Generally that happens when the drive partition isn't set to "ACTIVE", as in, a bootable system partition. Except, I already set it to ACTIVE.
A partition being marked "active" doesn't mean much. See wikipedia. The status field for a partition (which is what can mark the partition as active) is only there for use by the bootloader. The bootloader isn't part of the BIOS, it's whatever is stored at the very beginning of the hard drive (we already established this was GRUB). It's up to the bootloader to decide what the status flags mean, and if it cares.
Almost certainly, what you actually need(ed) to do is reinstall the windows bootloader in the MBR. You used to be able to do this from DOS/windows by running fdisk /mbr. Not sure if that's still the way to do it.
And, even though Kaya was formatted with HFS+ filesystem, and still full of data, data I hadn't had access to in years... Somehow both Linux and Windows saw it as unformatted for some reason
Different systems (PC and Macs, for example) have traditionally had different formats for their partition tables. Windows does not understand the Mac partition table, so it would not have seen any partitions. Linux can understand the Mac partition table if the kernel was configured to support it when it was compiled.
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Oh, and Windows can resize its own partitions, you know. For something formatted in NTFS, I'd recommend letting Windows do the work.
I had already run fdisk /mbr. First step in a number of steps to rebuild the bootloader. It simply wouldn't work. Various steps kept failing, usually with an error "element not found".
And yeah, I did lose everything on Kaya, because it did create and install a 100mb partition on it the first time. Before I disconnected everything, beat it with a wet fish, and told it that it's grounded from playing with other children until it stops trying to force its religious views upon them.
Also, the current Windows partition manager really sucks. Gparted, with all it's little flaws here and there, is still the best I've ever used.
Also, the current Windows partition manager really sucks.
For extending a single partition like it sounded like you were trying to do, I expect it's more than adequate.
Gparted, with all it's little flaws here and there,
Have you reported these flaws? Software only gets better when the people working on it know what areas could be improved. Maybe they already know, but maybe they don't. If you have a bug or feature request, it goes here. I'm sure writing something up there nicely goes a lot more towards getting it fixed than bitching about it on a blog somewhere the developers will never see.
In other news, I realize I didn't post the wifi problems here because I ran across that issue the following day. So Nick has a Linksys PCI wifi adapter. It was tested working under Windows 7 on his computer. For logistical reasons, we stuck it in mine.
Yeah. It doesn't work with *64-bit* Windows 7. Not only that, Linksys has basically said that they won't support 64-bit OSs for their older hardware. And beyond that, there were apparently multiple versions of the card (Nick's asleep and he knows the model number, so I'll have to ask him later). Nick's is the first version. I was able to find data on what the internals are for v2, v4, and v4.1, but not v1. The v4 cards can be made to work under 64-bit Win7 via downloading drivers from Ralink, the chipset manufacturer. You're fucked with the v2, because Broadcom is the chipset manufacturer of that card, and they refuse to support 64-bit OS with that chipset as well. I couldn't find any info on v1, anywhere. It seems the majority of people with the card have a Ralink-type from the comments online.
Ended up picking up a cheap wireless-N adapter from Microcenter. Some brand I'd never heard of. Funny enough, it's got a Ralink chipset.
Wireless has really been nothing but problems for me. I've literally NEVER gotten a single wireless device to work in Linux that I've tried, and I've had at least 3 different devices choke on 64-bit XP and/or 7. And the hardware manufacturers generally say "lol buy our new one!"
You should bitch about what the problem actually is. Your problem has nothing to do with wifi, and everything to do with shoddy or nonexistent drivers.
There are wifi devices with good drivers, and there are other types of hardware with the same driver problems. The two aren't particularly related.
Maybe not, but in my experience on all systems, wifi devices have been the largest sore spot when it comes to drivers. Are the drivers particularly hard to write compared to other devices, or are the manufacturers just lazier? Or have I just had a major run of bad luck with them?
Generally that happens when the drive partition isn't set to "ACTIVE", as in, a bootable system partition. Except, I already set it to ACTIVE.
A partition being marked "active" doesn't mean much. See wikipedia. The status field for a partition (which is what can mark the partition as active) is only there for use by the bootloader. The bootloader isn't part of the BIOS, it's whatever is stored at the very beginning of the hard drive (we already established this was GRUB). It's up to the bootloader to decide what the status flags mean, and if it cares.
Almost certainly, what you actually need(ed) to do is reinstall the windows bootloader in the MBR. You used to be able to do this from DOS/windows by running fdisk /mbr. Not sure if that's still the way to do it.
And, even though Kaya was formatted with HFS+ filesystem, and still full of data, data I hadn't had access to in years... Somehow both Linux and Windows saw it as unformatted for some reason
Different systems (PC and Macs, for example) have traditionally had different formats for their partition tables. Windows does not understand the Mac partition table, so it would not have seen any partitions. Linux can understand the Mac partition table if the kernel was configured to support it when it was compiled.
...
Oh, and Windows can resize its own partitions, you know. For something formatted in NTFS, I'd recommend letting Windows do the work.
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And yeah, I did lose everything on Kaya, because it did create and install a 100mb partition on it the first time. Before I disconnected everything, beat it with a wet fish, and told it that it's grounded from playing with other children until it stops trying to force its religious views upon them.
Also, the current Windows partition manager really sucks. Gparted, with all it's little flaws here and there, is still the best I've ever used.
Reply
For extending a single partition like it sounded like you were trying to do, I expect it's more than adequate.
Gparted, with all it's little flaws here and there,
Have you reported these flaws? Software only gets better when the people working on it know what areas could be improved. Maybe they already know, but maybe they don't. If you have a bug or feature request, it goes here. I'm sure writing something up there nicely goes a lot more towards getting it fixed than bitching about it on a blog somewhere the developers will never see.
Reply
Yeah. It doesn't work with *64-bit* Windows 7. Not only that, Linksys has basically said that they won't support 64-bit OSs for their older hardware. And beyond that, there were apparently multiple versions of the card (Nick's asleep and he knows the model number, so I'll have to ask him later). Nick's is the first version. I was able to find data on what the internals are for v2, v4, and v4.1, but not v1. The v4 cards can be made to work under 64-bit Win7 via downloading drivers from Ralink, the chipset manufacturer. You're fucked with the v2, because Broadcom is the chipset manufacturer of that card, and they refuse to support 64-bit OS with that chipset as well. I couldn't find any info on v1, anywhere. It seems the majority of people with the card have a Ralink-type from the comments online.
Ended up picking up a cheap wireless-N adapter from Microcenter. Some brand I'd never heard of. Funny enough, it's got a Ralink chipset.
Wireless has really been nothing but problems for me. I've literally NEVER gotten a single wireless device to work in Linux that I've tried, and I've had at least 3 different devices choke on 64-bit XP and/or 7. And the hardware manufacturers generally say "lol buy our new one!"
Reply
There are wifi devices with good drivers, and there are other types of hardware with the same driver problems. The two aren't particularly related.
Reply
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