SOLVED boot problems...

[dorkbotter]

hi there,

i need help installing linux on a old PC: PII, 400mhz, 128MB ram, 18GB HD currently running win98, 2 CD drives, no floppy drive.

the first problem i encountered was that the most LiveCD's wont boot on this machine: ubuntu, gentoo, mepis, DSLinux and also Puppy linux liveCD's won't boot. Only PClinuXOS Live CD does work.

so my first question is: will PClinuxOS run fast enough a PC with that spec? I read somewhere on the PClinuxOS forums that a minimum of 256 is recomended. From the LiveCD it runs rather slow, i guess this will improve by doing a hard-drive install but it is probably a better idea to go for a lighter distro.

That is how i came to PuppyLinux. I downlaoded the iso and burned the LiveCD but it doesn't boot. i get a message like this:

"Boot from cd-rom: ISOLINUX 3.11 2005-09-02" and after half a minute "isolinux:" is added to that message. after that i just get a blinking cursor...

i tested the LiveCD on my laptop and it works fine so its not the cd itself...

I tried to work around this by folowing the steps outlined here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=387

when i boot in dos mode and type "grub" i get an error message saying:
"cannot run in protcted mode. must run in real mode" also i noticed that before dos comes up i says "starting windows98"... so i guess i'm not really booting in dos...

so anybody can help a noob to boot in real mode dos ?
or should i go the PClinuxOS route?

thanks

[muggins]

maybe your bios is a bit bodgy with cdroms. try the smartbootmanager floppy, which works great with recalcitrant bios, to test whether it can boot puppy OK. see:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=4038

[dorkbotter]

well the problem is that the floppy drive doesn't work anymore... thats why i tied the work around...

and yes the bios is probabaly dodgy: when i boot after i have to switch of the computrer manualy (i.e. when it freezes) i get a message saying "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded...

[MU]

and yes the bios is probabaly dodgy: when i boot after i have to switch of the computrer manualy (i.e. when it freezes) i get a message saying "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded...

This usually hapens, if the CMOS-battery is empty or broken.
In this case, enter setup; you should get a hint what keys need to be pressed when you turn on the computer.

Then look, if there is an option to autodetect settings like the inbuilt harddrives.

Mark

[Sit Heel Speak]

Ordinarily, with a good CMOS battery, you can go into BIOS setup and set the CD as your first boot device. So, either you must replace the CMOS battery--sometimes it's built into the BIOS chip, sometimes it's a separate shiny thin disk you can pry off the board and get a replacement at Radio Shack-- or, if changeing the CMOS battery isn't possible, then you must start DOS in real mode from the hard disk and then start the Puppy files off the live CD using GRUB. Here's how to get DOS to come up in real mode:

Boot into Win98, open a DOS window, and then at the C:\> prompt type

attrib c:\msdos.sys -r -h -s {enter}

and then

notepad c:\msdos.sys {enter}

and in Notepad change the line

BootGUI=1

to

BootGUI=0

and Alt-File-Save, Alt-File-Exit

and then go back to the C:\> prompt and type

attrib c:\msdos.sys +r +h +s {enter}

Now whenever you boot up, you'll be left in real mode at a plain C:\> prompt. To start Win98 type

win {enter}

Then, if you've gotten this far, the question of booting into Puppy becomes a matter of editing c:\config.sys and c:\autoexec.bat, or creating them if they don't exist. You'll need to have the driver for your cd-rom reader in config.sys, and an mscdex line in autoexec.bat, and then a line to start grub in autoexec.bat and tell it to boot Puppy which is on the CD. Feel up to it?

[dorkbotter]

thanks...
but i still get "cannot run in protcted mode. must run in real mode"
when i try to start GRUB.

and i noticed that the win98 on this system is realy buggy... (no wonder after years of use as a family PC and noone caring about security ) so i decided i don't actually need double boot and will format the HD to start from scratch.

I'will install PClinuxOS to the HD which would take care of installing the bootloader (grub or lilo) and give an OS to work with.
After that i'll try to install puppy and edit the bootloader so it boots Puppy or DSL instead of PClinuxOS.

any hints on how to partition the HD and how i can install puppy from within PCLinuxOS?

[Sit Heel Speak]

Sounds like it's Windows ME. No, I have no experience with that. I'll let others chime in here.

[Gn2]

Booting into GUI desktop into (protected/safe) mode is not
the same as booting into true DOS mode.
That is a desktop "command line shell" only
IIRC W98 had two program quickstart Dos options
See control panel - Use included Windows utility to create a bootable floppy
Booting from Puppy livecd - gives options on (2nd choice)hard drive install or (recomended) "frugal" install.

It is not needed to use another LInux to install
Included help menus explain - or please read Forum How-Tos & posts on hard drive install procedures.

Best of luck HTH

[dorkbotter]

well the Puppy LiveCD did not boot and the floppy drive is busted so i couldn't use a wakeup disk. that is why i tried this work around...

and it worked! i'm now succefully double booting PClinuxOS and Puppy!