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EdlinUser
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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 Posted: Tue 14 Feb 2012, 23:43 Post subject:
 Puppy >4.2 boots from CD, then won't mount it (Solved)
Subject description: Thinkpad with PII with 196 MB of RAM |
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My 1999 ThinkPad (PII, 196 M RAM) works fine with 4.2 but more recent Puppys do not load the CD ROM, they boot off the CD but will not access the CD. I have to copy the sfs file to the HD using 4.2 to boot newer versions. ACPI=off is no help.
Posted using Wary 5.2.2. Should I just be happy with 4.2?
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Monsie
Joined: 01 Dec 2011
Posts: 465
Location: Kamloops BC Canada
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 02:35 Post subject:
No CD ROM for Puppy >4.2 |
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Hi EdlinUser,
The recommended ram requirement for Wary is 256 mb.
To detect and access your cd rom drive, try:
at the terminal.
If you get output that recognizes your cd rom drive, then you may be able to edit your fstab file to include an entry for it. At the minimum the fstab entry should include the directory and file that configures your cd rom drive and also the directory where it is mounted, for example something like this:
| Code: | | /dev/sr1 /mnt/cdrom |
You might also need to include other information... which maybe someone else can help out with here, otherwise google is your friend 
If your cdrom drive is not recognized after running the terminal, then I am assuming that the driver and/or other needed information is not included in the kernel version of the particular breed of puppy --in which case you are likely out of luck unless you are good at compiling a custom made kernel 
hope this helps,
Monsie
_________________
My username is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.
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ICPUG
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
Posts: 1278
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 09:08 Post subject:
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The problem is that later versions of puppy need more RAM to be able to run the sfs in RAM.
Because there is not enough RAM the sfs is not loaded into RAM and the CD is accessed when required. This means the CD drive is not free for other use.
The answer, as you have found, is to copy the sfs to hard disk. Best would be a frugal install to hard disk with suitable boot loader. Then the CD drive will be completely free.
OOPS - I think I have misinterpreted your problem. If you cannot access the CD even to access the sfs then the above is not relevant - sorry.
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Flash
Official Dog Handler
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 9853
Location: Arizona USA
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 09:18 Post subject:
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EdlinUser, does the computer have any swap memory? As Monsie and ICPUG have noted, 196 MB of RAM might not be quite enough for later Puppies. Puppy loads what it can into RAM from the CD but if there's not enough RAM+swap to load everything, it has to keep the CD mounted to access the stuff it couldn't load. If you can add a few hundred MB more RAM, that might free up your CD drive after booting. Alternatively, if there isn't any swap memory you could create a swap partition on the HD. Just a few hundred MB ought to do it.
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EdlinUser
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 12:25 Post subject:
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Thanks everyone. I guess I'll have to look for more RAM. I have a 2 Gig swap file. Can the swap file be too big?
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Flash
Official Dog Handler
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 9853
Location: Arizona USA
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 12:57 Post subject:
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| EdlinUser wrote: | | ... I have a 2 Gig swap file. Can the swap file be too big? |
No, at least not unless it uses up the whole hard disk, but 2 GB is unnecessary. Have you tried anything that Monsie suggested?
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EdlinUser
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 14:16 Post subject:
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| Flash wrote: | | EdlinUser wrote: | | ... I have a 2 Gig swap file. Can the swap file be too big? |
No, at least not unless it uses up the whole hard disk, but 2 GB is unnecessary. Have you tried anything that Monsie suggested? |
Plenty of room on my 50 Gig HD; I chose 2 Gigs on a whim.
I ran probedisk and it found my CDROM. Will try his configuring ideas later. First I'm about to go shopping computer stores looking for more memory or perhaps a nonworking Thinkpad for parts as I also have a ThinkPad T42 with a flaky motherboard.
Also tried a tip in another thread that suggested using XVESA rather than XORG; result: less CPU use but still no CDROM.
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Flash
Official Dog Handler
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 9853
Location: Arizona USA
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 14:54 Post subject:
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It only just dawned on me that we're talking about a laptop. Laptop optical drives seem not to follow convention as well as desktop drives do. If you take the other Thinkpad apart to pilfer its RAM, get its CD drive too. When you add the RAM to your Thinkpad, see if the two CD drives are different makes. If they are, swap them.
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EdlinUser
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Wed 15 Feb 2012, 15:09 Post subject:
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| Flash wrote: | | It only just dawned on me that we're talking about a laptop. Laptop optical drives seem not to follow convention as well as desktop drives do. If you take the other Thinkpad apart to pilfer its RAM, get its CD drive too. When you add the RAM to your Thinkpad, see if the two CD drives are different makes. If they are, swap them. |
Alas, I have disassembled the T42. Only the 50 Gig HD was switchable; memory, CD drive, and battery were not usable in my 600E.
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8-bit
Joined: 03 Apr 2007
Posts: 3018
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Thu 16 Feb 2012, 03:09 Post subject:
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Any media you boot Puppy from including CDs and DVDs makes a renamed route to that media.
So if you were booting from sdb4, access to it would be /mnt/home.
I assume that same goes for the CD/DVD if it has to remain mounted due to not enough memory to hold everything.
It confused me at first to.
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Sylvander
Joined: 15 Dec 2008
Posts: 2856
Location: West Lothian, Scotland, UK
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| Posted: Thu 16 Feb 2012, 06:00 Post subject:
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What I would try:
1. Use some other bootable disk [Acronis True Image CD?] to make a [1GB?] swap partition on your internal HDD.
2. I'm assuming that when the Puppy attempts to load itself totally into RAM...
And runs out of space...
It will then load the remainder into the swap Partition.
3. The Load should then complete [or am I wrong?] and the Puppy be able to see the optical drive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Once had a strange thing happen:
(a) A [BIG = too big for the available RAM] Puppy wouldn't complete loading.
(b) Tried using my "Smart Boot Manager" [SBM] bootable floppy to choose the Puppy CD to be booted.
(c) The Puppy succeeded in booting.
And here's the strange thing....
(d) It then booted ever after! 
Was this because, having succeeded in loading, it auto-created a swap-file?
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Monsie
Joined: 01 Dec 2011
Posts: 465
Location: Kamloops BC Canada
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| Posted: Wed 22 Feb 2012, 02:27 Post subject:
Puppy >4.2 will boot from CD. but then won't mount it |
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Hi EdlinUser,
How have you been making out? Did you manage to find more ram? --definitely in your best interests.
That said, I am curious as to why your 2 gig swap file did not seem to help you out... you should have had enough working memory to allow you to access your cdrom.
If you are interested in delving into this further, run:
at the terminal and post your output. I am curious to see if your swap file is configured properly.
Monsie
_________________
My username is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.
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EdlinUser
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Fri 24 Feb 2012, 16:43 Post subject:
Re: Puppy >4.2 will boot from CD. but then won't mount it |
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| Monsie wrote: | Hi EdlinUser,
How have you been making out? Did you manage to find more ram? --definitely in your best interests.
That said, I am curious as to why your 2 gig swap file did not seem to help you out... you should have had enough working memory to allow you to access your cdrom.
If you are interested in delving into this further, run:
at the terminal and post your output. I am curious to see if your swap file is configured properly.
Monsie |
Thanks Monsie. I've been off grid for a bit.
I'm still looking for more memory but have decided to be happy with what I've got for now. My swapon -s reports:
Filename..........Type..........Size.................Used.............Priority
/dev/sda3.........Partition....2475184.........10520...........-1
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Monsie
Joined: 01 Dec 2011
Posts: 465
Location: Kamloops BC Canada
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| Posted: Sat 25 Feb 2012, 23:31 Post subject:
Puppy >4.2 will boot from CD, but then won't mount it |
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Hi EdlinUser,
Great! Your swap partition looks fine, and I see it's in use... Were you able to resolve the problem with accessing the cd drive?
Monsie
_________________
My username is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.
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EdlinUser
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Sun 26 Feb 2012, 13:25 Post subject:
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Problem Solved.
Another puppy user with a Thinkpad 600e had the same problem and fixed it with:
puppy acpi=force.
I switched from acpi=off to acpi=force.
Bingo! There's my CD drive icon. Clicking it brings up the Wary files.
Off to try that with Lucid and Slacko
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