HD Install :: can't install DSL!! :'(

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Is your Linux partition toggled bootable?

I got no idea what you mean.. :/

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That error message should pertain to frugal installations.

For the fdisk command, you'll have to boot the livecd to do that since you don't have a working environment yet.

Also, in the livecd, try mounting your linux native partition (ie via mount tool) and list what's stored in there (ie with `find`).

And just hitting enter will not complete your installation. Afaik you have to specify which partition, etc.

Thanks for the info.. but I'm extremely confused... I only have the cd with the iso on it.. and I boot that using the boot floppy, since the cd won't boot on it's own with the computer I'm using. I dunno what you mean by livecd.. or any of what you said, basically.

Sorry for makin' this complicated... but I just don't get it..

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I got no idea what you mean

when you set up partitions, did you use cfdisk or fdisk? Both of those partitioning utilities let you "toggle" partitions from which you can boot. If you have three partitions -- which you should if you're doing the frugal install -- you'll have a swap partition and two Linux partitions. You would toggle the one containing the OS (not the swap, not the one containing your persistent /home and /opt) so you can boot from that partition.

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I only have the cd with the iso on it

That's the live CD. Boot up using it, do the "fdisk -l" I mentioned previously, copy the output exactly, and paste it back here so we can see what you actually have.

Quote (lucky13 @ April 27 2007,21:52)

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I got no idea what you mean

I used zboot to set up the partitions.. I don't think I could figure out how to use cfdisk or even fdisk.. so I found zboot and used it. And I only got two partitions.. a native with about 1,000MB and a swap with about 400MB, I think. (Old, small hard drive..)

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I only have the cd with the iso on it

That's the live CD. Boot up using it, do the "fdisk -l" I mentioned previously, copy the output exactly, and paste it back here so we can see what you actually have.

When or where do I enter the "fdisk -l" thing? When I boot the cd, it goes to the DSL thing.. then I can press F2 or F3 for more install options, or press enter and it begins on it's own. (This's where the original problem comes in, where I get stuck at the KNOPPIX thing..) So I'm not sure where I should enter the "fdisk -l" thing.

I just tried the fdisk thing after the knoppix# thing, where I always get stuck.. and here's what it said:

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knoppix# fdisk -l /dev/hda
fdisk: not found

How much RAM do you have? You may need to use lowram:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Cheat_Codes

After it boots up, you'll need to get a command line -- either exit to console (and type "sudo su" and enter) or launch aterm as superuser (root). That's where you type fdisk -l /dev/hda (or whatever your hard drive is -- I'll assume if it's older/smaller that it's hda). You want there to be an asterisk next to your Linux partition like this with whatever partitions you have:

Code Sample

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
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/dev/hda3 * 701 2491 14386207+ 83 Linux

If you don't see an asterisk next to the non-swap partition, you can run cfdisk and toggle it bootable. This is what cfdisk will look like:
http://www.eff.org/IP/broadcastflag/cookbook/cfdisk.png

Just move up or down to highlight the Linux (NOT the swap) partition and then move the menu (right-left arrow keys) to Bootable and hit enter. It should be flagged as bootable after that. Then move over to WRITE. Hit enter. It will prompt you because it's rewriting your partition table. Make sure it's right for what you want to do (if you're doing a frugal install, you really need three partitions -- a swap, one 55-60 MB partition for the ISO, and the rest can be used for persistent /home and /opt partitions as well as for your backup). Once you've written it you can quit cfdisk.

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