
/dev/sda6 134 10637 79410208+ 83 Linux
------------------
However, it won't let me mount my Windows partition (/dev/hdc2), saying "fs ntfs not supported by kernel".

EDIT: ok, I just saw the bootcfg thing...I'll try running the commands after the bootcfg command. If that does not work, I'll post what the bootcfg returns.

EDIT 2: bootcfg /LIST returns:

"There are no boot entries to be found"

Is /dev/hda your CDROM/DVD drive? (invalid partition table)

I believe I know what the problem is.

According to the partition table /dev/hdc the Linux partition (assume Fedora) /dev/hdc1 is active (asterix). The Windows boot sector was probably installed here incorrectly. Hence the error message about ntldr.

Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 13 104391 89 Linux
/dev/hdc2 3320 4863 12402180 7 NPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc3 131 3319 25615642+ f W95 ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdc4 14 78 522112+ 82 Linux Swap
/dev/hdc5 3146 3319 1397623+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/hdc6 131 3145 24217924+ 83 Linux

Boot off the SUSE disc into rescue mode again.

type the following

# fdisk /dev/hdc

at the prompt
(command (m for help):

type p to print the partition table.
Next press a and when prompted for the partition number enter 1.
Type a again and enter 2 for the partition number.
Type p again and verify that the asterix is only next to /dev/hdc2.
Make sure the partition table above and the new one are the same accept for the asterix.
Type wq and this should write out the partition table. If you make a mistake type q and run fdisk again.
Next reboot and see if Windows reboots.
If not run fixmbr and fixboot from the Recovery console.

From the Recovery console in XP you may be able to cat or more a file.

Fingers crossed :-)

cool, thanks a bunch! It works!

Now I just have to decide how to go about installng SuSE...

Thats good news.
Good luck with setting up SUSE.
If it was me I'd install SUSE where Fedora was unless you want Fedora and use the external drive for data only (thats what I do) however there may be someone out there who has got it working.
Good luck :-)

Thanks.

I've tried to install it where Fedora was, but it didn't seem to want to go there. I plan on playing around with it some more tomorrow.