Urgent Help Needed - Please Help a NEWBIE

Respected Friends,

I need very urgent help :frowning: Actually I was using Windows XP SP2 on my PC, but due to some Virus Problem the whole installation got corrupted and I can’t even see the Boot Screen.

Also I tried Installing Windows XP again from Boot CD but the Boot is not detecting it as Boot CD at all. The CD is bootable at other computers, but I don’t know Why it is Not booting up my PC :frowning:

I am posting this by using Dynebolic Live CD. I have onlu Open SUSE Installation DIsk with me. But I don’t know a single thing about Linux Installation Terminology :open_mouth:

Please help me in installation. I also checked the Pre-Installation guide, but I am unable to understand it. Kindly help me with the installation of SUSE Linux.

My System Configuration

  • P4 - 2.4 GHz
  • Motherboard - 845GVSR
  • Hard Drive - 80 GB
  • RAM - 512 MB

My Hard Drive Partition

C:
D:
E:
F:

In C: Windows is there and in all other 3 drives IMPORTANT DATAis there. I just want to install SUSE on C: and want to leave every other partition intact. Also I read a Word SWAPwhen I tried installing SUSE. Please tell what is this?

Please help me in partitioning and installation. I will be very very grateful to you all. :slight_smile:

Swap is virtual memory space like the pagefile in windows.

When you boot the install dvd or cd and start the install the installer will probe your drive/s and list the partitions and offer a proposal. You will want to choose custom partitioning. At this screen http://files.myopera.com/carl4926/albums/671478/8.png
Select create partition setup
Then at this http://files.myopera.com/carl4926/albums/671478/9.png
Choose Custom


Check it all
Install Demo - With Pics and Video - openSUSE Forums

and

Partitioning/Install Guide - openSUSE Forums

OK,

First off, calm down.

Secondly, Linux does not have C:, D: or whatever partitions. Linux is very different from windows in how it lays things out, and pretty much, treats everything like a file.

You likely have sda (your hard drive). It may be hda

Your partitons are likely:

/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda3 /dev/sda4 though if you have an extended partition it will be /dev/sda5 etc etc.

Swap is similar to the pagefile on Windows. It is where programs dump data when they don’t have sufficient memory to write to and are not being used at the moment (simplified answer, not 100% accurate, but for your intents, it will suffice).

I would read some of the stickies here.

Also, note that if you’re trying to get information off a system that won’t boot, you may be best off using the live CD to do it. You can mount the drives in the live environment and rescue the contents - either emailing it, or writing it to another optical drive or USB stick / drive.

If you only have one optical drive and can’t use USB or email, it still should be possible to load a system that is resident in RAM and take the disc out - I think knoppix does this.

So take a breath, and tell us - what are you trying to do? Are you trying to install just to save the data? If so, perhaps consider doing without running the risk of altering the hard drives at all.

> I am posting this by using Dynebolic Live CD. I have onlu Open SUSE
> Installation DIsk with me.

which version of openSUSE install media do you have?
is it a full DVD or just a CD?

that Dynebolic Live CD you posted from, does it include a copy of
ClamAV (aka: Clam AntiVirus)? if it does then you might be able to
hook into the online virus signature database and clean your XP of the
nasties it has collected…and, even if it doesn’t you might be
successful in downloading and installing a fresh clamav to do that…

i’m not at all sure it is wise to being trying to install openSUSE
until you know you have the spare room on that single drive AND have
in some way protected the data you have–personally i wouldn’t attempt
it until i had a good backup of all important data…

but, if you feel you must, i’d spends some hours reading AT LEAST
until you understand the lingo of installation enough to know what you
are doing…begin here: http://tinyurl.com/6jwtg9 IF you have
openSUSE version 11.1 and ALSO see: http://en.opensuse.org/Installation

if you come to a word or concept you don’t understand, then take the
time to understand it…it is, after all, YOUR data that will be gone
if you format it away because you do not understand!

“swap” for example: don’t understand that?? try a google on “linux
swap” and you get 200k hits, the first one is PERFECT…

sorry you have a problem with your Windows[tm] hope you do not let it
PUSH you into a quick decision that causes you to WIPE OUT your data
and then blame that on Linux, rather than the OS which let you down
AND your inability or lack of time/patience to learn enough to install
Linux correctly…


Conficter

@ caf4926: Thanks for the Reply. I am checking out the Links.

@ mark54g: Thanks for the Reply

@ confuseling: Thanks for the Reply. I can’t e-mail all the Data as the data is huge. Regarding writing the Data in a optical Media it’s not possible as I only have Dynebolic Live CD and one optical drive. As soon as the Dynebolic starts, the Drive tray don’t eject out.

No I will make a permanent switch to Linux. I am fed up of Windows. The only thing I don’t know is about Software Type which can be used for handling files which Windows Softwares created / read.

@ Conficter Thanks for Reply.

I have OpenSusu 11.0 CD which I got with one Tech Magazine.

The Dynebolic CD don’t have calmav with it. And also I checked this page: Clam AntiVirus But I am not getting whic calmav to download for dynebolic??

Just another note. If you have a USB hard drive or a network at home with another computer that you can use, you may be able to transfer the information off using the live CD. The USB drive will likely be the best option, however, and you may want to look at some “How to mount windows on linux” brief tutorials online. That way you can mount (Basically, enable a partition/disk/file system to be used) the windows partitions on the live CD system and then gather off the data as you see fit.

^^^

I don;t have a Network at Home and no additional computer. I only have a 2 GB Pen Drive and the data is around 35+ GB.

I must first concentrate transferring the Data to another Hard Drive/Computer. Maybe for this I have to take out the Hard Drive >:(

Does anyone know of a distro that can easily boot into ram so you can eject the CD?

Wouldn’t tiny core or d a m n small linux work? (I can’t believe that gets censored)

Wouldn’t that be the safest approach here?

ETA - Ah, 35 Gig is quite a bit. Do you know anyone with a USB hard drive you could use?

Puppy loads to RAM, as can PCLinuxOS. There are probably others.

I remember reading about Puppy now - fair enough.

So; you have a few options. Depending on how valuable your data actually is, you could run Puppy off a CD and into ram, and then free up your drive to burn things to disc. On DVDs that’s managable, on CDs less so - but it is still the safest option, because it doesn’t involve monkeying with the drive at all.

Or you could, as you say, install the drive into another system (or install another drive onto this one). If possible you should probably do that with linux too (another live disc will work fine) so as to contain the virus, but I think that if you install this disk onto another Windows computer then just remove data without booting it / running anything you are safe…

Or you can install linux on your present drive. It will almost certainly go fine, but it might not. Depends how valuable your data is…

Ok will go for Puppy Linux. Lemme know what i must check/download from here: Puppy Linux 4.2 “Deep Thought” | Puppy Linux

There are 2 things:

  • Download Puppy Linux from a Link
  • Create Puppy Linux Live CD/DVD

Is That 100 MB File Bootable/Live CD?

  • Please reply

Looks right, but I’ve never used it. Personally, I would have a search around their forum for a while, then post there if you’re unsure. They’ll be very used to dealing with this sort of situation, because this is one of the things RAM resident distros are extremely good for. Relax, take your time, and it should be easy to fix.

OK

I will browse the Puppy forums :slight_smile:

Thanks all and Hats Off to you all for helping a Newbie. You all Rockz :slight_smile:

  • With Best Wishes :slight_smile:

Pulling the drive would probably be the best solution, if you can manage it. The other option is to see if somebody can help you with an install of OpenSUSE to ensure you don’t clobber your data. For a newbie, it is all scary and without knowing all that can and should be may cause them to make some mistakes.

Please let us know how you get on - and if it doesn’t work for some reason, and you don’t feel like trying other RAM resident distros, I’m inclined to agree with Mark that removing the drive and installing it to another system is the easiest alternative left.

Obviously, then you should install SUSE! :wink:

This would be the one for puppy
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-4.1.2-k2.6.25.16-seamonkey.iso

Well well well me again back with Windows :open_mouth:

Lemme share the story with you all. Actually my computer is 4 years old and at that time i had 1 CD Reader and 1 CD Writer - The vendor fooled me, not telling me about DVD Combo Drive

The CD Reader was gone completely as once I tried playing a CD which was slightly cracked The other CD Writer worked for me for sometime and than it’s tray completely stopped ejecting

I bought a DVD Writer LG and it was fitted where my CD Reader resided. I started using it completely forgetting and neglecting about the CD Writer I was using earlier Windows XP Pro for the past 1 year.

Now the main reason for not booting up of any Bootable CD is that my DVD Drive was not reading any of them, Even after clearing the BIOS.

Somehow I tried to eject the CD Writer (which was under Sanyaas from Past 1 Year) with a Safety PIN and it got ejected. Now I prayed to GOD and inserted Bootable XP in it and voila! it worked. I carried out the installation process.

Right now I am browsing the Net and asking some Linux Freaks to help me install Linux into my PC :slight_smile: BTW I am from India :slight_smile:

Thanks all for reply and help. Will be here soon :slight_smile:

Congratulations! I’m glad it worked out. :slight_smile:

Here’s hoping the rest of your Linux adventure proceeds more relaxingly!

P.S. Always make a back-up. :wink: