Setting up dual boot on Acer Aspire One running Linpus

Problems setting up Dual Booting on Acer Aspire One, running Linpus Linux, by adding Windows XP Pro as the second Op Sys.

Summary of steps carried out so far.

1.Downloaded ISO Image of a basic Linux Op Sys and downloaded the following software on my other PC before I started:
Primary Official Download Site and Mirror Site for Acer Aspire One Forum Users
HP USB Drive Key Format Utility (2Mb)
Gparted-Live zip archive (93Mb)
Live USB Helper (414Kb)
VB6 dll needed to support USB helper (48Kb)

2. I had to use a mixture of the two download sites to get all the files. I have also downloaded the Win XP drivers ready to load on the AAO once Windows is running.

3. Made a bootable Linux USB memory stick with the above on it.

4. I can boot off the HDD as normal into Linpus Linux or I can press F12 during initial boot sequence, select the USB memory stick and boot off the USB stick and use Gparted.

5. In Linpus normal boot, using file manager, I can see the USB external CD drive containing Win XP Pro SP2 and I can read the disc to see the Windows files including “Setup”. So the CD is OK.

6. I have reduced the Linpus partition to 20GB, created a new NTFS formatted partition for Windows (91.25 GB) and now have three partitions, showing in this order in Gnome's Gparted disc partitioning tool.

Linpus, SDA1,
Windows XP (NTFS) SDA3 - Boot
Swap SDA2

7. NB. I have set the tag on the Windows partition NTFS to “BOOT”

8. Now I am stuck. I can't get the Windows CD to run its install from the CD into the NTFS partition. How do I do this? When I switch on the AAO and press F12 to select the boot option as External CD drive the AAO looks at the CD drive, which whirs and runs up but then just boots up into normal original Linpus from the HDD. I don't understand how it can do that especially with the NTFS partition's tag set to Boot.

I expected at this stage that windows would try to install and probably ask me where to put it whereupon I would have selected the NTFS boot partition from options it would display but not so. It reverts to normal Linpus Linux boot up. I am obviously doing something wrong but what?

Here are the Idiots Guide instructions, my results start to differ from section 10. See below:

I am OK as far as trying to install Win Xp Pro from CD. I have a USB CD drive plugged in with a WIN XP Pro CD in the drive confirmed bootable original Windows XP CD by checking in another computer and I have the bootable Linux USB pen drive plugged in.
Below is an extract from your idiots guide notes and I have marked where it goes wrong with comments in chevrons <....>.

Installing Windows XP
10. Next boot off your Gparted live pen again and right click the partition you’ll be installing XP onto; (sda2 it's probably called) <Mine says SDA3> and select "manage flags", tick the Boot checkbox and then click OK. Maximise the window and check the APPLY option is not lit; if it is click it, and wait for it to finish. Ed: if it is called sda3 this may cause you problems when installing Windows. <Mine IS called SDA3> Reboot again to see whether it changes to sda2. <NO it does not change to SDA2> If not, bear in mind that you might have to do a quick fix to get Windows to install OK. <WHAT is the quick fix please>

NOTE: you cannot at this time boot Linpus as the system can't see it. <Not True. Even though NTFS partition is set to Boot, Linpus will be the default load on reboot.> This will be rectified shortly, you still need the Gparted live files on the USB pen.

11. Next you need to dig up an external dvd/cd drive and connect it to your AAO with your XP install disk. You can use the DVD drive from your Xbox 360 if you have one.

12. Once you have XP on CD, boot your AAO from the USB device (DVD drive) <it sees the CD drive OK but here it loads up normal Linpus standard not WIN XP setup> and choose the partition listed in the setup sequence <don't get this option> <NTFS is Actually SDA3 on mine and is flagged as BOOT> (should be the second one on the drive usually: the first partition will be listed as "unknown" as it's Linux as will the last one (swap partition)<No all three show SDA1 Linpus, SDA2 as Swap, SDA3 as NTFS Boot>. Choose the partition needed, format it with NTFS (quick) and follow the prompts as you proceed through XP setup it should continue as normal. <Can't get into XP Setup>

Not sure what I am doing wrong, can you assist me please. Sorry to be a nuisance. Thanks in anticipation.


Can anyone help me please?

 

I'll look at this tonight but have you checked that the boot flag is not still set on the Linpus partition too?

Ideally you want the Windows partition to be SDA 2 - but a Linux person will perhaps tell you how to change that (you might have to delete the SWAP partition which will then shuffle the numbers down,and then you can re-create the SWAP partition. However, Linpus may complain so I don't recommend you experiment just yet).

DJ_Steve is the guru in all things Linpus and AAO, of course...

One final thought: when you try and boot off the DVD drive, you do press F12 and actually see that as option then?

 

Only one of the three partitions are shown as "Boot" and that is the NTFS partition SDA3. I have checked this several times after many reboots. The order of appearance in Gnomes Gparted is
SDA1 Linpus
SDA3 Windows NTFS Boot
SDA2 Swap

Yes. If at power on boot up I press F2 and go into setup the CD Drive is set as first boot device. When booting from Power on, and pressing F12, I do get offered the option to boot from the USB CD Drive. If I select this, the CD drive does run up and you think it is going to start the Windows install but then the CD stops and the netbook boots up in Linpus Linux as normal. Then in file manager I can see the USB CD drive and the contents of the CD.

The CD runs up fine to install Windows on another machine with the CD drive set as first boot device, so there is nothing wrong with the CD or the CD Drive or connection lead.

Integrator

 

its the bios causign that not the hard drives - try using a usb pento install and it will likely work much better (and rather alot faster - i can do a full win7 install in about 20mins via usb pen, takes closer to an hour with cd drive)

and as a side note if you do not see a 'press any key to boot from cd' prompt the cd is not bootable, ive seen this a few times with ext cd drives and certain pcs. only way i found round it was a usb pen install

 

So, from what DJ_Steve is saying, you can either try another USB external CD/DVD drive or try the pen drive route.

Certainly from what you describe the CD is being recognised as a device but it won't boot from it. As the CD has been verified in another PC that only leaves the hardware combination: AAO and your ext. USB CD drive. I didn't hit this problem and my LG Supermulti DVD RW worked as you might expect.

Frustrating would be an understatement, I'm sure.

There are plenty of guides in this forum on how to create a bootable Windows pen-drive if you decide to go down that route.

@DJ_Steve: to prevent him having problems down the line with the Windows partition being SDA3 (rather than SDA2) have you any pointers on how he might correct this BEFORE he starts? Otherwise I can see the "missing hal.dll" problem arising.

[Edit]As a final thought, I wonder if all bootable CDs are created equally? In other words, could the AAO reject a CD that another PC accepts? I know that Nero has umpteen different options for bootable CDs and it *might* be that a certain option is not acceptable or missing.

 

I've yet to have this hall dll error myself so can't comment really. And yes not all disks are equal or the aao has a weird usb interface because I had similar issues

 

Is there a simple way to get the Windows partition as SDA2 though?

If he were to delete the SWAP partition would that make Linpus unbootable? Could the then just create any old SWAP partition and Linpus finds it or is a damn sight more complicated than that?

 

Linpus would boot even without swap but I wouldn recommend it.

Coulde delete the swap > move ntfs partition back > create swap at end of disk > boot linpus and see if its recognised

 

OK. I have gone down the route of creating a second USB flash drive as a bootable Win XP Pro SP2 drive using "Win2Flash" and now it tries to install Windows, (Yippee) but immediately comes up with the hal.dll error, missing or corrupt file before it gets anywhere at all. Well it's not missing from the flash drive I have checked. This should be the last hurdle to overcome but so far I cannot change the partitions using the instructions in the Idiots Guide or from other instructions I found elsewhere on the same subject. Damn this is frustrating.

 

Try deleting the ntfs partiton then move the linpus swap to end of disk then create ntfs in middle

 

In Gnomes GParted this is what it looks like.

[___SDA1 / Linpus___ ] [________ SDA3 / Win XP Pro____________] [___SDA2 / Linpus Swap___ ]
20GB .....................................91.25GB

SDA1 / Linpus /Ext2
SDA3 / Win XP Pro / NTFS /Boot
SDA2 / Linpus Swap

The NTFS partition was the third partition to be created hence SDA3 since SDA1 and SDA2 already existed but it is physically the second partition on the drive having been created in the free space left by shrinking the Linpus SDA1 partition to make space for Windows. That all seems quite logical. Instead of trying to mess with Linpus partitions to make Windows happy and maybe screw up Linpus, we should be trying to make Windows look in the right place for hal.dll. How do we do that?

 

Did you recover from this error (which is what I got, but managed to apply a not-so-quick fix).

Basically, Windows is expecting to boot from partition 2 (SDA2) but you've loaded everything into SDA3 and Windows is too stupid to realise this (Microsoft can't understand why anyone would want to load a non-Windows operating system!).

This is why I tried to get your Windows NTFS partition to SDA2 before you started.

To recover you must boot from the Gparted USB stick, find the boot.ini file and change the contents to look for partition 3 (confusing called partition 2 because numbering starts from 0) using a Linux editing tool, or do what DJ_Steve suggests.

I await with bated breath... [Edit] Just saw your Saturday posting. Does my guide not give you enough information? Where is the sticking point? [/Edit]

 

All is now well. Problems solved. I did not need to delete any partitions just edit the boot.ini file on the flash drive to get the partitions matched with reality. The rest went fine. WIN XP installed, grub.conf reloaded, boot menu created, and I now have a happy little AAO dual booting Linpus Linux and Win XP Pro SP3.

My sincere thanks to members of this forum for your invaluable help and advice. Many hands make light work. Thanks again.

Integrator

 

This is excellent news.

The pain (on your part) probably makes the successful completion even more satisfying.

Now comes a little request from me. As you discovered, theory (in the form of my guide) does not always match reality (your attempt at following the guide). Although I wrote the guide directly from 1st-hand experience of dual booting my own AAO, everyone's experiences are different.

On that score, is there anything you can send me that would enable others to make better use of the guide? I'd be particularly interested in knowing what method you used to edit the boot.ini (I used the built in Linpus line editor but I had already had experience of that tool). And anything else worth mentioning.

Other than that enjoy your new-found dual booting AAO!

 

I took the USB Windows XP flash drive to my desktop computer and edited the boot.ini file on the flash drive that was created by the failed Windows install. With the flash drives newly edited boot.ini back in the AAO the next install attempt worked OK. Once Windows has installed it is necessary to edit the boot.ini file on the hard drive that the installation created there. You have to change the file attributes to be able to see it, get at it and edit it with "Attrib boot.ini -S -H -R" then edit the file. I renamed it boot.bak and copied it then edited the copy and renamed it back to boot.ini then reapplied the attributes to "Attrib boot.ini +S +H +R". Then on next reboot it works OK else it will again produce the hal.dll error.

After the next power down I ran up the Linux flash drive again in the AAO and used Gparted to check the partitions and they now showed correctly as SDA2 Windows NTFS confirming what had been said.

I have to say I think we should not point people to use an external CD or DVD drive but to use a USB flash drive for installing Windows. It is so much simpler and straighforward. Use "Win2Flash" (downloadable freebie) to creat the bootable Windows flash drive (this is so easy) then copy the contents of the Windows CD onto the flash drive. If I had done that from the start I would have had much less trouble. The other point is that the idiots guide and advice did not say where to find the boot.ini files or how to get at them specifically, some people might struggle there unnecessarilly.