Problem dual booting XP pro and Debian

[Pyrocide]

Hi there,

Im pretty new to linux all together. I have had some experience with it from my uncle showing me the very basics. I enjoyed it so I decided to redo my desktop to dual boot XP pro and Debian i386. First this is my current desktop. My desktop is for gaming and fiddling with for funsies

Intel e8500
Asus P5N-D mobo (compatible with linux)
XFX GTX 260 (nVidia provides linux drivers)
LG DVD writer
1x WD Caviar 320GB hdd
2x WD Caviar 160GB hdds

Now here is what I did. Originally i had the 2x 160s set up in a RAID 0 and had XP Pro installed. When i went to linux, since im not fully comfortable with linux i wanted an OS that i am comfortable working with if i have to do errands online and typing documents etc, i got a 320 hdd and installed it into the SATA 1 drive, and the other 2 on my SATA 2 and 3 ports. I cleared the raid and discs from the XP Setup menus. I got XP installed and then when it was loading it got to the XP pro logo and the scrolling bar but then it went to the blue screen of death. Now then, i talked to my uncle and he said go ahead and install debian on the second hdds to get grub on my first hdd. Got debian installed correctly and got it to start up and tried using the command startx. It got an error that means i have not video driver. Which is fine, but i tried rebooting from the root by using shutdown -r now command and it rebooted and i went into the grub OS selection. Selected XP but again blue screen of death. I unplugged the 3rd blank HD and still same thing when going into XP. After a couple hours of unplugging hdds, plugging them back in, and reinstalling in the same manner i got frustrated and said screw it. hehe.

Is there something i am missing or not doing correctly? Is it because of the different size in hdds? Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[KSoD]

Well i dont see why you were suggested to install Debian when XP wasnt even up and running yet. You said you had installed it and then got the XP Pro loading bar adn then a BSOD and then ran teh Debian installer.

Well if XP BSOD'd before you even installed Debian there would be no way that it would correct itself, by itself, between the time you got the BSOD and went back to XP after installing Debian.

There is something wrong with the XP install and there has been. You have to post up what the Stop Error code was so we can try to help you fix that. IT might even require a reinstall of XP which will cause you to lose the GRUB.

 

[Pyrocide]

See there is the problem. I reinstalled XP first and then debian. BSOD. I wiped all 3 hdds a second time and install XP and it still is BSOD before i even touched the 160s. Its giving me the message that says remove any recently installed hardware or drivers and restart. But my Bios sees them correctly and the XP and Debian set ups see them as well. Debian even recognizes that XP was installed on the 320. Thats where im confused. Why would it BSOD when it sees the drives correctly in my bios and in the windows set up? And no drivers where used this time. Before when i had the RAID 0 i used the nvidia raid drivers that came with my mobo on a floppy. Could those still be in my like say the L1 or L2 cache somewhere?

 

[KSoD]

Again we need the Stop Error codes.

That image where the Red Arrows point to. We need that information. Only then can we tell you why you are getting the BSOD and possible fixes for it.

 

[Pyrocide]

Alright. I cannot get to them right now because im at work, i will post them later tonight.

 

[KSoD]

Alright once you get them posted we will be able to help you further. Without any information there is no way for us to guess why XP BSOD'd. We need something to work from.

 

[Pyrocide]

I realize that you do need the error code, but I have a question that may or may not be related to the BSOD. Would the multiple size hdds have any influence on it not boot or reading correctly? I mean the 2x 160s are exactly the same. But the 320 is obviously different.

 

[Jayce]

Are any of your hard drives SATA?

 

[KSoD]

No multiple size hard drives would not cause this. I have a 160GB, 2x320GB and a 250GB and i multiboot just like you want to do. I have Vista, Win7 and Ubuntu installed and working. I was running XP/Vista/Ubuntu for a while as well.

SATA drive to IDE drive could cause a issue. But since you say they are in RAID or were i would say they are all SATA now.

Check the BIOS to make sure that the SATA Drive has teh boot priority.

 

[Pyrocide]

All my drives are sata, my 160s are not in RAID anymore. I plan on using the third drive for Red hat. So in essence what i want to do is put XP on the 320, debian on my sata 2 160, and then leave the sata 3 drive empty and ready to use for red hat. Eventually I will probably change this with the release of Win 7. But for now i want to play test with debian and the terminal for a server type distro. I built my comp and bought a of Vista Home but i couldnt get the **** network set up after 4 hours of tinkering and going back and forth to computers checking the settings cmd -> iprelease -> ipconfig etc... so i gave up and reverted back to XP.

EDIT: When you say set my SATA to first priority, do you mean just the hdds or is there a setting to tell it to look for SATA over IDE first?