Is it possible to install linux from my hdd? It refuses to boot off of my dvd drive because it is connected to a raid controller, so booting off of the hard drive is really my only option.

If you manage to install a alternative bootloder, you could load the installation kernel and ramdisk from hd.
BTW: which distribution?

edit:
this should make it easier, http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/

but how would I do that?

do what? install the bootloader or starting the installation system?
Installing the GRUB bootloader should be easy with the WINGRUB interface. How you start the installation after that, depends on the distribution.

ok, I have another idea, can you help me get a hold of the ubuntu driver for ite8212 raid controller? That is the controller, and Im trying to install kubuntu.

Not sure if this helps, but found it in ubuntu forums

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initra...ools/+bug/47197

do you even get to the install cds "boot:" prompt?

Try OpenSuSe 10.2, they have quite a lot controller drivers and you can provide yours with F5 at DVD boot.


PS:@all, avoid grub under windows/dos, they tend to be rarely updated/outdated and this sometimes suck your partitions.

yes I got the boot prompt

so, the install cds bootloader works. and what happens if you start the installation?

well, it gets to the point where it says something like "starting kernel" or "booting kernel" or something else, cant remember all of the distro's Ive tried, and it freezes.

maybe this will prove helpful:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

Ah, ACPI problem!
You could have said it earlier.

Try to boot with the noacpi switch.
See your bootable CD/DVD help, there are always a few lines on how to disable ACPI.
On my laptop, I can have parts of acpi enabled, as long as I have acpi=noirq.

but its a driver problem not an acpi problem.

http://marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html is the best article about the"Poor mans install" on the net.

Why does nobody want to trust me?

Linux has fast no drivers to download from a vendor's website. Not that it doesn't need; they're simply not available.
Everything is stored either directly in the kernel, or in .(m)o files which are modules the kernel loads on demand (.o is for <kernel 2.4; .mo is for >kernel 2.6; don't ask me what happened to the 2.5 )

One problem with this is you may be unable to load a module needed to continue with booting. For example, you have linux installed on an ext2 partition and the ext2 support for your kernel is configured to be in a module. The module is located inside your ext2 partition. The problem is you can't read the module before you load ext2 support and you can't load ext2 support before you read the module.
My point is missing modules (drivers are usually modules) happens quite often under linux and it won't cause the computer to crash.


Could you please try to boot on slackware 12?
You may be scared but I'm not telling you to install it; just to boot on it (type hugesmp.s at the prompt and if it doesn't work, try with huge.s).