I have run into a problem were I can not get my system to boot unless I reset the system at least 3 times. It would always hang right after "Activating Swap Partition".

I have a feeling it is looking for RAID devices which is the next line. I have a RAID drive but it is controlled by the SIS 180 controller.

Can I remove the search for these devices? Or can Mandrake support the controller I have? If not, is there another distro that does?

Do you have more than one hard disk? If it is not booting from the RAID drive, try unplugging it to see if the system now boots. That will tell you for sure, if your RAID device is really the problem or not.

I do have two drives but I would hate to disconnect the RAID which has XP. The Linux install is for educational purposes and its just a pain in comparison to dual booting.

BUMP

I didn't mean to disconnect permanently, just disconnect to see if the linux can boot.

If you really dont want to do this, see if Linux can boot from a rescue CD. To do this insert a Linux boot diskette (if you need one) and your Mandrake install CD. type "rescue" (I forget exactly how this work, but since I did it, it can't be that hard).

If you can boot in rescue mode, try to mount your partitions and see if you can access your files. if so you can view your "dmesg" output to see if you can figure out where it's getting stuck. also check your system log files (/var/log/messages)

hth