cannot load knoppix, beeps, loops back to acer start screen

[Stooge]

Hello, I'm new to linux/knoppix

I'm trying to access/save files from an unbootable Windows XP PC (acer, oem installation, windows could not start- corrupt- windows/system32/config/system)

i have knoppix 6.2 (MD5 checksum =same, & have tried 2 cds at write sp. 7x).

(I tried it on another windows XP and loaded with "failsafe" to the knoppix desktop after 1st having a screen resolution problem (with the same monitor)but couldnt do anything at that desktop -keyboard problem...? -used same keyboard too...)

Anyway back to initial problem -I can load from Knoppix cd to the screen with the penguin and it tries to boot then says; loading linux......then loading minirt.gz.....there's a whirr then it stops and there's a single short beep

THEN comp. starts a repeating cycle of going to white acer start screen that has the option of DEL enter setup or F12 enter BIOS then Verifying DMI pool data, & boot from CD then a flash of blue screen withl ISOLINUX 3.63 Debian-2008-04-10 (c) 1994 Peter N etc and loops back to the knoppix trying to boot as i described above

I have tried many cheatcodes (some return "could not find kernel...") but it seems to be rebooting/restarting (with a beep) before linux gets a chance to boot anything

Have also tried to stop automatic restarting from BIOS somehow but dont know how to do this, (and when i disabled "power on self test" it restarted with memory test failed - dont know if that is relevant)ALSO tried "Reset Configuration Data" in BIOS -enabled ESCD...

Any ideas? Seems like might be hardware failure somewhere if Knoppix cant help...but i'm amatuer, dont know what to do with Knoppix next or if what has happened indicates something (nor what hardware to look at)

Thx
Matt the Stooge

[krishna.murphy]

Matt-

I think you should try putting the hard drive into another PC; the easiest way is if you have a case which allows you to use it as a USB drive with the other system. You can also put it inside the other system on the IDE connection. Then boot Knoppix on that sys and see what you can see. You can also try the "Gparted boot CD" or "Hiren's BootCD" (google these if you need more than Knoppix.)

-Krishna


Hello, I'm new to linux/knoppix

I'm trying to access/save files from an unbootable Windows XP PC (acer, oem installation, windows could not start- corrupt- windows/system32/config/system)

i have knoppix 6.2 (MD5 checksum =same, & have tried 2 cds at write sp. 7x).

(I tried it on another windows XP and loaded with "failsafe" to the knoppix desktop after 1st having a screen resolution problem (with the same monitor)but couldnt do anything at that desktop -keyboard problem...? -used same keyboard too...)

Anyway back to initial problem -I can load from Knoppix cd to the screen with the penguin and it tries to boot then says; loading linux......then loading minirt.gz.....there's a whirr then it stops and there's a single short beep

THEN comp. starts a repeating cycle of going to white acer start screen that has the option of DEL enter setup or F12 enter BIOS then Verifying DMI pool data, & boot from CD then a flash of blue screen withl ISOLINUX 3.63 Debian-2008-04-10 (c) 1994 Peter N etc and loops back to the knoppix trying to boot as i described above

I have tried many cheatcodes (some return "could not find kernel...") but it seems to be rebooting/restarting (with a beep) before linux gets a chance to boot anything

Have also tried to stop automatic restarting from BIOS somehow but dont know how to do this, (and when i disabled "power on self test" it restarted with memory test failed - dont know if that is relevant)ALSO tried "Reset Configuration Data" in BIOS -enabled ESCD...

Any ideas? Seems like might be hardware failure somewhere if Knoppix cant help...but i'm amatuer, dont know what to do with Knoppix next or if what has happened indicates something (nor what hardware to look at)

Thx
Matt the Stooge

[Capricorny]

First idea: Search the forum!
There you will find that bad burning is a very usual source of booting errors. It may be the writer, the speed, the media, or some combination.

[Stooge]

thx, i have already done much searching

and the media & burn seem fine as it boots normally on second XP comp.
(admittedly after an "out of range 35.4 Hz /43 Hz" error which corrected itself automatically -and that was with the same monitor)

I burned at 7x with ISOrecorder, twice ie tried 2 separate discs (on cheap media though)
also download (bittorrent) was fine with checksumMD5 = same

knoppix 3.4 also boots normally on same media on the second XP comp.

So i am thinking some hardware problem now (but am not game enough to remove hard drive etc myself) and thought the symptoms might have indicated something specific to someone here

the apparent restarting of windows/boot up with a beep adn immediately looping back to booting knoppix seems like something different, cannot find any reference to similar occurance in knoppix/linux forums

[Harry Kuhman]

First of all, I've never heard of burning at any odd speed like 7x, everything that I've ever seen above 1x is always an even number. Thought 7x was a typo the first time you wrote it, but I guess that you really mean it. I prefer 4x but 7x should be OK, I've done good burns at 8x when the software would not go lower on a particular drive.

Since you seem to be able to get to the boot prompt, I would suggest typing memtest at the boot prompt to run memtest86.

If the memory test passes then I would try knoppix failsafe at the boot prompt and see if it will boot that way (you may not have a network or mouse, but see if it comes up). If that works try booting in expert mode and playing around with your options (take good notes).

[Harry Kuhman]

...I have tried many cheatcodes (some return "could not find kernel...")
Most cheat codes (but not all) require you to type knoppix cheat-code and not just cheat-code. The knoppix part tells the loader which kernel (or other excuitable) to load, for example memtest is used rather than knoppix memtest because you want to run memtest, not knoppix. So "could not find kernel..." seems to indicate that either you left off the knoppix part or that you typed it incorrectly. If you are getting this message with knoppix typed correctly as the first boot prompt argument, then I would strongly suspect that there is something wrong with the disc or with the optical drive (although it might be a memory problem).

[Stooge]

hi
yes isorecorder gave 7x as the slowest option -it may be a just guideline no. to the slowest burn sp.-i dont know..
but as i said with the same media(& burn speed) the discs worked on a 2nd computer -booted knoppix 3.9 AND 6.2 normally/automatically

memtest screen info:

error confidence value ; 45
lowest err add. ; 00000000804 0.0mb
highest err add : 00008480808 -132.0mb
bits in error mask : 09001f0c
bits in error - total ; 8 min; 1 max ; 6 avg ; 3
max contiguous err : ;2
ecc correctible err : _ (blank)
err.s per mem. slot :0 ; (is running up to 1400000+ now after 20 mins+

also to the right under errors for test 1 the no.s run up to 30000 or so then stop and run up to 32767 again & again

i dont know how to interpret this but that seems bad....

any help on what that means?....(and exactly what i may need to replace as i dont know hardware very well...)

thx matt

[Harry Kuhman]

I've never actually seen an error under memtest, but sounds like you have one. Would need more hardware details to tell you much more, motherboard, how much memory you have in how many simms, type of memory and so on. Current memory is amazingly cheap now. If it is older memory it may not be worth replacing. With some systems you might even get away with just removing a bad strip and running on less; it all depends on what you have.

[woodsmoke]

One other option might be to follow the adage of the old hardware folks. Kinda like me...I'm old!

Anyway, the adage was remove all the hardware you don't kneed.

Like if you can go to a physically tethered mouse, remove a video card and use the onboard video, same with sound card, the reference to using a PATA or SATA hookup for the drive as opposed to a usb.

Simple is better to get the OS on the drive and then start adding the hardware, from what I've seen Knoppix will find just about anything.

just an idea.....the real problem may be with the memory.

woodsmoke

[Capricorny]

As Harry K indicates, memory errors are rather seldom, but you have probably got one. I was able to get around one once by reducing CPU/bus frequency. That may be an option in BIOS, if it is, try with the slowest setting available.
Otherwise, it is usually just to replace the memory chips. If you have a working computer with compatible memory, you could try swapping memory with that, to check. If you still get errors with good memory, I would have replaced the motherboard.

[Stooge]

Success!
i tried swapping ram (memory chip) with one from another computer and that appears to have solved the problem,
computer boots up normally now.
So Memtest was a great idea
and
Knoppix proved very helpful in allowing this to run.

Thanks for the help guys.

Matt

re : "removing a bad strip" do you mean prying off one of those black rectangles (there are 8 on each side) of my 512 mb DDR 400Mhz CL3 RAM thing? I might look into that if i have time..

[Harry Kuhman]

...re : "removing a bad strip" do you mean prying off one of those black rectangles (there are 8 on each side) of my 512 mb DDR 400Mhz CL3 RAM thing? I might look into that if i have time..
NO, by strip I meant the simm, what you call the RAM thing. Those memory chips are surface mount memory, they don't just pry off. I doubt if you could repair one with common tools (I couldn't and I've had mil grade solder training and have replace more chips on older style printed circuits than I can remember).

DDR is still available, but likely will cost you more than newer DDR2 or faster memory (a DDR system needs DDR and cannot use the faster memory), but it is still likely to be a lot less than DDR was priced at when your system was new. It is up to you to decide if replacing it is worth it.