Another Won't Boot Problem

[Wil]

Downloaded the newest 3.3 (11.19 I think) with BitTorrent from a diffrent website (suprnova.tk). Wrote it to a CDR with Nero. Reboot and all that happens is the computer continues with trying to read the CD. Pulled it out and went back into Windows, put it back in and it still has trouble reading the disk.

Came here and downloaded it again (nice speed BTW, at one point was getting upwards of 150kbps . Got another program because I read that Nero might screw the disk. Burned as image with DropToCD to another kind of CDR I have. The computer can usually read the second CDR I used, FYI. Same thing, computer continues to (try) and read the CDR non stop.

Read the docs, un-isoed the ISO with winrar and ran mkdisk in DOS. Made a boot disk. Rebooted with the CD in, and it came into the boot floppy. Pressed F2 and it said something about German keyboard layout and I should use 'lang=us'. I just pressed enter and I got the following:

Loading vnlinuz.........
Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue

Took out the CDR and put in the first CDR I made. Tried again. Same thing. Took out all CDR's and tried again but this time I typed "knoppix lang=us".

Same thing.

So I tried "knoppix failsafe lang=us".

Same thing.

Tried a few more combo's, like "knoppix 2 failsafe expert lang=us".

You guessed it, same thing.

I dunno whats up. Maybe one of you have an idea. When I get my laptop back this week I will try the CD's on that.

My desktop computer is an HP Pavilion 8570C, the specs are on this page (everything standard, no upgrades): http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bph05044

Any help at all would be cool. Thanks in advance.

Wil

[robwelch100]

I'll take a stab at it, the worst that can happen is that I would be wrong and that's not so bad. Just an idea... Did you finalize the cd's so that no further writing is possible? I think most programs do it automatically when burning an iso but you may want to check. Also try burning at a reduced write speed. Believe it or not I have had issues with speedy burns and now I only write at 12-16x. I use Nero 6 and have never had problems. You may want to verify the MD5 sum, I'm sure it can be found on this site probably with the download link. Anyway the problem seems to be the disks you made. OUT of curiousity, is this an out of the box system? Does it let you enter the bios and manipulate it yourself? or can it only be done in a windows based manufacturer program? You may want to search the message boards for someone with the same type of setup and find out what they did differently. I hope these mind droppings come in handy.

[Wil]

Old computer, only writes at 4x :P

Did check the MD5, it matched.

I can change the BIOS, but all that I can do is set the 'boot' order. Boot order would be right now CD being second, Hard Drive 3rd... and I can;t remember the first and last.

I think the problem is with the CD because windows won't even read it.

Wil

Edit: Just put bolth CD's in my sisters computer, they show the CDR's as blank CD's, not writeable. Put the boot floppy in, same problem as my computer. Her's is much newer with more ram too. Wierd, I KNOW I wrote Knoppix on bolth CD's.

[zentu]

You should double check your BIOS Setting (sorry to be a little B*, but this is the general way I reccomend, for other's problems, not necessiarily yours) especially if you have just flashed your BIOS.

If you can get the disk to boot, use the "knoppix testcd" option, but if it still freazes after loading start to use the no options (just hit F2) note: there is no spaces after no, ie noscsi NOT no scsi.

If the disk doesn't boot, double check your burning program's settings, and that you burned it as an IMAGE, not a FILE (I am sorry again, but I had a moron who wasted 10 of my CD's doing this... stupid family...)

Try to find a CD that does boot in someone else's system, and then try it in yours *can be any CD, you are just verifing that your hardware supports the El Torro standard for CD booting*

If you can't get any thing to work, then (your best source) find a friend or a collegue who has delt with this issue, (or a Linux User's Group nearby, they should help) since i still find it hard to ask questions without the use of my hands.

Sorry to seem like a Prick, just wanted to give you the full thought process of my tech support (at 3 A.M. after a long day) to lower possiblities.

zentu

P.s. Sorry for the atroci... bad spelling.

[Wil]

No your not a prick, good tips :)

Went and got me a brand new floppy disk and ran mkdisk on it. Rebooted and it works like a charm now, just says I need to put the CD in :(

Ok so I poke around NERO 6 and notice that I prolly didn't check Finalize Disk, so instead I set it to burn Disk-At-Once. Lets let it finish burning and try it, shall we?

Wil

[Wil]

Problem tracked down.... it isn't burning to the CD. Why? I don't know.

Need to use another writer or find someone that can burn it for me *hint hint* :D

Wil

[Wil]

Woot! Put the disk in another computer with NERO and noticed it was still OPEN so I closed the disk and it works now, so this right here was typed from inside KNOPPIX!

Thanks for all your help guys!

Wil