non boot from cd

Forum: HD Install
Topic: non boot from cd
started by: ohio_js

Posted by ohio_js on Nov. 03 2006,02:35

Hello. I was wondering if there is a way to install DSL on my laptop
that does not boot from the cdrom drive? And if so, how?

Thanks

Give many details.

O yeah, I have Windows already installed (ME)

Posted by jgombos on Nov. 03 2006,04:31

Quote (ohio_js @ Nov. 02 2006,21:35)

If you can boot a floppy disk, your simplest option is to make a < Smart Boot Manager Floppy >. After booting that floppy, you are prompted with a menu of other devices to boot, including CDROMs that are not otherwise bootable.

(Note that to boot a CD normally, both the BIOS as well as the CDROM drive itself must support CD booting. The SBM floppy will circumvent a BIOS that lacks this feature, but I'm uncertain whether the SBM floppy requires the drive itself to support booting).

If your laptop does not have an integrated floppy drive, you may still be able to boot a floppy using a USB floppy drive (or a USB CDROM drive for that matter).

Please report back how it goes.

Posted by ohio_js on Nov. 03 2006,04:39

it does not have a usb port. it does have a built in floppy.

Posted by setso on Nov. 03 2006,21:01

..same with me, on an older notebook. armada 1120 /no cd-rom

..after booting from floppy it can't find any cd AND looks for an
.."image" on all partitions. does it install from an "image" file ?
..if so, what image is that ? i like to copy it on 2nd hd partition

..thanks

Posted by jgombos on Nov. 03 2006,21:49

When you download the SBM floppy, all you have is an image. That image needs to be written to a floppy diskette, sector by sector. It will not work to simply copy the image file to the floppy using a file manager. (Just like copying an ISO file to a CD doesn't actually give you the CD represented by the ISO image). There is a special procedure for getting image files written to CD or floppy media.

If you have access to a linux machine, it's a simple matter of typing:

dd if=sbm.img of=/dev/fd0

on the commandline (that is, if sbm.img were the name of the image file that you downloaded). It's the same process to make the floppy using an OS/X machine, but probably a different device name. If you need to create the floppy using Windows, you will need to install whatever special tool was recommended by the site I posted, then use that tool to put the image on the floppy.

Once the floppy is created correctly, you can boot it, and you will be presented with a menu of options enabling you to boot the CDROM drive from there.

Posted by setso on Nov. 03 2006,23:14

..thanks for the help about the image etc.. since i'm living with a
..parallel port cd-rom which is non bootable but works in DOS i go
..for the "poor man's" installation and copy the "KNOPPIX" folder
..over to my c:drive and boot with the floppy disk ..which works
..(says the wiki) >>here are the (original) steps

1st_boot up with your old operating system.

2nd_insert the DSL livecd disk.

3rd_copy the \KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX file to C:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX

NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FOR THE
DIR NAME AND FILE NAME

4th_reboot your computer using the DSL boot floppy.

It should find the "KNOPPIX" file on your hard drive and boot into
DSL. This is known as a "Poorman's Install" of DSL to your hard
drive with boot floppy.

Note that this will propably not work with Windows NT/2000/XP,
since they are using the NTFS file system on he hard disk.

cheers ..lets go

Posted by jgombos on Nov. 04 2006,00:31

That's probably a good alternative approach if the SBM floppy doesn't work. I may try that myself on a 486dx2 with 8MB ram (which cannot handle a live CD.

Did the SBM floppy fail to see your parallel CDROM?

Posted by setso on Nov. 13 2006,22:20

..nope, it didn't see the parallel forces
of compact disk read only memory :-)

..and if anybody does stuff with ms-dos
again. freedos can format drives in fat32

Posted by Ramik on Nov. 14 2006,04:58

Why bother with a floppy ? install Grub4Dos and you will be able to boot the .iso directly from your FAT partition.

Later you can use Grub4Dos as your default boot loader to load Windows, Linux, Dos, FreeBSD, .iso boot cd images, .img\ima boot floppy images and more...