Use Knoppix to format large FAT32 volume?

Keith suggests booting Area51 into Knoppix and using the Knoppix tools to format my large (113 GB) volume as a FAT32 disk.

XP = Best Choice

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 1:24 AM

Today, it looks like the best Windows for me is XP (Pro). It’s patched, all drivers installed, and it uses less RAM than 2000, with a similar configuration. Both use around 200 MB, but right now XP is formatting my F: drive (again) and using only 179 MB. That’s all pimped up, too, including MSIE 7, all updates, .NET, etc. etc.

Plus, I can use VNC!

Vista loses control of network card

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 1:23 AM

Now the network card that Vista used to recognize (and use) is now unable to connect to the router and get an IP address. When I boot into 2000 or XP, no problems. It’s clearly software, probably a result of one of the updates I installed.

Vista & 2000 fight it out over NFTS Permissions

I'm having nothing but problems with my large NTFS formatted data volume on Area 51. Vista erased all the data on it during the installation (nothing much); then reported errors and fixed them on reboot. Windows 2000 reported errors, and also had at it. Then, when I booted back into Vista, more errors, more fixes, more data loss.

Now, I'm reformatting the whole volume in Vista. I put a test file on the newly formatted volume, and boot into Windows 2000. No luck -- check disk runs again. It’s time to reformat as FAT32, but of course Vista only formats NTFS. Sheesh.

Monday, July 16, 2007 6:34 PM

Win2K isn’t complaining about the F: disk this time. More updates, and hardware lacking drivers.

Triple Your Fun: 3 Flavors of Windows

The plan is now to install three versions of Windows on Area51: 2000, XP, and Vista.

Sunday, July 15, 2007 10:52 AM

I formatted the hard drive with 3 boot partitions. I’ll devote the remainder to data. See my earlier post, New Partitioning Strategy, for details. Windows 2000 Slipstream is my first installation. All goes well, after I clean the CD. Here are my volumes:

C: 20 GB FAT 32 - 2000 SP3 (DRV1_VOL1)
D: 40 GB NTFS - XP (DRV1_VOL2)
E: 60 GB NTFS - Vista (DRV1_VOL3)
F: 120 GB NTFS - Data (DRV1_VOL4)

Total = 250 GB (of course, it doesn’t add up to 250).

Sunday, July 15, 2007 9:13 PM

Installing XP on D: (DRV1_VOL2).

For both this install & 2000, I need the drivers for the:

NIC
ATI Video Card x800
Sound Card

I complete this installation without a hitch, although the computer is off the network and not updated. On to Vista.
Vista fares much better with the drivers, especially the network driver.

Sunday, July 15, 2007 11:15 PM

Vista is loading my desktop for the first time. Let’s capture stats...

Wow, second time’s the charm for Vista. It recognized the network, and got the updates. That’s what took the first boot so long, I suspect: while Vista declared it was checking my performance, right after the installation completed, it was also downloading updates. Well done. Everything seems to be working, in the computer, but the monitor was not recognized.

On the significantly nasty side, the big data drive, F:, seems to have been formatted or fixed by Vista. Well, certainly not fixed in the normal sense, because all of my files (not many, really) were vaporized.

Reboot, tested a quick boot back into 2000. Still there, and looking absurdly ... flat. Back into Vista. Check it! For real -- Vista runs a consistency check on F:, and it all looks good. I really must check all the volumes, in the different OSes ... but right now, let me check it out in Vista.

Sunday, July 15, 2007 11:33 PM

More strangeness: after installing the correct drivers (or ones that worked, at least) and connecting automatically and downloading updates, now Vista can’t connect to the network. WTF?? The last time, I did a manual intervention, but this time I am going to poke around a little bit more.

Sunday, July 15, 2007 11:40 PM

I tried to discover the network with the Windows Firewall disabled, but that didn’t work. I’ll do my disk checks and reboot.

Also, note that the current driver for the ATI is working quite well.

I’d like to check out that rollback feature. Where is it? It’s called System Restore. Not yet ...

Sunday, July 15, 2007 11:52 PM

What’s this? Network Access? That’s crazy. How did I do that? Back on line. Is it because I enabled Network Discovery for a Private network? I can’t be sure, because Vista “couldn’t find solution” for my lack of network connectivity. And yet, it did.

Monday, July 16, 2007 12:42 AM

Anyway, I finished scanning the two non-boot NTFS partitions, and rebooted. Now, check the boot volume and the FAT32 volume. It looks like it started the scan on the boot volume, E:.

Monday, July 16, 2007 12:50 AM

Time to call it a night. Time to install 3 versions of Windows: 14 hours (not complete, but not continuous, either. Most of my work was really

New Partitioning Strategy for Area51

Here’s how I think I’ll partition the new 250 GB HD I just installed in Area51.

Partitioning Goal:

Boot multiple Windows versions to support the widest range of current game titles.

All partitions are NTFS unless noted

20 GB - Windows 2000 (FAT32)
40 GB - Windows XP
60 GB - Windows Vista
--
120 GB (3 separate Windows installations)
+
120 GB - Data and game installations (remaining space)
====
~240 GB

I can get this off on the right foot by doing a Slipstream install for Windows 2000.

Limited Game Support for Vista? Not true, it seems.

The guy at GameSpot told me that most Windows games for XP don’t run on Vista without a patch. Except, of course, Halo 2. As a result, I need to rethink my partitioning strategy.

AVG Free

AVG Free Advisor - Free antivirus and anti-spyware downloads - currently version 7.5

VNC + Knoppix

Non-trivial in Knoppix 5.x, too: Problems with VNC in Knoppix - Knoppix.net ... are there firewall issues? I gave up, but problems further upstream (bad NIC drivers) were to blame.

VNC + Vista

Some problems & solutions here: VNC + Vista = black screen? - Windows Vista. Also, another solution to another problem: Workaround to Run VNC Server in Windows Vista » My Digital Life

Installing Vista

Summary

My Vista upgrade (clean install) seems to work well, so far today. Total install time, including patching: right about 2 hours.

Vista Areo isn't worth it unless your video card pushes out 32-bit color ("true" color) at your preferred resolution. I had to back my resolution down from the optimal 1440x900 that my Viewsonic supports. Yikes! That seems strange, and needs some research.

My play-by-play log follows:

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:35 PM

Boot from the Vista DVD (hold down any key right after the BIOS screen loads). Then, wait after the spiffy desktop background loads. Watch the mouse pointer.

Finally, run Wizard, select language & keyboard, Install Now.

Please wait... and wait...

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:42 PM

Finally: enter the product key. Here are some complaints:

• The product key number is printed in a much smaller font than previous versions of MS products, making it even harder to distinguish between “8” and “B,” etc.
• The product key sticker is tacked onto the inside of this fancy plastic box that pivots open. Already, after opening it twice, the sticker is peeling off. I will have to make a backup label. Ridiculous.

For now, I opt to skip automatic activation. Anyway, it’s all for naught -- I have to start the install from my existing installation. Time to reboot...

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:47 PM

Reboot into the existing installation of XP. Click the Install Now button after loading Autorun from the DVD.

Please wait... again, but not nearly as long!

I enter the product key (the on-screen font is a little easier to read) and select my big NTFS partition. The installer announces that my old installation will be transferred to Windows.old. OK, let’s do it!

Monday, July 9, 2007 6:17 PM

Windows Vista has happily rebooted from the hard disk. I select keyboard and language, and then create an account. Then, select options for upgrading, set time zone, and finally, the nifty network zone setting. I choose Home (versus Work or Public).

Windows Vista scans my computer to “check performance,” whatever that means. In one sense, it means “read a whole bunch of ads about how great Vista is.”

Some question:

Did Vista recognize all my hardware, especially:
• Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Sound Card
• Souped up ATI video card.

And others...

First log in.

Monday, July 9, 2007 6:54 PM

I couldn’t configure my NIC with DHCP (Network Discovery, in Windows parlance) so I used manual configuration, which worked just fine. I install updates, and request the driver for my RealTek 97 Audio Driver. Reboot ...

Monday, July 9, 2007 7:36 PM

I installed all of the optional updates, as well, except for the language packs.

It turns out that rebooting and launching the installer from my existing install made the whole thing go a little faster, it seems.

Examining Area 51 with Knoppix

Before I install Vista Ultimate on my newly upgraded gaming rig, Area51, I want to run Knoppix to see what kind of hardware I have. I tried booting with Knoppix 5.0 and 5.1 (DVD), and right now it’s just not worth it. The 5.1 DVD loads intermittently, and the 5.0 CD doesn’t I’m going to install Vista by booting from the DVD.

In the meantime, I’ll just download the 5.1 CD via BitTorrent to see if I can get that to work with any consistency.

Monday, July 9, 2007 11:31 PM

I burned the Knoppix 5.1 CD on gforce and it boots up Area51 more reliably than the Knoppix 5.1 DVD. I can boot into 1440x900 (not sure about 32-bit color, though) but it doesn’t matter because the NIC drivers don’t seem to load, since the hub doesn’t light up for Area51’s connection.

Boot to Vista -- Knoppix is officially a bust. I’ve had the worst luck trying to get Linux to run on this box.

Vista Ultimate? 64 bit?

Should I upgrade Area 51 to Windows Vista Ultimate? 64 Bit or 32 Bit? It looks like Vista Ultimate Upgrade is about $238. I wonder if it has all the motherboard drivers I need, too? According to Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Windows Vista Feature Focus: 64-Bit (x64) Support:

Windows Vista Ultimate comes with both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions in the box, on separate DVDs

Looks like that's the move: Vista Ultimate.

Monday, July 9, 2007 5:09 PM

Update: I picked up the Vista Ultimate Upgrade, this morning, retail at Staples, for $260.

250 GB Hard Drive Upgrade for the Gaming Box, Area 51

I'm working with Blake on upgrading the gaming computer, Area 51, by adding a 250 GB hard drive, a Western Digital Caviar SE (7200 RPM) Model WD2500JBRTL with 30-day installation support and 1 year warranty, starting today, I hope.

We plucked the 15 MB boot drive, and left the 80 GB data drive installed as the slave. The hardware installation went smoothly and the BIOS recognized the unformatted drive as the new master on the next boot.

No operating system, of course, so it's time to install Windows XP. Here's the rub: pre-service pack, for both 2000 and XP, Windows can't recognize a volume larger than 137 GB. So, we boot from the handy Western Digital Installer CD, which allows me to format the entire volume. Tech note: the CD boots to DR-DOS and runs some nifty batch files which install the required drivers. Then, you use the keyboard to run a virtual GUI environment to format the drive with FAT 16, FAT 32, or NTFS partitions.

Here's what I did:

• Created a 4.2 GB FAT 16 partition for Windows 2000 (32 K allocation blocks, I believe).
• Devoted the remaining 245 or so GB to an NTFS partition (4 K blocks).

This way, after I install Win2K on the small (4.2 GB) boot partition, I can install

I set up Windows 2000 with a trivial password (admin/admin) and set up my personal account.

Windows XP Pro, New Installation advanced setup: Advanced Options, Choose partition and drive letter; Don't upgrade partition to NTFS (it already is)