Can't find Knoppix filesystem

[sebiskaa]

I have the latest knoppix version 4.2 and I can't boot from the cd. When booting, the following message is displayed:
"Can't find Knoppix filesystem. Dropping you to a (very) limited shell "
I'm using an Intel P4 3 Ghz, 1 GB ram, Asus MB. I've tried deactivating the HyperTreading option, but it still doesn't work. The CD is ok, it worked an a different computer.
Please help.

[hellfred]

I have the latest knoppix version 4.2 and I can't boot from the cd. When booting, the following message is displayed:
"Can't find Knoppix filesystem. Dropping you to a (very) limited shell "
I'm using an Intel P4 3 Ghz, 1 GB ram, Asus MB. I've tried deactivating the HyperTreading option, but it still doesn't work. The CD is ok, it worked an a different computer.
Please help.

Do a full test of the cdrom. Eventually other intakt cdrom-drivers etc. where used on the ohter system and on the P4 you try to load defect one
"knoppix textcd"
How do you boot?
What comes ahead of the error message?
Did you try "knoppix 2" or "failsafe" at the first screen ?

If booting without CDRrom at all, i use the Windows Partition PMI (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Win_Partition).Works even if you only have NTFS partitions.
By the way, with 1 GB of ram and the cdrom-version you can load it all to the ram, too.
"knoppix toram"

Hellfred

[junebug]

I have the same problem with the DVD. I will admit I did not check the checksum. But I have the exact same error as Sebiskka.

The DVD loads part of Linux, then it tries (and sucessfully) finds the usb/firewire.

Next it looks for the DVD (which it just loaded part of Linux off of) saying

"looking for DVD in dev\hdc. "
Then it give the nastygram about "Can't find file system...."

I tried" knoppix testdvd" and" knoppix 2", with the exact same results. When I tried "failsafe", I got a more verbose start up, but it again failed in the same place.

This is on a dual opteron w/ a gig of memory. I have run 3.7 on this machine previously.

Thanks for your help...

[hellfred]

I have the same problem with the DVD. I will admit I did not check the checksum. But I have the exact same error as Sebiskka.

The DVD loads part of Linux, then it tries (and sucessfully) finds the usb/firewire.

Next it looks for the DVD (which it just loaded part of Linux off of) saying

"looking for DVD in dev\hdc. "
Then it give the nastygram about "Can't find file system...."

I tried" knoppix testdvd" and" knoppix 2", with the exact same results. When I tried "failsafe", I got a more verbose start up, but it again failed in the same place.

This is on a dual opteron w/ a gig of memory. I have run 3.7 on this machine previously.

Thanks for your help...

I do not know how to specify a cdrom device via boot parameter. So you will have to try to get the iso image mounted from the
hard drive. For me the Win Partition PMI worked fine.

[junebug]

Now I am confused? Isn't this supposed to be a "live" DVD that simply boots from the DVD? It reads the initial files from the DVD, so it seems it must be some bug preventing it from reading the rest of the files after the initial Linux has loaded.

With 3.7 on the exact same system there is no problem so it seems to be a problem with this release.

[hellfred]

Now I am confused? Isn't this supposed to be a "live" DVD that simply boots from the DVD? It reads the initial files from the DVD, so it seems it must be some bug preventing it from reading the rest of the files after the initial Linux has loaded.

With 3.7 on the exact same system there is no problem so it seems to be a problem with this release.
If booting the dvd stops half way, this is a bug. I suggest filling a bug report and helping to get the bug fixed. Knoppix DVD is a new thing, it did not work fine for me with the parameter bootfrom, you have another problem (more severe, though). So we have to encourage the people with the skills to fix this. I am afraid I am missing both the skills and the time to learn those skills.

Hellfred

[kafkaian]

Now I am confused? Isn't this supposed to be a "live" DVD that simply boots from the DVD? It reads the initial files from the DVD, so it seems it must be some bug preventing it from reading the rest of the files after the initial Linux has loaded.

With 3.7 on the exact same system there is no problem so it seems to be a problem with this release.
If booting the dvd stops half way, this is a bug. I suggest filling a bug report and helping to get the bug fixed. Knoppix DVD is a new thing, it did not work fine for me with the parameter bootfrom, you have another problem (more severe, though). So we have to encourage the people with the skills to fix this. I am afraid I am missing both the skills and the time to learn those skills.

Hellfred

Have exactly the same problem with the Live CD of V4.0.2

V3.9 is just fine on 3 systems. Any news on this?

Addendum************

Done a checksum on the CD and all positive. 6 cd/dvd readers produced the same problem

[rgohman]

I have the same problem with only one machine.
I have tried separate CD's (two purchased and two created from iso files) for version 3.6, 3.7, 3.9 and 4.02

All version stop with a line that states "cannont find system files" and then some sort of command line prompt.

The computer is currently running Windows ME and has a 450 MHz CPU, 512 Megs RAM. It works great with Windows, but I cannot get any version of Knoppix to work on it. The same CD's work great in 3 other machines that I have.

I can handle, DOS and Windows with above average skills, but I am quite new to Linux and trying to lean.

What command lines or typs can you offer.

[junebug]

OK, I have verified my DVD is good (sort of). I tried " testdvd" on another machine, it seemed to hang after verifing up to a file that ended html.ru or such (sorry, I lost my notepaper).

But the interesting thing is then I tried to boot, and it worked fine. This is the exact same DVD that would not boot on my dual opteron. The system it deos work on is an old T-bird chip that happens to have a DVD drive on it.

So it seems 4.02 is very sensitive to something in the system (DVD drive, CPU or MB?) and will read the DVD enough to start the load sequence, and then die.

[Harry Kuhman]

So it seems 4.02 is very sensitive to something ....
DVD booing can be tricky with some BIOSes. I have one system that booted Knoppix CDs fine, but once I put a DVD burner in it will not boot Knoppix DVDs or even Knoppix CDs without using Smart Boot Manager (with SBM it works fine). However, from what I've seen in these forums I have come to think that as many problems booting come from high speed or other marginal burns than from BIOS issues. Just booting on one system does not verify that a disc is good, and failing to pass the testcd/testdvd test certainly indicates that there may very well be a burning issue.

[rgohman]

So, what do we do to get Knoppix to start. I am new to Linux operation and don't know what a "smart Boot Manager" is.

As I said, two of my Knoppix disk were professionally made and all the disk work on another test computer. But none of the disk work in this one computer.

If I choose to work in the 'failsafe' mode, the "cannot find knoppix system files" error does not appear, but the video scan frequency is all messed up and you can't read the screen.

[Jeu Vaessen]

Hello, I had the same problem. I don't think it is a problem of Knoppix in particular, but of Linux in general. I had the problem using different Linux distributions: Knoppix 3.3 , Ubuntu 5, SuSe 10.0 and Mandrake 8.1. After I changed my hardware configuration the problem didn't occur anymore. First (when I couldn't install/boot Linux) I had the following configuration:
IDE Controller 1: Hard disk 0 Master, Hard disk 1 Slave
IDE Controller 2: DVD Drive Master, CD Drive Slave.
Then I just changed the two connections:
IDE Controller 1: DVD Drive Master, CD Drive Slave
IDE Controller 2: Hard disk 0 Master, Hard disk 1 Slave.
And then I could boot my Knoppix CD.
Maybe Linux demands there is a CD drive on the first IDE Controller. I am not sure. But it seems to me it has something to do with the configuration of the drives in the IDE Controllers.
By the way, after I changed the configuration of the drives I could boot Windows XP anyway, but of course you should take in account this can be different for other machines.
Many greetings,
Jeu

[kgndb]

I had the same problem with Knoppix 4.0.2 booting up part way from CD (in my DVD drive) then not being able to find the DVD drive. My SATA disk was the master on controller 1 and the DVD drive was the master on controller 3. This configuration worked for XP and Knoppix 3.4 with the 2.4 Linux kernel. I tried changing my BIOS settings to make the DVD drive the master on controller 1 and the hard disk the master on controller 2 and then it was able to find the DVD drive when booting the new version of Knoppix from CD with the 2.6 kernel.

[junebug]

I do not think it is the 2.6 kernel. I can boot the old 3.7 using the 2.6 kernel. It seems to be something about 4.02.