[sllug-members]: Dell Precision 690 w/ XP and Linux

[Jason Porter]

I have a Dell Precision 690 here that I would like to dual boot XP and
Linux.  It has the Dell SAS 5/iR controller with two Serial SCSI drives
(I think, the SAS controller says they're SATA, but when I try a linux
install they come up as sda and sdb both 146GB).  They are not setup in
any sort of raid.  I have tried to install a couple of distros on the
box and the install goes fine, but when I try to boot them GRUB says
there isn't a valid boot partition (I've been trying to install on drive
w/o XP).  I believe this is because the first drive is set as the boot
drive.  My idea is to install the main portion of linux on the second
drive and /boot on the first drive with XP.  I need to keep XP running
(I'd love to blow it away and just go linux, but it's not an option).
What does the list think about this idea, or is there a better one that
I haven't thought of?  Thanks!

Jason Porter
O.C. Tanner
Information Services
Technical Specialist