[ale] Trying to install OpenSuse on a dual-boot workstation

[runman]

I am trying to harness my workstation to work on video editing and
converting my copious album collection (the big black plastic disks
popular in my youth) to ogg vorbis/etc.  I have given up on trying to
get a good free Windows program and decided to try OpenSuse.  I used to
have this workstation dual boot Windows 2000 and Suse 9.x before so I
thought that it would be ok this time (and yes, I **need** the pc to be able
to use Windows programs).

However it seems that OpenSuse can't/won't write to the MBR.  After
Downloading & burning the Suse DVD I started the install.  It went fine
until it re-booted in the middle of the install - which I *think* is what
it's supposed to do.  When it came up again it showed the same screen as the
initial install - this is a new wrinkle I thought, but ok, when I selected
"boot from hard drive" it booted into the usual Windows install screen
(Where I have my Windows 2K and the Recovery Console installed).

So I shut the machine down and started up again with the DVD in and when the
Suse install DVD started again I selected "New Install" and finished the
install.  I re-boot into Windows again (I thought it might have written to
the MBR when I finished Part II of the install but I was wrong).  Ok, so
when does the bootloader get installed ?

OK, wash, rinse, reboot and this time when the Suse install DVD opened
up I ran the Rescue program.  The FAT32 partition was corrupted, so I
had Suse fix that.  When I tried to install the bootloader to the MBR I
didn't see the Windows OS partition mentioned in the boot menu so I added it
and told Suse to write to the MBR.  Wash, rinse, reboot ... and no joy.  The
Windows boot screen came up.

There is no password on the MBR or any other funky security.

I did the usual install, not the ones where ACPI or anything is disabled.

The only thing I can think of doing is using the NT bootloader and setting
it up to run Suse from that - but that does not explain why Suse is failing
to write to the MBR/installing a boatloader itself.

I used the suse "verify installation media" operation to check the DVD and
it passed so I don't think it is a bad disk that is the cause of the
problem.

At random times lately the Dark Blue Screen of Hardware Purgatory comes
up with the "Hardware Malfunction - call your vendor".  A hard reboot is
then necessary.  I think this stems from a video card overheating, but for
now I am treating it as a separate and unrelated issue.

The hardware on this beast is as follows.
Arima (AccelerTech) HDAMC motherboard
2 GB of RAM
3Ware SATA RAID card
nVidia GeForce 5200 in the AGP slot
nVidia GeForce 5200 in a PCI slot
Samsung IDE 40 GB hard drive (hda) partitioned as follows:
Primary Partition 29 GB    C   NTFS    Windows  seen as hda1
Primary Partition 10 GB    D   NTFS    Junk  seen as hda2

Maxtor IDE 300 GB hard drive - set up in the BIOS as the HD to boot
0 GB IDE hard drive (hdd) partitioned as follows :

hdd1    Primary Partition 40 GB    C   NTFS    Windows
hdd2    Primary Partition 40 GB    D   NTFS    Data
hdd3    Primary Partition 40 GB    E   NTFS    Projects
hdd4 Extended Partition
hdd5    FAT32 LBA 40 GB
hdd6    Linux swap 2 GB
hdd7    ext3    20 GB   /
hdd8    ext     110 GB /home

sda1    SFS (this is my 3Ware RAID 5 array - formatted in NTFS)
    
So - Can OpenSuse be installed to an extended partition ?  I didn't
think it mattered anymore.  LBA is enabled in the BIOS so the 1024
cylinder limitation that plagued old pc's shouldn't be a consideration
here - correct ?

Has OpenSuse gone to the dogs or what ?  Do I need to try ubuntu or call a
witch doctor to lift the MS curse on a MS - only MBR ??

Clues and comments warmly appreciated.

- Greg