Hi all,

Im currently using Windows 7 on my primary 300gb HDD, i have a secondary 300gb HDD of the same type hooked up (with the AHCI features enabled in the bios)

I am looking to install Ubuntu 9.10 64bit on my secondary HDD and have it setup to dual boot (prompt me which OS to boot into UPON switching the PC on)

Now my issue is im currently installing Ubuntu via windows onto the 2nd HDD (as booting from disk doesnt seem to FIND my 2nd HDD and i do not wish to risk losing the data on my primary HDD)

After installing Ubuntu it asks me to restart to finish the installation, which is fine but when it attempts to finalize installing after the little white ubuntu logo dissapears from the centre it just hangs on a black screen, nothing happens atall.

Am i doing something wrong? will having AHCI enabled cause issues?

Or is it just incompatible with me hardware? (listed below)

Nvidia GTX 280
Intel Quad 2 Core 2.4ghz
6gb ddr2 RAM
Gigabyte G965-DS3 motherboard

Hello,
For a number of years I have played with different versions of Linux. getting the Linux boot loader to offer a Windows boot mode has never been a problem of using versions of Windows such as Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
However, with Windows Vista and Windows 7 there is a new problem with the WAY the boot loader has to work.
Here is the recommended workaround.
1.Test our computer with the Ubuntu live CD to see if it's compatible
2.Remove or otherwise disabled your primary master drive.
3. Install Ubuntu on your second drive.
Now at this point you should be able to hook up both drives and reboot the system. Windows should come right up WITHOUT any reference to what is on the other drives. In fact, Windows should not even recognize the other drive because it's in a different format.
Now shut down your system and restart again. At this point use your BIOS features to choose the other hard drive as the boot device. In many systems this means hitting the F8 key just before the POST has completed.
Yes, there is another way of doing it. But it is so superfragalistic that I do not feel it's not worth doing. That's why they put extra features into the BIOS.
The newest version of Ubuntu comes with WUBI (Windows Ubuntu Based Installer, I think) which makes installing it very easy.
http://wubi-installer.org/

It basically creates a new folder in your HDD and uses it as a virtual partition to store Ubuntu. It also ADDS a new bootloader to the shell which allows you to choose which OS you want to load before the computer is completely turned on.Thank you both for the swift replies-

Geek-9pm i had a bad feeling that i would have to resort to that method, which i wanted to avoid really.

I will attempt this Wubi method, failing that looks like i'll have to use the ole f8/boot device order method.