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View Full Version : BIOS Doesnt Support Boot From CD



Duddled
02-18-2005, 09:55 AM
ok i have read many similar things on this forum on the matter and i have had sucess with none

i have an old 200Mhz with 32Mb of RAM and an old 2Gb HDD real hard core suff i know

i figure i should be able to get knoppix to run on it when i make a Linux swap drive with that entire 2Gb Hard Drive

problem is i cannot boot off a CD wih this ancient machine

i was going to make a Knoppix boot floppy but the file isnt on my CD for some reason

i have knoppix 3.7

and i cannot work out how to use smartboot straight off a floppy.

has anyone got any suggestions and it is worth my bother doing it. it is only an old computer that is otherwise collecting dust and i am new to Linux and i thought that this may work

thanks

justAnotherLinuxNewbie
02-18-2005, 10:16 AM
check out smart boot manager...It's been recommended in some other posts here and it helped me in a similar situation.

Duddled
02-18-2005, 10:57 AM
yes my main problem was i couldnt understand how to use Smart Boot Manager

i think i am working it out but if someone could outline the finer points that would be great because i couldnt really understand the documentation for it

thanks for the sugestion though

Harry Kuhman
02-18-2005, 01:47 PM
yes my main problem was i couldnt understand how to use Smart Boot Manager

i think i am working it out but if someone could outline the finer points that would be great because i couldnt really understand the documentation for it

thanks for the sugestion though
Here's detailed instructions:
Download the version of the installer for your OS.

Run it once, from a DOS command prompt, to see the options, run it a second time with a blank floppy in the drive giving it the correct options to write to a floppy.

Reboot your system from the floppy.

Pick booting from the CD from the menu.
That's really all there is to it, omitting the even easier approach of installing SBM to the hard disk MBR. What part are you having problems with?

Duddled
02-19-2005, 10:03 AM
i worked it out

i didnt understand b4 becasue everytime i went to the program it would bring up command promtp and then shut it down

it is becauae of WIN XP and its hate for command prompt i manyally brought up command prompt and then loaded the file

this is y i dont like windows

anyway thanks alot for your help

i will let u know how it goes on this crappy old computer lol

Harry Kuhman
02-19-2005, 02:29 PM
Glad you're past that. About the 32 meg system: It wll run very slow with this little memory but it should run. A 2 gig swap fgile is not the way to go, I woul suggest no more than 512 meg to 1 gig for the swap, use the rest for hard disk space for data.