"Can't find Knoppix filesystem" But it's in D:

[CCC-Shiner]

I am just trying to get Knoppix to work on an ancient old machine of mine - it's actually a victim of Intel's promotion to upgrade old 486s to Pentiums. :P

Anyway, I have got a swapfile created, so I have barely enough RAM to just do runlevel 2. My friend and I got it to work with the computer's original CD drive (I think we used "failsafe" in the boot). So, we got greedy and tried to use other, faster CD-ROM drives that were lying around nearby.

After much switching on IDE cables and the CD-ROM drive, we're back to the original 1x CD-ROM drive, with the hard drive set to Primary Master and the old CD-ROM drive set to Primary Slave (I think the old setup I had was D: on Slave, HD on Master, except now if I do that the computer won't start, as if the IDE cables are in backwards).

What usually happens in the boot sequence is Knoppix recognizes the HDD and CD-ROM drive as hdx (random letter in x), and lists its name, etc., then scans all the other filesystems for the Knoppix CD. I have to use boot floppies because this computer's BIOS is too old to boot from the CD drive :P

Scanning for the CD doesn't take very long. Although all the filesystem names flash by so fast, I don't think it even tries to scan /scd0 (and if it does, it happens in about a tenth of a second, with no results). It seems that the hard drive I acquired had Windows 95 already installed on it, and it can't read the D: either. Is it possible that my original CD-ROM drive has been damaged, or am I just a klutz with hardware?

SUMMARY: CD drive can't find Knoppix. No worky. How to fix?

[Harry Kuhman]

Many (maybe most) of those old 1x CD drives were not IDE - they were other somewhat custom interfaces. That you seem unable to swap in another faster IDE CD drive makes me think this could be your case. You might want to try to confirm that the CD interface is indeed IDE.

If it's not, then yes, you might have damaged the interface by attaching an IDE device (but in my experience that doesn't happen often).

Rather than Knoppix boot floppies, you might want to try Smart Boot Manager or XOSL - either of which can boot any bootable CD, not just Knoppix, and will give you a better feeling if the computer is seeing the CD drive. I would also look to see if the CD was viewable from Windows.

If the CD interface is a custom interface and not IDE, then you might not be able to use it unless you can find a live CD with that interface's driver pre-installed. (After all, Knoppix needs to know how to talk to the hardware it is boting from.) An alternate solution would be, if the hard drive interface is IDE, to install one of the faster CD drives as the slave drive on the primary interface cable (will require setting the slave jumper on the CD drive and for some hard drives might require changing the hd jumper too - some hard drives had to be jupered differently for running as a solo drive and as a master in a master/slave pair.) I would still consider a program like Smart Boot Manager over Knoppix boot floppies.

By the way, the Knoppix file system is not in D. D is a purely Microsoft concept, and exists only when an MS OS is running.

[firebyrd10]

You might want to try

nodma

I have to use that or my old computer can boot ether.

[CCC-Shiner]

Oh right, I should mention that the 32x CD-ROM drive was busted and we didn't know until it was tested...

In addition, Windows 95 can't read the CD drive either. I find it hard to believe that my 1x CD-ROM drive would just break while we here handling it, though...

I'm sure we've tried nodma at the boot sequence too, and that didn't work. It's worth a shot again, though...

I'll look into your advice, guys.

[Harry Kuhman]

In addition, Windows 95 can't read the CD drive either. I find it hard to believe that my 1x CD-ROM drive would just break while we here handling it, though...

You also might want to be sure that pin 1 on the CD connector is where you think it is. Some of those very old drives had the cable flipped over.

[NuclearDog]

Okay, I was actually over at Shiner's house at one point helping him with this computer.

The CD is not necessarily 1x, it is simply un-labelled and he assumed it is 1x. I am fairly sure it is faster than 1x.

The connecter is indeed IDE. I assume the cable is in correctly (if it is put in the other way, the computer will not even boot). The jumpers were set correctly.

By the way, the Knoppix file system is not in D. D is a purely Microsoft concept, and exists only when an MS OS is running.

Please excuse him, he's a recent convert.