Well, one of the definitions of 'Dilemma' is "a problem that seems incapable of a solution". It seems, at times, that description fits our situation. -But- in reality, it is mainly our mistakes from hurrying -or- just plain misunderstanding the problem, -or- fix, at hand. The 'Storyland' part comes from our way of explaining and/or reporting things. We, at times, may get to verbal for some readers. -But- as stated in other pages, this is mainly for ourselves cause we have a memory problem. So we try to document things as we do them. IF anyone else can benifit from this ... GREAT!

As stated above this is a Re-Start -or- Re-do of our main system. It is described below, not as originally purchased, -but- as it is now. We were 'forced' to make the HDD changes, well at least the first one. The second one was another one of those "mistakes". Although we consider this one beneficial.

 October 21st, 2014 / 12:34pm  Well, an "addition" to the StartOver scenario. This time we are changing to a brand new(to us, it is really ReFurbished) machine. An HP 500-277c which is an i7-Quad( i7-4770  ). Also has 12GB of RAM -and- a 1TB Hard disc. Needless to say, we need to perform some partitioning. Would also like to add one of my other disks to this one -but- not sure how it will handle it. Also would like to switch cabinets -but- that is also in question at the moment. Need to dig in further. -But- first we will partition the BIG Drive and get our Linux installed and then go from there.
Update:(March 18th, 2016) As noted in the paragraph below we got another. Never did switch the cabinets but did get Linux installed -openSuSE 13.2. There is an even newer version which will be installed on the newest(as of March 18th, 2016) machine.

 Febuary 24th, 2016 / 3:43pm Dakotah's 1st Birthday  We have another "addition" to the StartOver scenario. We got another new (refurbished by HP) machine. An HP 700-530qe which is another i7-Quad -BUT- newer version. This one is an  i7-4790  . This one has 16GB of RAM -and- a 1TB Hard disc. We are retiring our Nine Year Old HP m7480n machine and replacing it with this one. For that reason, -and- just because, we maxed out the RAM to 32GB and we added in 2TB HDD to get a total of 3TB. I have found that having the OS's and the Data on separate drives is lots better. Course, now I have more room for more 'junk'. I'm going to have to be more diligent on what I store and what I need to back up. Course it really doesn't make any difference. When the PC crashes you never have the latest stuff backed up -and- you can never get things the same.

 March 28th, 2016 / 7:43am  Over a month later and still haven't made the switch -but- we think today is the day. Parked my truck in the driveway so's I can store/stack stuff in the garage AWAY from Dakotah!! He is still curious about everything -and- what he is curious about usually gets chewed. He has been part of the reason for the delay, and the length of it. The other part of the delay was/is figuring out how to transform, and save, all this data and programs that I still have on my '9 year old' machine.

First thing to do is... shutdown the 'old' system. Wow! Wow! I did not realize how much noise it made. The fans in it are NOT quiet! I still had my previus 'new' machine and the Laptop up and running and you can barely hear them!
      OK... now shuting down everything...

 March 28th, 2016 / 9:30pm  Well, we did it. The older machine has been moved to the workshop and the two new ones are now on my desktop. I can remember when I was barely able to afford one and now I have two! In the past, in the beginning... I paid over $2000.00 for a computer that I even had to build myself. -And- it only had floppy discs and a green screen!! -AND- it was only an 8-bit computer!! This latest i7 was $684 + $59 + $63 = $806... and it is a gazillion times more powerful!!! The previous i7 was only $564.95. That is 1979-80 versus 2014-16.

   

Comments ...

Another new one... this time to replace - not add. There will probably be a lot of repeated information in all these files. Think that there already is... Anyway, this newest machine will change my whole personal Network. It is replacing the one that "was my main machine" for the past nine(9) years. As mentioned elsewhere, I am not in a hurry. I am retired and I have a new GSD/Husky(Since April, 1st, 2015) and he, Dakotah, has been much more than I expected. Takes a lot of my time, gladly most of the time. He is more important than any computer. In fact, I received the new PC on Feb 24th, 2016, my Dakotah's 1st Birthday, and it is still in the box!

Matter of fact, I am going to "Force" myself to use the TopStyle 5 that I purchased years ago when it was still TopStyle 4. This WebPage like ALL of my others was started with Homesite. TopStyle is a lot more involved -and- more complicated than Homesite -but- it also does a lot more. Homesite was more convenient, things were just a click away. TopStyle can be, and I am sure will be, clickable too, but right now it is different enough to make think to much about it. That takes away to much from what I am trying to describe, or write about. BUT (that word again) I got it to "help teach me" in the first place!! It, TopStyle, handles all the new CSS stuff and other HTML ops. It was/is also supposed to be able to help me convert some, or all, of my ancient WebPages to this newest format. I didn't understand it enough before -and- rather pursuing it, I went back to my Homesite. Ok 'Nuff said, now back to the original subject... Installing and setting up the new HP and getting all of our Systems Re-Networked.

 UEFI... again!   This newest machine, like the 'Previous New One', came with Windows 8, only it was/is already at 8.1 -and- it is the 'Professional' version. Which means, I believe, that I should get Windows 10 Pro when I UpGrade. My Laptop is still the only machine with Windows 10. I will set this new one up using the already installed Win8 and then when everything is working I will UpGrade both of the i7 machines to Windows 10.

   

As mentioned above, we got a new machine. We also got a new copy of Gparted. With the new machine we tried to create a disc. First attempt failed. Disc was bad. Second attempt was successful and now we are going to use it to RePartition our new 1TB Drive. Hmmmmm... evidently the machine did NOT come set to check the DVD drive first. It just went straight to the HD. So we will have to change things.

Settings ->Power ->Shift Restart ->Troubleshoot ->Advanced options ->
UEFI Firmware Settings ->Restart ->F10 ->Security ->Secure Boot Configuration ->
F10 for accept -->Change settings one way or the other ->F10=Accept

The above sequence will allow you to set, and remove, legacy mode. ... Well, well found that you can avoid that complex mess by just tapping F10 at Poweron -or- a ReStart.

 Oct 22nd, 2014 / 7:03pm  Alllllrighty now...-Before- we go any further, we are gona create the Recovery USB Drive. The size of the recovery is 8.32GB!! So, it will require at least a 16GB USB stick. We got on and created the Recovery USB. Now we can play -and- IF there are any mistakes, we can recover. CYA. ... Yep!! Oct 24th, 2014. I needed it on my second Recovery ... yes second... and I have only had this thing for 7 days!!

 Oct 23rd, 2014 / 7:40am  Yes!!! This is taking days. I have a blind dog that needs help to go outside, a just spayed kitten that can't go outside but wants constant attention, and a wife with a bone spur in her heel that needs attention!! On top of that, all this UEFI stuff is new and making my head spin with all the do's and don'ts... especially for a dual boot setup. It is one hell of a week!!

Now then, I have Re-Partitioned my current machine a number of times. Mainly cause I had to get a couple of new drives. So I am not new to that. However, that was with a legacy BIOS System. This UEFI seems to have some precautions and minor differences. However, on my previous system I had used Partition Magic in a Windows environment to Re-Partition my drives. Unfortunately, my drive sizes outgrew Partition Magic. It could only handle drives up to 300GB in size. Therefore, the last time I Re-Partitioned my system I had to use Gparted. -But- this new System with Windows 8 has this UEFI Secure Boot. It won't let me boot from the Gparted DVD cause it is not signed!! In order to use it I must first disable the secure setting. Not good. They are getting better in their security and now I have to disable it??!!?? Nope.

I found another Partition Magic that will handle the Larger Discs -and- UEFI. It is called  MiniTool Partition Wizard  . It, like my previous one, installs in Windows. Then we use the tool, setup the Partitions and then go install Linux.

Allllrighty now... We have the MiniTool installed on our 'New' machine.

 Oct 23rd, 2014 / 12:57pm  Well, well... what we have here is one of the Reasons that I hate UpDates!! Upon the initial startup, couple of days ago, the machine, when sitting idle, would only have the Power Lite lit. Today I was getting constant Hard Disc activity. The lite never stopped flashing. Yes, I had installed some software -but- none of it was running. However, I did receive a large amount of UpDates from Microsoft. In order to kill my constant disc activity --- I did a FULL System Recovery!! Didn't have enough installed or setup to worry about the loss. Now, after the Recovery the HDD lite is OUT!! -But- now we have to repeat alot of the above stuff.

Two hours later with avast!, Firefox and Thunderbird installed... no un-necessary HDD activity. Now an hour later and installed MiniTool Partition Wizard -and- Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9. Also installed Jasc Animation Shop 3. ... HDD activity is still "Normal".
Now then, there are 40 UpDates that they want me to install. In order to test my theory, I am going to have to install them ... one .. at .. a .. time!!

 3:43pm  Ok, gona partition this sucker and then try to install openSuSE 13.2 RC1. Because I want to "Try" to keep the "New Security", I am going to use the MiniTool Partition Wizard first. It is installed in Win8 and the Security was NOT changed. In order to use Gparted, I must change the UEFI Security and then do a legacy boot. Don't want that IF it can be avoided. So, here goes....

Ok. The image above shows "From the Factory" partitions. We are going to shrink the 'C:' Drive. Further down on the page you, and I, can see the previous setup we had on the other System. On that System we gave Windows 102.85GB of which it used only 19.14GB. This System, Win8, has 920.46GB of which it is only using 32.08GB. Course those figures are from before I added some of my software, so it is really using more -and- will be using more as I add to it. -But- it does NOT need 920GB.

So, we will reduce it and setup 3 partitions for Linux. Swap, home and System. I'm NOT going to set up a "Test Partition" like on the previous System ... cause with the two being used together, I will have my "Test Area" on the 'current' machine and the 'other' stuff on the new machine. Distributed Processing??

Alllllrighty now... We have room for our Linux.
Jump down to the  Linux Restore / Install  .

   

This is a re-write of our original "Starting Over" WebPage. We had already covered two crashes and then tried to sneak in coverage of the third. Needless to say, things got a little mixed up and disorganized. So... we decided to write a new one ... and as we are performing the third re-build for a second time. The system just wasn't working right. We are trying to setup a multi - multi - boot System. Yes, that is correct. What we have, or had, is/was a 'Triple-Boot' system with which we could play with stable and unstable code. Mainly the different versions of openSuSE -and- Windows. In addition to the multi-boot setup we have VMware 8 and use it ... a lot.

One of our 'Biggest Headaches' in all this has been with our Video Card and openSuSE version 12.x, all three of them. Started seeing problems in 11.4 but the 'crap' hit the fan with 12.1 and above. The System will literally lock-up -or- re-start on its own because of this code. We have seen that others are experiencing some problems with the nVidia cards ... also on other versions of Linux.
OK Now!!! This turned out to be a problem with/because of the 64-bit versions. They for some reason enabled the nmi_watchdog interrupt. Going from openSuSE 11.4 to 12.1 is when I decided to go to 64-bit.

Comments ... Not sure how much of this, the video problem, is because of Linus's blow up at nVidia -or- not.
      Refer: torvalds-nvidia-linux and their reply: nvidia-linus-torvald.
Course we think the 'problems' started before this ... but who knows. Stranger things have happened.

October 1st, 2013 / 4:42am  Well, the crash count has increased. The MotherBoard finally failed last month. We are still in the process of restoring our System. Strangely enough, the Windows side came up rather quickly and smoothly. -But- of course, it has one of those "Designed for Windows XP" with "Windows Vista Capable" stickers on it.

We have included the following table of information on our System... because. Really, it would be nice to know what was/is involved. -And- what has been changed.

Harware Description
Item Specifics - HP m7480n Pavilion Computer.
	Brand:	Hewlett Packard	Memory(RAM):	4 GB (Got a smokin' deal on 2GB)
	Model:	Pavilion m7480n	Hard Drive Capacity:	(1)500GB & (1) 750GB Drive    originally (2) 300GB drives
	Processor Type:	Intel PentiumD 940 (P)	Operating System(s):	Windows XP Media Center/SuSE ??.x
	Processor Speed:	3.2 GHz	Optical Drive:	Lightscribe DVD + DVD ROM
	Video Card:	GeForce 7300LE 7600GT	Sound/Audio:	Realtek ALC 882 chipset
	TV/FM Tuner:	Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600	:
	Wireless Keyboard & Mouse with USB receiver/transmitter, Modem, Memory card reader, Network Integrated 10/100 Base-T, Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g, Remote Control - USB infrared remote and receiver
	Even though it is not included in the name, the processor is Dual-Core. An "older" technology but still a Multi-Core. Does make it faster. (...yes I am proud of it.)
	Printer:	HP cp1700	Router:	NetGear RT311    WNDR3700
	Printer Server:	NetGear PS110	Switch:	NetGear FS108
	ETH0:	82801G (ICH7 Family) LAN	WLAN:	Atheros AR5413 802.11abg NIC
	:		:

Comments ... The above table gives the 'current' description of our Main Desktop machine. With changes. It is 'not' stock.

Now then, we want to say this right off the bat. IF you have the proper tools -and- the proper experience and knowledge... probably none of this would have happened. -But- there is always a 'first time' for everything. So we are broadcasting our 'Successes' -and- our 'Failures' in the hopes that it will help some poor sole out there having similar problems.

 The First Crash - June 1st, 2009 Well, it happened. We were trying to create enough room to have more OS's on our system. Presently we have, inside VMware, two versions of Win2K, Win Vista and Windows 7. This is all inside openSuSE, which I use as my main system. During the setup of this mess we made a wrong choice during the "Resize/Recovery" of our Win XP Media Center.

We had not crashed the WinXP side of this machine, our HP 7480, since we had it...Jan 27, 2007...(it was now June of 2009) welll... not so that we had to reload it. Now then, we were trying to reduce the size of the WinXP C: drive, increase the size of the Extended Partition with Linux in it, and then install the latest SuSE 11.2 inside VMware. Through the use of PartitionMagic(WinXP), chkdsk(WinXP) and Partition Manager(Linux) at first we could not do it. Grub didn't like changes in the Extended Partition. At first we tried just reducing the Win C: drive by 20MB and extending the Extended Partition that much. This would have been the rear end of Drive C: and the front end of the Extended Partition. We believe that is why Grub didn't like it. We'll swear that we were able to do this before, but we do believe that we were enlarging the Extended Partition on the rear end, like we did the C: drive. Anyway, we could not change the Linux portion.

As things progressed, we decided to just make a partition between the two, but larger. Now is where the problems started to intensify. PartitionMagic would not make it bigger. The problem was:
     "Error 1555: Internal file number does not match position (EA390613)"
This was to be corrected via CHKDSK... possibly running it multiple times. It didn't seem to do the job, either cause of our bungling -OR- we really screwed it up in the first place. Anyway, we couldn't properly boot. So, we got our WinXP Recovery to repair the MBR. Well, this is where we oopsed.

---

Not having run this before ... and assumming we were going to be asked
     ... FULL -OR- Non-Destructive Recovery ... which we never got asked ...
we evidently clicked on the wrong button and started a FULL Blown recovery... with formatting!!

---

"IF" we had been thinking at all we would have hit the power switch before the Reovery got into destroying our disk. But... obviously ... we weren't thinking. But ... it might have made things worse. We had been thinking of redoing our System anyway ... but in a more controlled manner.

 Later:  Learning and Recovery can be trying, very trying -but- we learn. One thing that was discovered in this latest hard Hard Disc Crash was that Microsoft's CHKDSK does NOT report correctly. When you run ChkDsk from your own area you can not fix anything. All it will do is report any problems. Well, it has been found by us -and many others over the Wide World- that chkdsk LIES. We were trying to fix a problem that is Microsoft's -a Bug in WinXP- and couldn't. Wasted lots and lots of time until we found this on the Web. Refer: Bug In WinXP chkdsk

 The Second Crash - February 1st, 2012   Had our first ever Physical Hard Disk Crash. The system started making noises and ticking/clicking sounds... and a few other types. We were able to still use it... or so it appeared... but the sounds were troubling. We shut down the system so we could go off to work and then upon returning home, gritted our teeth and flip on the Power. Not good. Some more clicking and then the fatal message...
     "No OS found".

HP Adding or Replacing a Hard Drive

 The Third Crash - April 22nd, 2013  Well, once again we have an HD failure. This one was NOT noisey like the first one. It was Silent -but- deadly. After a PowerOn we could get about 15 mins worth of use and then nothing. The electronics on the Disc Controler went south. (or so we thought) This is the circuit board that is attached to the Drive.

Let it suffice to say, it was NOT the drive. It was the ICH7 chip on the MotherBoard. There are four SATA Ports on this chip. Our 2nd drive was connected to the 4th Port. We changed it to the third Port and it is working. We will probably end up replacing the ICH7 chip -but- as long as it is serving our needs... we'll leave it alone.

 The Fourth Crash - September 19th, 2013  Now then, the crash wasn't exactly on this date, but it was the culmination of a number of things. Primarily, the MotherBoard. As mentioned previously, we had some HD problems that were attributed to the SATA Port on the MB. We were able to continue using the 'System' by switching SATA ports. No, this was not kosher, but it delayed expenses and put off re-building our system like we are required to now. Getting a whole new MB was less cosly than repairing the old one!! We also have some suspicions that there were some other "problems" with the MB that were causing some of our 'other' problems. One of them being the Video Card.

Comments ... The above crashes have resulted in our system HDD capacity increasing from two 300GB Drives to a 500GB 7200RPM Data Drive and a 750GB 7200RPM Main Drive.

The machine was wiped! Why?? Cause it was a 'New Drive'. We decided to make the New 750GB Drive the Main Drive. It would hold the Systems. The 500GB disc would become the Data Drive.

Windows XP Media Center will be installed first. It was the System that this machine came with. It works well and uses all the "Parts". Well, we have in our travels, used the TV portion to watch and record some TV shows and/or events. At present, it still works with our Cox Cable setup. Don't know if future changes will kill it or not. -But- for now it works and we will keep it as the 'Main' 'Original' System. Believe it or not we have NOT had that much trouble with it. Have had more with the Linux side. Mainly the Video -or- display -or- Graphics Card -or- whatever or however you want to lable it ...
      it is -or- so it seems... nVidia vs Linux.

The Windows XP Recovery discs were used to install the Software. Then we switched over to this Laptop to create this New WebPage and record these events. Now then, we just installed the "default" Software. In other words we just loaded the discs and let 'er rip... no choices. So we 'should' have a factory default machine... except for the drives. Speaking of which they are Partitioned as follows:

Now you will notice the 'Unallocated' Space. This can be corrected -but- do we really want -or- need to?? Well, the first portion, the 7.88MiB, will get absorbed into our Linux Partitions. The end portion, the 2.49MiB, will just stay unused UNLESS we do some Re-Allocations. We were gona leave it alone. However(that word again), we experienced some discombobulations in our previous endeavors. This 'extra' Partition ... that really does nothing ... kept getting in the way. Now then, we have the HP Recovery Discs created on -and- for our System. So, why do we have to waste disc space with this so called Recovery Partition??    Since they don't have the NON-Destructive Recovery anymore... we are not.   We,re going to Remove it.

 May 23rd, 2013 / 8:40am  Now with Windows restored and the Partitions 'fixed' we will 'Remove' the unwanted garbage that comes with a 'New System' by default.

 Removals:  

• Norton - Control Panel - Add/Remove
• Microsoft Office 60 Days - Control Panel - Add/Remove
• Quicken 2006 - Control Panel - Add/Remove
• Online Services - Delete whole dir!!
• and others ... Some cause they are old and will be replaced.

 HDD Setup:   The Drive Letters are not the same as they were. Now we have two choices here. Leave them... and learn new -or- edit them and make it the same as before. Think... think... thinking on it. Now in order to put the system back the way it was, we will have to make some double changes to a couple of the drives. Why?? Cause right now the wrong drives have the right letters and when we try to rename them they will conflict. So, anyway, we are gona put it back the way it was. Now we are going to make these Drive Letter changes BEFORE doing anything else.

1. Enter the Control Panel
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance
3. Click on Administrative Tools
4. Click on Computer Management
5. Click on Disk Management
6. The drives are presented. You right click on the drive which you wish to change and then click on 'Change Drive Letter and Paths...'
7. Do it.

  Windows is Drive HD-1: C:
              and Drive HD-2: D: and L:
  All of Linux is on Drive HD-1 after C.

  F: & G: were/are the two DVD drives.
  H:, I:, J:, K: are the Memory Card Slots.

The 'only thing' on HD-2 is Data, both D: and L:    The L: partition is my FAT32 with Recovery info till I get the NTFS working in Linux. It is also where we keep these Web Pages.

 May 23rd, 2013 / 6:54pm - Service Pack 3   Yep. Before going any further we need to get this puppy up-to-date. Had lots and lots of trouble getting SP3 installed. TURNS OUT... WE MUST HAVE EVERY SINGLE ANTI-VIRUS -AND- SECURITY ROUTINE OFF. YEP. -- OFF!! -- INCLUDING THE FIREWALL!! Firewall was the -last- thing that we killed... and then SP3 just sailed right in!!!

After, the SP3 we checked UpDates again -and- naturally there were some. The first was getting the latest Windows UpDate Software. Now then, we had Re-Started and Security was back on. It still Downloaded -and- Installed the Software. Now to check for anymore UpDates. Just going with Express to get the latest High-Priority UpDates. Ok. We got more UpDates to the UpDate Software. OOOOOooohhh Lordy... We obtained this System in January of 2007 -but- it was produced in 2006. There is 221.2MB(and we do believe that is the compressed size!!) of UpDates that will take an Hour and Six minutes to Install!! Looks like there are 136 UpDates.

The support for Windows XP with Service Pack 3 ends April 8, 2014.

 May 24th, 6:28am - USER / OWNER  Now as much as we like HP, they still piss us off sometimes. This is one of them. During the install, they did not give us the opportunity to be the Owner or the User of the machine. They made HP_Administrator the head honcho. We need to change that, and right now while everything is messed up, would be a good time to check out and try the "fixes" we find on the Net.
Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search box, and then locate the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

Refer: Registered Owner Change    and    Admin Password
Ok. Appology to HP. They did have the Owner right -but- not the User. They also left out the Organization.

Ok, now let's get this clear. We are doing this, in effect, on a brand new machine. Therefore, these changes "shouldn't" hurt us. Here on this clean machine we are going to create a new user "Ctaylor" and make him the new Big Honcho. So, we went into the Control Panel, created Ctaylor - with Admin Priveledges.
Restarted Windows and logged in using the account we just created.

The reason for Ctaylor is... we have used it for years and all of our Software is tuned for it. It is also easier to Network with the same username.

Finally, you can delete the HP_administrator account from the Control Panel, User Accounts.
Refer: Renaming a User Account
Well, in this case - NO YOU CAN'T. This particular User Account has hooks into the System!

 Later:  Well... YES YOU CAN. A little bump in the above. What made us think that the HP User Account had hooks into the System was - the HP screen (background) disappeared when we deleted HP_Administrator. Then upon the first Re-Start there was an Error Message about some program that flashed by. Well, in this latest try, we first installed WinZip and then we zipped the HP_Administrator's files and saved them. This was with the thought that after removing the User Account that we would put his files back and then everybody would be happy. Well, we are not sure which side of our mouth we had our tounge on in the problem one -but- this time the HP Wallpaper stayed!! And on subsequent Restarts there were no Error Messages. So we did not unzip and restore the HP_Administrator Doc files. -But- we still have them zipped incase they are needed.(Sometimes we hate computers!!)

Now then, what caused all this fuss about the Users??? Well, this is My Computer and I want my name on it. -And- I am the only user so I don't want a User choice at SignOn. There are many ways to go about this and ours is only one of them.
Auto Logon -but- still have ScreenSaver Lock.

 May 24th, 2013 / 7:42am   OK. SP3 is in, along with the 'latest' UpDates, and we have Security back on. -And- we have our users straight. Now we install some software that we want ... on Windows. Some of it is more Security Ops. We believe that is primarily why they had to make 'puters faster and faster. In addition to doing the "Normal, Desirable" stuff, the machines have to check everything for maliciousness. Go into isolation sometime and operate your 'puter will ALL the Security Off. We believe that you will be pleasantly and sadly surprised. Pleasantly at the Speed and sadly that it has to be wasted on @$#*& morons. To really, really see it, get a system that you can use to test Internet Usage 'without' security.

Now then, before going any futher it might be a good idea to check out the HDD Setup section.

Ok now, Please see: What's Loaded -and- possibly What't not. You can only get so much installed and then it gets rediculous. A lot will have to wait until we need it again.

Comments ... Ya know, the simplest way to speed up 'ALL' computers would be for EVERYONE to obey the Ten Commandments.     Think about it.

Ok, the next thing to do is get the Partitions Started. First we must Power it On and Boot Up... IF not already. -But- we PowerUp with a special disc... called Parted Magic.
Refer: Parted Magic

 Gparted & Parted Magic  Gparted is basically a Linux Program. Now then, it has some similar qualities to Partition Magic. However, one thing it does that Partition Magic doesn't is... read and section LARGE HDDs. It has some SnapShot qualities that will be nice for documentation -but- ya gota save them somewhere. Gparted is only in memory. Nothing to disc. So, we need to do:

1. Start up Gparted and get to the initial screen.
2. Open a terminal Window.
3. Create a mount point directory: mkdir /tmp/myusb
4. Insert a USB flash drive into an open USB port.
5. To determine the USB device name, enter: dmesg
6. Visually search through the last few lines of dmesg output to find the device name. The device name should be in the form "sdX" where "X" is a lower case letter.
7. Mount the USB flash device.
   For example, if the device name is "sdg", enter:
   user@debian:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdg1 /tmp/myusb
8. Copy the file(s) you want to keep to the USB stick.
   user@debian:~$ sudo cp gparted.jpeg /tmp/myusb
9. When you are finished copying files, unmount the USB flash drive by entering:
   user@debian:~$ sudo umount /tmp/myusb
10. Remove the USB flash drive from the computer.

The above taken from: GParted Live Manual

 10:52am  Still NOT Partitioned... yet. Why?? Cause we are looking and investigating. We have found GParted(GP) and Parted Magic(PM). The later has had a difficulty for us, if you can call it that. PM is finding ALL our devices... including the SD Card slots. It is calling our 2nd HDD, sdf. It 'should' be sdb. It, PM, has a lot of 'tools' that can be used -but- we are just unhappy with the Drive nomenclature. Don't know IF there is a way to change it or not.
Ah!! Oh well. The second time around it, PM, also called the 2nd drive sdb.

Ok, in the Main Drive we have 589.02GB in an Extended Partition which will be used for the Main Linux System -and- the Test Partition. It will be 468.90GB for the Main and 120.12GB for the Test.

Partition	Was	Is Now	Format	Drive
/dev/sda	465.76 GB	698.64 GB		First Drive
/dev/sda1	98.32 GB	102.85 GB	HPFS/NTFS	C:
/dev/sda3	360.14 GB	595.79 GB	Extended
/dev/sda5	2.01 GB	2.00 GB	Linux Swap	swap
/dev/sda6	47.43 GB	40.0 GB	Linux /	root
/dev/sda7	205.39 GB	433.18 GB	Linux /home	/home
/dev/sda8	2.01 GB	2.00 GB	Linux Swap	swap
/dev/sda9	20 GB	20.02 GB	Linux /	root
/dev/sda10	81.73 GB	98.58 GB	Linux /home	/home
/dev/sdb	279.4 GB	465.76 GB		Second Drive
/dev/sdb1	263.85 GB	367.95 GB	HPFS/NTFS	D:
/dev/sdb2	15.61 GB	97.81 GB	Extended
/dev/sdb5	15.61 GB	97.81 GB	Win95 FAT32	L:
Unallocated	??? GB	2.49 MiB	Unallocated	L:

 SDA New  This is after the Windows XP Restore.

 SDA Our Initial Settings  Here we have 'Pre-Allocated' the disc space. This is how we want the finished product. There is room for our 'Main Linux' and our 'Test Partition'. None of the linux system has been installed ... yet.

 SDB Data Drive  And this is our 'Pure Data' Drive. The original reason for having the FAT32 Partition may not apply anymore -but- we are keeping it for posterity's sake.

   

Comments ...

 October 23rd, 2014  As mentioned below, we had to decide which version to install. This time because of "things" we are choosing openSuSE 13.2 RC1. It is supposed to have some of the UEFI acceptance in it.

 Oct 25th, 2014 / 9:46pm  Changed to openSuSE 13.1.
Just a quick note; which will be repeated elsewhere; Microsoft has decreed that ALL Windows 8, 8.1 and 8.1 RT users MUST UpDate to Windows 8.1 Update IF they expect to get any further updates.

Partition	Is Now	----	Format	Mnt Pt
/dev/sda	931.51 GB	--- GB	TOSHIBA-DT01ACA1	First Drive
/dev/sda1	1023.00 MB	---- GB	HPFS/NTFS	Win RE tools
/dev/sda2	360.00 MB	---- GB	EFI boot	/boot/efi
/dev/sda3	128 MB	---- GB	MS Reserved
/dev/sda4	401.22 GB	---- GB	Windows	WinDrvC
/dev/sda5	9.57 GB	---- GB	Recovery Image
/dev/sda6	20.01 GB	---- GB	Linux Swap	swap
/dev/sda7	40.00 GB	---- GB	Linux /	root
/dev/sda8	459.21 GB	---- GB	Linux /home	/home

It would NOT let me change the drive sizes!!

---

Ok, we debated over and over with ourselves on what version to install. We decided finally on 12.3 -but- we are gona watch the UpDates like a hawk.

Upon inserting the DVD and starting the install, we saw that our Partitioning was essentially being ignored. Well, not totally. Just which one for what. Don't know why they can't read our mind and use the same ones we pick. So, we edited their suggested setup and made the following declarations:

   sda5 the Main swap
   sda6 the Main root
   sda7 the Main home
   sda8 will also be used as a swap.
   sdb1 will be mounted as /windows/D and
   sdb5 will be /windows/L.

Then we picked and Installed the Software and let 'er rip. It ReBooted and Hung with a Black Screen!! Only out was a 'PowerOff'. The DVD was still in so we got the choices from it. Hit the down arrow key to keep it from the default. Was able to ReMove the DVD. Did CTL-ALT-DEL and ReStarted the System. Got the Grub2 Boot Loader list:

   opensuse 12.3
   Advanced options for opensuse 12.3
   Windows XPMedia Center Edition (on /dev/sda1)

We had hit the down arrow key in order to delay the StartUp. After making these notes, we moved to the first entry and hit the Enter Key.

The System came up in an intializing and configuration mode. The information we supplied and set and filled in is documented elsewhere. Ok. It ran the Internet Connection Test and we passed!! Next it ran the Package Manager and then... and then it wanted to run an Online Update. WE SAID NO!! (actually ... skip) The reason for this is our hasles with our graphics Card. We are going to be very selective in what we allow... -or- try to anyway.

It finished, gave us a LogOn Screen ... which we used and we got our first entry into our New System. -And- we are gona quit for now. One to many Wodkas... For the rest of the Linux Install... jump over to our New SuSE 12.3

 May 31st, 2013 / 8:30am  Ok... we have changed our mind again. We're allowed, it is 'our' System!! Anywho, right here, right now, right off the bat... BEFORE we get a lot of stuff installed... we are gona allow UpDates. There are just to many to try our selective idea. So, we'll do it now and IF it presents problems we'll start again. We included a number of 'Repos' that were not already included. One of them being the 'nVidia' Repo. Another the 'Pacman' Repo. As a result a number of items were selected by 'default'. We didn't even have to say we wanted the 'nVidia' Software. Guess IF you include the Repo that 'Automagically' means you want it.

 At 9:35am  Took shower and got ready for work. The 'UpDate' is finished. However, do not see the 'Graphical' results. Probably have to ReBoot. Need to test that anyway. After all these 'UpDates' we need to make sure that it still works!!
Well, at this point the 'UpDates' didn't do a thing. On trying to restart we got the "KWin closed unexpectedly."
Alllllllrighty... we got the BIOS routines, into Grub2, the Splash Screen and then our Desktop. A-Ok. -And- draggin' a terminal around is smooth -and- the Display is sharper and cleaner. Better detail. So we are in. That's all for now.

 June 1st, 2013 / 7:48pm  Finished the Linux setup. And the terminal windows started in .xintrc are NOT postiioned correctly!! However, there are those 87 UpDates. We think that the Xorg in those is what messed us up the last time. So we'll try again only leaving out those. Instead of using 'Zypper' we will use Yast2 and 'Select' the UpDates that we want. Well, we couldn't find anything that looked totally bad so, we just accepted them all. If it fails... it fails and we'll start again... maybe with another version of Linux.

Comments ...

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Available Models: GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, and GeForce 7300 SE

Comments ... The above was included to remind us -and- anyone else ... that PureVideo 'seems' to be the crux of the problem. When everyone started getting into this High Definition stuff and fancy video... that appears to be when we started having our problems. Granted, they appear to be working 'ok' in Windows because 'IT' is where the Money is. -But- NOT so well in Linux. Leastwise NOT with our Card. Here we have a two fold problem:
    #1 Our Video card is like us... 'old'.
    #2 Linux doesn't make them enough Money, so it is not supported as well.

   

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