I apologize in advance for being so selfish and having my first post be a request for help, but this has been one ugly experience. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but I only have two full (and luckily free) days to get my system running again, and I'm concerned I won't be able to do it.

I decided to install Debian (Sarge, the latest) on my HP m1280n Media Center PC because I had liked my UNIX experiences and I wanted some of the physics/math tools available. I'm a passable user, but my experience with installing GNU/Linux is pretty limited - this was my first attempt.

Anyway, I downloaded and burned the netinst from Debian and booted with it and immediately had problems with the partitioner - it won't recognize my disk correctly; it sees four 1.1GB partitions, when in fact there are four that add up to 250GB. I look online and see that the installer doesn't support SATA, but that if you disable SATA in the BIOS setup, it'll work. Great. I try that. Still nothing. I move my partitions around so the Windows system files are on the first blocks. Now it works and installs. I select GRUB as my bootloader.

On my first startup, it hangs on the BIOS handoff. So I think, no problem, I'll just load Windows and look online. Windows doesn't start - GRUB is looking in partition 1, but Windows isn't there. I panic and try to do my system recover (HP installs a partition with Windows Media Center on it so they don't have to distribute the CDs that the Great Satan won't let them give to people, lest we all have access to TV on our computers) but now THAT'S looking in the wrong partition. I calm down, go to my other system and look online.

I hear something about USB and BIOS handoff, so I turn off "legacy USB." Huzzah! Debian goes. I do setup and log in. But I can only see half the screen, and it's 800x600 - everything is just pushed off to the left. I putz around and find out that I need to edit X86Config, so I do that and restart - but now my monitor says it's been put in the wrong mode and won't display anything (though I did look up the specs and enter them correctly).

Oh well, I think. All I have to do is reinstall Sarge and start again. But now I've got the same problems with the partitioner again - four 1.1GB partitions, and my only option is to erase the entire disk. And my BIOS has periodically lost IDE drives, saying it needs a floppy to start, but a restart fixes that. So now I have a system that sometimes won't properly load the BIOS, never loads Sarge, and can't find Windows.

On top of it all, I don't have another SATA machine, so I can't mount the thing as a slave and poke around in there.

My one consolation is that I was offered a Beta (or is it Alpha) of Windows Vista and I turned it down - at least I knew that would ruin my system!

So any suggestions? I know this is a long post and probably an awful newbie abuse of forum guidelines, but I'd really appreciate your help. I'm patient and persistent and I need to get this fixed! All I need is either Windows OR Debian running well, I think I'll be able to handle it from there. HELP!

Thanks,
int

Apparently, you're not alone. Check out this thread.

If you've got only two days, I'd highly recommend a less do-it-yourself distro--maybe something like Mepis or SuSE. Debian's great because it can be built from the ground up, but with two full days... I'd try something else.

By the sounds of things you need a 2.6 series kernel, this is easily done from the boot screen you get when installing debian by typing linux26, however seeing as you have used the net install this may be a little more daunting. As aysiu suggested, maybe try an "easier to use" distro. I started on Mandrake 10.1, which was great to start on but not as nice as debian. Maybe try a distro that is based on Linux such as Ubunutu, Kubuntu, or Knoppix. I'm not sure about kubuntu, but these can be used as live cd's (a cd that you boot from and get a linux distro working without installing) so you can mess about with your system (apposed to sticking the drives in another machine as you mentioned. These 3 distro's are all debian based aswell.

Hey, I think most people here start by requesting for help , welcome to linux questions

Give up and take the easy way around? Sounds like good advice...

I checked out a bunch of other distros and I'm gonna give Kubuntu a try - I just liked their tagline: "Linux for human beings."

Once I get something running...is there a good partition manager in linux that I could figure out how to use in less than a day? Maybe one with a GUI?

Kubuntu has a live version as well. I love Ubuntu--it's my main distro--but with only two days to go, I'd recommend Mepis. It has a lot preconfigured, and it's one CD that's both a live CD and installer.

P.S. Seems we posted at the same time. Mepis has a graphical partitioning tool (QTParted). Kubuntu and Ubuntu use a text-based partitioning tool. I'd really urge you to use Mepis. Again, I love Ubuntu/Kubuntu, but with only two days, I don't think it'd be good for you. If you do insist on Ubuntu/Kubuntu, I'd recommend Ubuntu, as it has better documentation.

I've never used mepis, but I'm currently downloading symphony os purely to look at the desktop enviroment they use . This is still alpha (they said something about beta, but the download section only lists an alpha download)

Yeah, Mezzo's supposed to be all Fitt's Law-compliant. I have a hard time working all the corners, though. I think I've been brainwashed into the "old school" way of desktop environments.

haha, I'll probably be the same... I could never get used to that big green button with xp, I preffered the stylings of 3.1 and 98 . Only two hours left of symphony though. In the mean time I'm going to listen to lug radio at the lq radio I think

That symphony desktop looks ill ...maybe one day, once I've graduated to a "has working system" linux user.

If you can...
When you boot the debian cd go to the help screen and try expert linux 2.6 kernel (I don't know the option as I haven't installed debian in a while). This may seem a stupid, seeing as you are new to linux, but I hear it has better support for sata, and linux 2.6 has better support aparently aswell. If you get stuck anywere (I asume you have access to another pc, if that one is lets say buggered) then leave it running and post on this thread for help, we will try to help

hmm...the mepis installer seems to be working better than debian, except now it's asking for a login/password - it never asked me to enter my own! Thanks for your help so far, guys; I'll keep you updated.

I really do want Linux!

hmm, thats strange! I have never used mepis, so maybe try root (uname) and root (pword), or blank pword.

ahh:
http://www.mepis.org/files/MEPIS%20User%20Guide.pdf
goto page 11

hah, awesome. I'd tried root/blank...good thinking by you!

Now the problem is it says I don't have a display for kde. There are other problems too - the installation script is riddled with error and failure messages - but I'd just like to see something on my computer that I can interact with.

I've had this "no display" problem with Cygwin - something about "0:0" and Exporting a variable...any thoughts?