[solved] Poor-man's-installation does not boot from IDE-HD

[Kosslowski]

[solved] Poor-man's-installation does not boot from IDE-HD

While a 'poor-man's-installation' of KNOPPIX 6.0.1 on my 'USB-bootstick' works properly, I can not boot from IDE-HD in a equivalent situation ( -maybe I'm not able to use the KNOPPIX-cheatcodes correctly...).

Some explanation:

Recently I worked on a "fancy" USB-bootstick, and I've got one! Via GRUB-Menu (on bootsplash) I can boot several images (all of them resident as a 'poor-man's-' / 'frugal'-installation), for example SysRescueCD (with all its included images such DBAN, FreeDOS...), Puppy-Linux 4.2.1 and Knoppix 6.0.1. All of them are listed in my 'menu.lst' and are bootable without the help of any components of syslinux / isolinux.
(GRUB is in MBR of sda, /boot/grub and several folders (each with kernel, initrd and its special image) are in /sda1, which is FAT32)

I failed in the attempt to transform the situation above on the IDE-HD in my old Sony-notebook (PIII 433, 256MB RAM, 1024x768, new 60GB IDE-HD, 2 x USB1.1, does not boot from USB). The partition-table:

hda1 - primary, FAT32, WIN98SE (lite)
hda4 - extended
hda5 - logical, FAT32, WIN-Programms
hda6 - logical, linux-swap
hda7 - logical, FAT32, SysRescCD, Puppy, MicroKnoppix ...
hda8 - logical, EXT3, (it's empty for testing and learning linux...)
(GRUB is in MBR of hda, /boot/grub and several folders (each with kernel, initrd and its special image) are in /hda7)

Of course I adjust 'menu.lst' and 'device.map' (hda instead of sda)) to the 'new' situation. All images do boot (Puppy with the command 'pmedia=idehd'), but Knoppix (as Knoppix 5.x and DSL) resist.
All I get is a (initrd/busybox(?)/sh)-based debugging-shell:

Knoppix 6.0.1 (based on MicroKnoppix) # or somthing like that
waiting usb....
could not mount disk to /mnt-system
starting debugging shell..
sh: can't access tty, job control turned off
sh: /

It's obviously, that kernel starts with its initrd, but does not find its image-file (which is KNOPPIX in /Knoppix on /dev/hda7)

Ok, working on these shell with a german-keyboard isn't easy, but I can change folders and list files. I'm able to mount /dev/hda7 to /mnt-system (what Knoppix should have done!) manually, so that I can confirm, that the KNOPPIX-image-file is accessible while Knoppix-booting.

By the way, Knoppix does boot properly, if my USB-bootstick is connected: Kernel and initrd are booting from HD, image-file from USB...

Dealing with the KNOPPIX-cheatcodes 'fromhd=', 'bootfrom=' und 'Knoppix_dir=' in several combination and with several arguments (path, folder,file) does not have success. Booting from CD with the 'tohd='-command does nothing! I do not want to give up, but I have no idea, whats wrong.

Would somebody please be so nice to give me
- the correct cheatcode-combination, or
- an advice, where to read into (of course I did read some wikis / forum before), or
- a hint, what seems to be wrong.

Greetings from Bonn, Germany

Oliver Kosslowski

[hal8000]

Guten Tag, Herr Kosslowski,
Welcome to the Knoppix Forum.
If you want to install knoppix to your hard drive, then the proper way is to boot from the knoppix CD then run as root,
knoppix-installer

This script will take you through partitioning and install knoppix to a suitable free partition.
Now for a few problems:
With most modern linux distros, the kernel comes configured so that it can only recognise 15 partitions, this is important
when you want to experiment and try out new distributions.

In your existing partition table:
hda1 - primary, FAT32, WIN98SE (lite)
hda4 - extended
hda5 - logical, FAT32, WIN-Programms
hda6 - logical, linux-swap
hda7 - logical, FAT32, SysRescCD, Puppy, MicroKnoppix ...
hda8 - logical, EXT3, (it's empty for testing and learning linux...)
(GRUB is in MBR of hda, /boot/grub and several folders (each with kernel, initrd and its special image) are in /hda7)

you do not have knoppix installed, this is why knoppix will only boot when the usb device is present. Your usb stick contains the rest of the linux
operating system, without this the kernel fails to mount the installed file system and this is why you see those errors. A permanent install,
i.e. create a new partition hda9 as type ext3 and then run knoppix-installer would allow a permanent install of knoppix, and also
allows knoppix to run from grun installed in the mbr, you wont need any cheat codes or the usb stick then.

A word of caution, as has been stated many times, knoppix is not such a good distribution for permanent install, because
it is created from debian unstable and experimental repositories.
As a recovery CD, boot CD, rescue windows it is absolutely essential, and no IT person should be without it.

What I would suggest for you is create several other partitions,
/dev/hda9
/dev/sda10
/dev/sda11

make each around 6G or so if you have the space and format them as reiser or ext3 then you can try out other distributions.
If you like knoppix, then you may like Ubuntu as its based on Debian, same as knoppix and you may feel at home.
If you like the Kde desktop, then I would suggest PCLinuxOS2009.
Both systems quoted above run as a live CD, and there is an icon to click for installation. If you created sda9 and sda10 then
you can install both into separate partitions. Each time you install a distro use grub and install to the mbr, it will pick up your
existing distributions.
As you become more experienced then it is better to use a common /swap partition and separate / and /home partitions for each distribution.

Greetings from the UK,
Regards H8k

[Kosslowski]

Solved!

German text available on http://www.knoppixforum.de/knoppix-forum-deutsch/startprobleme/thread4040/gel%C3%B6st-poor-man-s-installation-bootet-nicht-von-ide-hd.html

As the result of my posts in the german Knoppix-forum and depending on many tests, that I carried out, based on some good advice, I may summarize:

- First there ist a bug in Knoppix 6.0.1, which ist confirmed by Mr. Knopper himself, which causes Knoppix not to boot from an ext2/3 filesystem on USB-Storage or HDD, and second

- I was completly wrong due to my allegedly existing FAT32-partition on hda7 (see discription above)! There was never a FAT32-filesystem on it, but ever a ext3-system instead! I appologize for that carelessness. (There is a FAT32-System on my USB-BOOTSTICK, not on my HDD...).

I can confirm, that Knoppix 6.0.1 does start / boot from HDD or USB-Storage (if it's recognized by BIOS) from a FAT-filesystem, if at least there is a folder 'Knoppix' (or 'foo'), which contains the kernel 'linux', its initrd 'minirt.gz', the compressed filesystem-image 'KNOPPIX' and the folder 'modules' with its content (due to that item I'm not sure).
That's the real "frugal-installation".

@ hal8000:

Thank you for your efford, but do you mistake me? I don't want a 'regular' installation, like a debian, I did want a 'poor-man's-' or a 'fugal-installation'. Mr. Knopper does not suggest a 'regular' installation, anyway...

I suppose you're wrong with your statement, I wouldt have not installed Knoppix, an USB-device has to be present and the Knoppix-filesystem isn't available: As you can see, Knoppix does boot in the environment described above!

With best regards
Oliver Kosslowski