[PLUG] Attempting to install RH 7 or 6.2 fail, partition corrpt

[Barry Roomberg <broom@voicenet.com>]

I have a friend who is attempting to install Linux for the 1st time.
He already has a Windows box with a 20 GB hard disk, of which
about 16GB is already allocated to windows in 3 partions.

His message is:
---------------------------------------------------------
>
>the install stops at "An error occurred reading the partition table for 
> block device hda.  The error was: Partition table corrupt.".  "Retry" fails.  
> "Skipping drive" yields: "An error has occurred - no valid devices were 
> found on which to create new filesystems.  Please check your hardware for the 
> cause of this problem."
>
>It's a 20GB hard drive with a Windows/DOS 14GB (Fat32) (C drive),  and a 
> 2GB extended partition (Logical 50 MB D drive (Fat16) and 1.5GB E drive (Fat32).
>
>I was leaving the remaining 4GB free for Linux (but never partitioned it under DOS)
>
>I did notice one line scroll by as the Linux install program loaded. It seemed to 
>indicate that it successfully found hda, so I'm guessing that it can recognize the drive itself.
>
>Any ideas?
--------------------------------------------------------

I was under the impression that there had to be a free slot for a boot partition under 
the 2GB mark, but it's been a while and I also thought that the 2GB restriction
wnet away on RH 7 (he tried both 6.2 and 7, got the same message).


______________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group       -      http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements-http://lists.phillylinux.org/mail/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  -  http://lists.phillylinux.org/mail/listinfo/plug