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Topic: frugal strikes again!, bootable USB install

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Mechcozmo

Group: Members
Posts: 33
Joined: Sep. 2004

Posted: Sep. 11 2004,03:37

Why would command number 5 not work? After I type it it, the desktop seems to kind of refresh itself...hard to explain. Essentially, the command dosn't work. I am SURE that I am typing it in corrently. The command beforehand, number 4, works correctly. It downloads the file. At first, when I ran that command I thought that it had run correctly. But when I ran the next command, I was informed that the command was not found.

BTW, I have a really nice screen shot...if I could only upload the image and not have it be on the web already....

johnm

Group: Members
Posts: 2
Joined: Sep. 2004

Posted: Sep. 11 2004,12:50

Me again

Ok, I followed your advice above kent and also read through and followed everything step by step but I am still borked

I think my problem is my complete lack of low-level device understanding

I ran sfdisk -S 32 /dev/sda and setup 0 75 etc etc...

However, when I get into cfdisk (after rebooting) I get the following:

Heads: 33
Sec/Track: 32
Cylinders: 1939

And, needless to say it won't boot

I have tried running sfdisk -S 32 -C 1024 /dev/sda and setting up the partitions but I cannot get the cylinders to change :o

Any ideas ? Or is this thumbdrive just complete carp ?

[EDIT]
I get the following error message when I attempt to frugal:

Total number of sectores not a multiple of sectors per track !
Add mtools_skip_check=1 to your .mtoolsrc file to skip this test
Error writing boot sector
[/EDIT]

ke4nt1

Group: Members
Posts: 2329
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Sep. 11 2004,13:02

No, and others have posted in different threads that they were successful
even without the 32sector/track limitation, so there is hope..

What happens when you try to BOOT with your frugally installed USBkey?
Flashy cursor? "Boot Failed" , ?? simply continues to boot another drive ??

What is your BIOS set to do? USB-ZIP, USB-FDD, USB HDD?
Is your USB Keyboard enabled? DO you have a USB-DOS setting enabled?

The 1939 cylinders isn't such a problem, since your first FAT16 partition
is within the 1024 limit on a 75MB sda1 ..
My 512 MB key is the same way, no problems here..

Post up the output of your fdisk /dev/sda "P" function, so we can see your
drive geometry and partitions..

Here is mine... boots just fine !

Disk /dev/sda: 519 MB, 519569408 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1982 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 267 68336 6 FAT16
/dev/sda2 268 1982 439040 b Win95 FAT32

Yet, here is another geometry posted up from emmet ..

Disk /dev/sda: 262 MB, 262144000 bytes
9 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 504 * 512 = 258048 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 233 58688 6 FAT16
/dev/sda2 234 1015 197064 b Win95 FAT32

Notice his 56 sectors/track .. and the 504 * 512
Also notice that I don't have the DOS BOOT FLAG enabled, he does..

I'm awaiting to hear what he has his bios set to ..
Follow this other thread for more info ..
http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....w;st=20

Also, others have had some success using a utility from HP to format
their keys.. Search google for an HP USB Format utility ..
It didn't help me, but has helped others...
Doesn't take long to try, fortunately, thanks to DSL's small size.. :-)

73
ke4nt

roberts

Group: Members
Posts: 4983
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Sep. 11 2004,15:35

johnm, one more thing to try is to override the geometry requirement of 32 sectors. Since the script worked for me as I wrote it on all of my devices, I didn't think it was necessary. But now, seeing posts from several about drive geometry difficulties, I am wondering if this will solve your problem. If so I will incorporate it into the script.

Open a root xterm
# echo "mtools_skip_check=1" > .mtoolsrc

then run the script
# frugal_usb.sh

Please report back if this works so others may benefit.

Marcus
Unregistered

Posted: Sep. 12 2004,04:31

hey, y'all...

I am very interested in getting a bootable DSL installed
on my USB "pen" drive. Unfortunately, my system has
been having some "issues". I've currently lost my ability
to burn CDs... (from my Windows setup), but not before
I burned myself a copy of SLAX Linux ! :-).

I am interested in migrating to Linux, and would like to
be able to burn some CDs from Linux. However, as SLAX
needs to be run from the CD drive, I've not figured out
how to do that yet. ( My system memory is 512MB, but
I don't believe SLAX has anything like a "toram" function/
capability ... unless someone can clue me in otherwise.)

I've got a 256MB mini-cruzer USB drive, and I'm curious If
it is possible to somehow install DSL onto it by using
the "frugal" (script?) mentioned above, although I'd have
to get it installed while in SLAX, or if at all possible, Windows XP.

( otherwise, is there some "manual" way to do it ...
if the "frugal" method won't work for me ? ? ).

If that can be done, then I believe I should be able to go
burn crazy with my freed-up CD-RW drive, and whatever
utilities can do that (burn CDs) for me under DSL.

Thanks a bunch In Advance...

Marcus.

38 replies since Aug. 31 2004,22:12

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » Other Help Topics » frugal strikes again!