Big Time Trouble Booting to the Live CD...

**hanktank** · 11-12-2006, 03:45 PM

I got the Knoppix DVD about 2 weeks ago. I got it to work occasionally when I rebooted my computer. I checked my Bios, made sure that I was booting from CD and DVD first, I even held down the tab button so the boot menu would come up and select boot from CD. So I gave up on the DVD, thinking their was an unknown error on it and downloaded a version of Knoppix to burn on CD. I had the same problem with the CD, I even opened up the CD drives before restarting my computer and held down the save disk because someone said that might work. I love animals, but I think penguins hate me. My computer is a Gateway 500s, I have 512 MB of RAM, system is Microsoft XP Home Edition Version 2002, Service Pack 2 it is an Intel Pentium 4 CPU 1.80 GHz 1.79 GHz My floppy drive hasn't worked in some time, I think one of the kids might have put peanut butter in it once. I also ran a test on the CD and DVD (knoppix^testdvd) and I also ran the Memtest86+ V1.65, it all came back ok. I thought their might have been a problem with my computer, so I reformatted my computer to try to get it back to factory specs. I got the CD to work once after I did this. That was 4 days ago I got the DVD to work last night when i did a hard reboot that dont work half the time. I know some of this information might be useless, like the floppy drive, but I figured it might have been something simple that I am overlooking and someone might read this and say," Hey, there is his problem." Linux appears to be to advanced of a operating system. I am used to the ease of XP, I wish it was something simple to get the program to work, because on the rare occasion it did work I enjoyed it, I tell You What

**rusty** · 11-12-2006, 04:37 PM

Hmm, what does this mean?

I reformatted my computer to try to get it back to factory specs

From what you're describing, it sounds like you might have a faulty cd/dvd drive, either on the burning or the reading side. Perhaps the kids fed a little pb&j to that drive as well. In any case, if you are looking to run from the cd or dvd, then knoppix is great way to learn about linux without installing to hard drive.

If you're thinking about a hard drive installed linux that's easy to use - either along side XP or by itself, have a look at Ubuntu.

Any additional info you can post, like error messages that you get when you are trying to boot knoppix, will help.

Good luck!

**hanktank** · 11-12-2006, 04:57 PM

I just meant that I reinstalled Windows XP. On the Cd/Dvd Drive, I have a Cd burner and a dvd drive they are not one, they are seperate. I don't think that both of them would be faulty because I have got the cd version to work and the dvd version to work, on different drives. But with the cd or dvd in there, even if I hard boot my system it seems like it doesn't recognize the cd or the dvd drives. It goes directly to Windows XP. I know that the Bios is set up to recognize the cd and the dvd first but I would like to run Linux from the dvd drive, instead of installing it on my hard drive. It's probably something in the Bios, I just can't figure it out. Please help!

**rusty** · 11-12-2006, 05:12 PM

Does the cd or dvd boot other, non-knoppix cd's? If the boot order is set right in the bios, and the drive lights come on at startup, then either the cd and dvd are bad or the drives are. So I guess the best thing to try is to confirm that any cd or dvd, even XP install disk will boot at startup. If not , i would reset the bios to factory if you can and reconfigure the boot order.

Hope this helps

**hanktank** · 11-12-2006, 05:23 PM

Does the cd or dvd boot other, non-knoppix cd's?

Yes xp cd boot every time i got it in there and i have set the bios to factory. and drive lights come on. i dont know to do

**rusty** · 11-12-2006, 05:50 PM

Well, the if the XP disk is the original, then the question remains - is your burner burning right, which could mean either a burner or media problem, See if you can burn some non-knoppix bootable cd , like http://www.ubcd4win.com/ or bartpe or something, to see if we can zero in on the problem. Or try burning some other live linux cd's like kanotix or ubuntu.

**hanktank** · 11-12-2006, 06:15 PM

Ok the cd I burned but the dvd I ordered. Ok now i am downloading ubcd4win but it is going to take about 9hrs lol dial up

**ckamin** · 11-12-2006, 06:45 PM

Sometimes DMA can be an issue with some optical drives. Some need it and some choke on it. Try the cheatcodes to turn it off, or on, depending on the version of Knoppix you are using. If it's 5.0.1, then try the cheatcode "knoppix nodma" at the command prompt when booting to disable DMA. In 5.0.1, you can then selectively turn DMA on for hard disks or other drives, once the system is fully booted.

Here is a link to the section on cheatcodes for more information. Some of it may not apply well to 5.0.1, since it now uses x.org in place of xfree86, but most will work as indicated.

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes

edit: Also be certain that the iso you download is correct by checking md5sums and be certain to burn the disk SLOWLY. Many times a disk burned at a higher speed can cause read problems with some drives.

**hanktank** · 11-12-2006, 07:17 PM

command prompt ?????
Are you talking about the Windows XP Command Prompts, or the Knoppix Splash Screen? I have the Knoppix Dvd 5.0.1 Thanks.

**rusty** · 11-12-2006, 07:42 PM

Hmm, 9 hrs. is a long time . Maybe just try re-burning the knoppix cd at a slower speed would help. There's also a real small linux out there - Damn Small http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ which might be quicker for testing puposes.

I think what ckamin means is the boot prompt that you get with the splash screen, if you can get that far. type: knoppix nodma, and it might work better.

BTW, I've had real good luck with knoppix and derivatives on gateway hardware - (PIII).