Can't get LiveCD to boot on anything

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Can't get LiveCD to boot on anything
started by: smag

Posted by smag on Dec. 08 2006,09:53

Hi, I'm super new at this, and I'm sure I've done something wrong. This is my first time trying to play with any sort of Linux, I heard that DSL would be good for my old boxes, because it's small and so on..etc...

Here's is what I did:
1. Downloaded dsl- 3.1.ISO from one of the mirrors. Saved it on my main PC's HDD

2. Burned the image thrice, onto three CD-R (not RW) Once using Nero's image burn utility, another time with Burn CDCC (which ONLY burns images), and a third time with Burn CDCC again, but with a different burn drive. I thought I had just created three bootable Live CD's.

3. Took these disks to the old boxes. Tried all of them on all 3 of my old PC's (2 Win95-era compaq desktops, and a Win98-era Toshiba Laptop) Before doing this I entered the BIOS in each one, and made sure Boot order was CD-ROM first.

Every time, this happens: The CD drive runs first, like I set it, lights blink, the Manufacturer Logo boot screen remains on the display (Compaq, Toshiba, etc..) It hangs for 30-40 seconds, then gives up and goes on to the floppy then the HDD and boots Windows from there. It hangs longer than if there's no disk in the drive, but always fails. Every Live Disk I made, on every computer I tried.

I stick this disk into my main PC (under XP), and it shows the following on the disk:
Disk name "KNOPPIX"
Dir: BOOT, with subdir "isolinux", which contains about 10 items
Dir: KNOPPIX, with file "knoppix"
Dir: Lost+Found, empty
File: index.html, with a message saying to make sure the CD boots first.

Is that what is suppposed to be on the Live CD? It won't boot in anything, and I have gone into the BIOS and set every one to check the CD drive first.

Why is it bailing on everything try? Anyone help the noob?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Dec. 08 2006,13:41

Sometimes older computers (i.e. 586's and older) need to use syslinux to boot.

Posted by rja on Dec. 08 2006,13:47

First, you did an excellent job of reporting the steps that you took to try to boot DSL. You definitely put a lot of effort into getting it to work!

Those are the correct files on the Live CD that should show up under WinXP.

There isn't anything obviously wrong with the steps that you took. A couple of details could be checked.

1. The dsl-3.1.iso may have been corrupted during the file transfer. Especially if you used a web browser to download with http. This can be checked against the small md5 checksum file that you will also need to download. The file that you will need is dsl-3.1.iso.md5.txt. You will also need a tool, like MD5summer to compare the dsl-3.1.iso that you have on your PC's HDD with the md5 checksum. That is described in the WIKI here:

< http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki....Mirrors >

Another method not mentioned in the wiki is to use bittorrent to perform the download of the dsl-3.1.iso. That file transfer method compares the md5sum during the download process, so the iso will not be corrupted. Point a bittorrent program to:

< http://www.tlm-project.org/public....torrent >

2. If the dsl-3.1.iso that you have on your PC's HDD passes the md5 checksum test, then you could try burning another image at 4X (or whatever is the slowest speed your cd burned can use). Older CD-ROM drives are more picky about booting CD's that are written at higher speeds. The iso is small so it won't really take much longer at 4X write speed.

I know that it is frustrating to make a bunch of cd coasters, but don't give up yet.

Posted by roberts on Dec. 08 2006,14:50

If you have checked the md5sum and tried a slower speed and it still fails to boot then as thehatsrule said you may need the syslinux version

From the < 1-readme_first.txt >:

There are currently four types of DSL....

dsl-<version>.iso: the standard isolinux version, which is used for liveCD,
frugal, or traditional harddrive install.

dsl-<version>-syslinux.iso: boots using syslinux instead of isolinux,
used for some very old hardware that is no longer supported by isolinux.
Use syslinux version if booting fails with the standard iso.

dsl-<version>-embedded.zip: comes with qemu, for running inside of a host
Windows or Linux system.

dsl-<version>-vmx.zip: a virtual machine that will run in VMware or
VMware player.

frugal_lite.sh is our network install script and requires tomsrtbt linux:
< http://www.toms.net/rb/ >

Docs are located in the pdfdocs/ directory and in the DSL Wiki

Posted by skaos on Dec. 08 2006,15:17

Have you tried to boot with these CDs on your main computer? If that works, you could try the syslinux iso-image and/or burning at a low speed.

Posted by smag on Dec. 08 2006,20:27

Well, I'm still stuck

Now I've done this:

1. Re-aquired dsl 3.1 ISO's via TORRENT (both the isolinux version AND the syslinux version.)

2. Verified the MD5 checksums for both with MD5summer, they both matched perfectly

3. Burned the images to CD-R (again, not RW), slowly (isolinux version with 4x speed, and the syslinux version with 2x speed) with BurnCDCC.

4. Tried to boot both of them in all 3 old machines (again, 2 old compaq presarios, and a Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop), same "nothing" happens. (Hangs, bails, and moves on to floppy and/or HDD for boot) Does it with isolinux version and with syslinux version Live cd's.

5. Tried the isolinux version Live CD in the main PC (compaq pavillion w/sempron 3200+, 512): hangs indefinitely on a black screen with a blinking cursor that doesn't respond to KB input. (a waiting cursor?) Combo drive makes HORRIBLY SCARY noises of clicking and clacking. (Which doesn't happen on the old PC's drives, only the new DVDRW combo drive.)

Then when (later) trying to boot XP (on the newer PC), it goes into 'messed up' mode for diagnostic checking. (The new PC has a seperate boot menu, and a boot order list, tried them both. The order list already checks CD drives first, and there is no floppy drive.)

6. Took one of the unchecksummed disks I made yesterday, and managed to get it at least 30 yards, clear across the highway (would have flown further, but the wind flipped it!) :angry:

7.Cried in my cofffee.

Just to be sure, the syslinux Live CD, when looked at under XP, appears to contain:

Dir: KNOPPIX; containing 3 items, boot, boot, and knoppix
Dir: LOST+FOUND; empty
Index.html "why are you still using windows?"

So, why am I still using windows? I wish I knew the answer. I'm gonna go bum all my friends' dusty old PC's from their closets next, and get A+ cert and start the path to inner geekery, but not until I can get DSL to work on SOMETHNG in this house first!

Posted by smag on Dec. 08 2006,20:28

oops Doubled eek!

Posted by rja on Dec. 09 2006,00:40

Honest! It really isn't supposed to be this hard.

Scrapping the bottom of the barrel here with a couple more ideas (because it sounds like you have followed the instructions to the letter):

1. Maybe those blank CD's are of poor quality, or the CD Burner is defective. Those sounds that you hear are what makes me suspicious of one or the other being broken. Has the combination of those blank CD's and CD burner worked before?

Try a different brand of CD's and/or burn them on a different drive.

2. Or you are really Bill Gates and just messing with our minds!

Posted by smag on Dec. 09 2006,20:03

I think you may be right. My DVDburn drive appears to be dead for writing anything. (Which SUCKS, because it's only 6 months old, and has only burned a couple dozen disks!)

So I moved to my regular combo drive to burn with, and found that it writes fine, but no matter how low I set BurnCDCC to run it, the drive's slowest speed is like 12x. So, when setting it to burn at 2x or 4x, it's still burning at 12 or most likely 16x.

I have another old CDburn-drive in one of the old PC's that I might be able to get to burn slower, I might have to swap it in to make the cd at slow speed, then swap it back to boot the old PC with again. That's the next experiment, anyway.

I appreciate all the advice. I will get it to work. I got it to -almost- boot on the laptop. It ran and ran for a while before bailing, and I had a couple minutes of excitement!

EDIT: WOOT! I got it to work on one of the old PC's!!!! I used an OLD burner to write the disks at 1x. It WORKS!!!