isolinux: Failed to locate CD-ROM device; boot failed.

[markley]

Okay, I always thought I was pretty computer literate. I mean, I can use DOS alright, and I know how to use Windows (I hope that's not like a swear word in these parts) better than most people. So, with a spare PC taking up space on the living room floor and a HD that had needed formatting, and therefore had no OS, or anything else for that matter, I downloaded Games Knoppix 3.7-0.1 because that looked like the most recent release that was under 800Mb (No DVD burner for me ) So, I burned the CD, as per instructions, and got a computer to boot off of it. (Not the one I'm on now, or the one I'm trying to revive, but a third PC nominally running M$) So, the CD is good, right? The "dead" PC, however, will not boot off of the CD, it gives me the following messages:

OS load in progress...

ISOLINUX 2.04 (Debian, 2003-06-06) isolinux: Loading spec packet failed, trying
to wing it...
isolinux: Failed to locate CD-ROM device; boot failed.
_


I've looked everywhere for any info related to this problem, and now I'm asking for help. The PC in question is an outdated Packard Bell Platinum 2240 with an Intel Pentium 200Mhz, 32 Mb of EDO RAM, a DX-CDR100 CD-ROM (52X), and a Maxtor D740X-6L 40GB HDD. I currently have the HDD disconnected and the CD-ROM in the Primary IDE Master slot, which is not where it started. I also tried the HDD in the primary master and the CD in the secondary master. It also has a 3.5" floppy drive, which has been problematic at best.
The computer I got to boot the live CD is a little newer, and also has been rebuilt for me by a friend, and frankly I'm not too sure of the specs.

So, in short, a Linux noob needs help getting his stuff unstuck, and it's probably something that most everyone running Linux has either gone through or knew enough to completely circumvent, but I'm ignorant like that. And I have no friends running Linux, I went into this totally unprepared. I'm currently waiting on "Linux for Dummies" from the library.

[markley]

I should have made this clear in the first post, but just in case...
When the computer stops at the error, I think it's in the phase called "auto detecting" and I don't get a chance to give the computer any input except to enter the BIOS.
I ran MD5summer and got 0 errors.
I burned the CD as an image, at 16X, which is not the slowest my burner will do; it will let me burn as slowly as 1X. Should I try burning again, and if so, at what speed? (I'm not gonna burn at 1X except as a last resort, but maybe 4X?)
Also, I read a post regarding - I think it was called - checkCD? My burn software does not verify data, and I would really prefer not to have to acquire a(nother) new program. I know not to assume that just because it works on one computer, it's a good burn, but it really looks to me like a hardware problem. Any suggestions?

[markley]

Okay, well, I burned another copy of 3.7 at 1X, and it didn't work, so I downloaded and burned (at 2X) 4.0.2 and it doesn't work, either.
I've done some research, and I think I can rule out hardware issues. From what I've read, it sounds like the boot loader. Anyone care to concur/nonconcur?
What kind of boot loader does Knoppix use? LiLo or GRUB? Or something else? Is that what Isolinux is? How do I fix this issue?

[Harry Kuhman]

32 meg of RAM is extremely low for Knoppix. I don't think that you are going to get the GUI running on that system. You may be able to boot to the command prompt with a cheat code. You may also wish to try the testcd cheat code, just to confirm how well the hardware is able to read the CD. And you may find that after looking over the list of codes that there are one or two others that might help get you past some hardware detection issues, but unfortunately Linux has suffered much the same bloat that that other OS has and 32 meg just isn't what it used to be (Sadly I recall running a 60 user university system that had less memory). That's not to say Linux needs tons of memory; there is embedded Linux that runs fine in constrained situations. But Linux with a GUI, particularly KDE (well known to be bloated) needs a fair amount of memory. Knoppix will run in 64 megs (with a swap file) but likely too slow to be of much use. 128 megs or more is much more suitable.

[UnderScore]

Accordring to my google search, the isolinux bootloader is failing but it is that PCs HW (probably the BIOS) that is making it fail.

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/3540.html

The first line of the error message refers to spec packet; the "spec" packet is information from the CD-ROM that tells the system what make it is, what speed, etc. The fact that the loader can't grok that indicates that the BIOS does something weird with it.

[markley]

Wikipedia.org has this to say about syslinux (I was automatically redirected there when I searched for isolinux):


"The SYSLINUX Project covers a suite of lightweight bootloaders, for starting up computers in the Linux operating system. It is the work of H. Peter Anvin, and consists of several separate systems:

the original SYSLINUX, used for booting from FAT filesystems (usually floppy discs);
ISOLINUX, used for booting from CD-ROM ISO 9660 filesystems...

...SYSLINUX is not normally used for booting full Linux installations since Linux is not normally installed on FAT filesystems. Instead, it is often used for boot or rescue floppy discs, or other lightweight systems. ISOLINUX is generally used by Linux LiveCD and bootable install CDs.

A minor complication is involved when booting from CD-ROM. The El Torito standard allows for booting in two different modes;

floppy emulation mode where the boot information is stored in an image file of a floppy disc, which is loaded from the CD and then behaves as a virtual floppy disc. This image file is effectively a FAT filesystem, so SYSLINUX is the required bootloader.
no emulation mode where the boot information is stored directly on the CD (not in a floppy image). In this mode ISOLINUX is required.
To have this choice is sometimes useful however as ISOLINUX is vulnerable to BIOS bugs, in which case it's handy to be able to boot using SYSLINUX. This mostly affects computers built before about 1999, and, in fact, for modern computers no emulation mode is generally the more reliable method."

[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolinux ]

The computer I'm trying to boot is older than 1999, by a fair margin, so it would seem the obvious solution would be to use SYSLINUX to boot the machine in floppy emulation mode. So, is Knoppix available with a SYSLINUX bootloader, and if so, which version of Knoppix has it? Or, Is there a seperate method for booting with SYSLINUX, like off of a floppy disk or something?

Harry: Yes, I know 32 Mb RAM is gonna scrape by, and I know I won't get a GUI. And if you'd read my original post, you would realize that I have been unable to use cheatcodes for anything, because I haven't gotten past the bootloader. It makes me wonder if you actually read people's posts or just scan them and when you find a key word (like 32 Megs of RAM) you fire a cookie-cutter post explaining what you assume the problem is.

[Harry Kuhman]

Harry: Yes, I know 32 Mb RAM is gonna scrape by, and I know I won't get a GUI. And if you'd read my original post, you would realize that I have been unable to use cheatcodes for anything, because I haven't gotten past the bootloader. It makes me wonder if you actually read people's posts or just scan them and when you find a key word (like 32 Megs of RAM) you fire a cookie-cutter post explaining what you assume the problem is.

I did read your entire post, but you are correct that it wasn't clear to me that you were failing before the boot prompt. Maybe I should have concluded that because of the mention of isolinux failing, but I've never seen this error myself and wasn't certain. Also it seemed that you might want to know not to expect much before spending a lot of time resolving this issue; I know I wouldn't want to put a lot of effort into resolving it if others knew but I didn't that the next step after resolving this would only get me to a memory starved issue.

One thing that you might try, given the age of the system, is SBM or XOSL. Your system is apparently trying to boot the disc but not getting it right; and in my experience this sometimes happens with BIOSs that were on the bleeding edge of CD booting, and this can be fixed by using the above tools. Again, I don't know or not if it will help in your case since I've never seen the isolinux error that you have, but it seems worth a try.

[kspeaks]

The computer I'm trying to boot is older than 1999, by a fair margin, so it would seem the obvious solution would be to use SYSLINUX to boot the machine in floppy emulation mode. So, is Knoppix available with a SYSLINUX bootloader, and if so, which version of Knoppix has it? Or, Is there a seperate method for booting with SYSLINUX, like off of a floppy disk or something?

Anything prior to 3.4 will work. Knoppix 3.4, the May 4, 2004 release, dropped support for the emulated boot method. And yes, you can create floppy boot disks from the Penguin menu of the newer releases, although I haven't had any luck with those personally.

If you can find WORKING mirrors any of these listed Knoppix versions, please let me know.

* V3.3-2004-02-16 (more Updates & Bugfixes)
* V3.3-2004-02-09 (Updates)
* V3.3-2003-11-19 (Updates)
* V3.3-2003-11-14 (Updates/Bugfixes)
* V3.3-2003-11-03 (3Sat release)
* V3.3-2003-09-24 (small bugfix)
* V3.3-2003-09-22

These releases use SYSLINUX, AND they also include the Service menu for Samba Export, a really nice feature, in my opinion.

[ckamin]

kspeaks:

Look at the Smart Boot Manager at the following link: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Download...should_I_do.3F

Install it to a floppy disk and then use that to boot your machine. You need NOT install it to the PC itself. It usualy works like a charm.

As for the ISO files, I think there is a mirror in Yugoslavia that has some of the older ISO's. I just don't think they go that far back. I still think it is best to use a later version, unless there is some particular reason for using an outdated one.