Toshiba Satellite won't boot Knoppix (not even failsafe...)

**nerbas** · 02-24-2003, 03:49 AM

I'm really at the end of my wits:
My brandnew Toshiba Satellite 2430-101 won't boot a knoppix CD (that's KNOPPIX_V3.1-2003-01-20-EN.iso as well as KnoppixKDE.iso - both CDs well working with other PCs).

Booting from the CD I get to the prompt where I tried various combinations of cheatcodes without any other results as a black screen after hitting return (after knoppix-txt: "OK, booting the kernel." then nothing) - no penguin, no hardware-detection...

I tried: knoppix xmodule=vesa|fbdev
****** knoppix screen=1024x768
****** knoppix 2
****** knoppix init 3
****** knoppix noscsi
****** knoppix mem=512M
****** failsafe
****** fb1024x768
****** knoppix-txt
****** knoppix vga=normal

I searched the internet/these forums/FAQs for answers but didn't find the necessary help - did I miss something? How can I solve the problem?

My Hardware:
*** P4-2,53GHz (Desktop)
*** 512MB RAM
*** 40G HDD
*** 15" TFT, 1024x768 native
*** nVidia GeForce4 420 Go (32 MB DDR-VRAM)
...and I just updated the BIOS... no success...

Any ideas anyone? I'd really appreciate your help!

Thanks in advance - and Mr. Knopper: Good work (otherwise

!! I needed exactly such a tool a long time ago!

********************* -Dan.

**cascadefx** · 02-24-2003, 07:10 PM

try:

knoppix nousb

or

knoppix nopcmcia

Those usually get around the trickiest hardware. USB and PCMCIA support can be spotty given some makes and models of computers.

**nerbas** · 02-26-2003, 01:52 AM

nope.

As I understood the option "failsafe": it doesn't go through the hardware detection things - and not even failsafe starts the Laptop...

Anyway, I explicitly tried all the no* (e.g. nousb) options but no success...

btw, there's a thread in the german forum (yes, it's in german

) and the gist of it is: no solution either, maybe it's the nVidia Graphics driver kernel module... any gurus here to help me out? I wouldn't know how to change this...

There's a page for all the Toshiba 2410 users out there concerning Linux on Toshiba Satellite 2410 - the hardware is quite similar, but this page didn't help me out with knoppix... <sigh>

Any other suggestions?

-Dan.

**Dave_Bechtel** · 03-10-2003, 09:27 AM

Couple of suggestions:

Try:
o boot: ' fb800x600 vga=normal xvrefresh=50 '
o boot: ' vga=normal xserver=XF86_SVGA '

o Attach an external monitor and try booting first w/o options, then with options if it still fails.

--Go to the toshiba website and search around a bit, especially for anything related to linux. Laptop should still be under warranty; maybe you can call tech support(?) Altho they may be of limited help with linux, and even less so with Knoppix.

--It may just be "too-new syndrome". Linux usually works better with *older or less-than-newest* hardware, because it takes time to write drivers and test them. (Sometimes hardware + linux == the older, the better.)

--If all else fails, maybe backup your important data and return the machine. Shop around for one that works with Knoppix by asking salesppl if you can boot the CD. Carry CASH IN HAND and say that if everything works OK you will buy the laptop right then and there. Ask for the manager if you get the runaround, and act confident. Cash works wonders.

--As always, post results...

Originally Posted by nerbas

nope.

As I understood the option "failsafe": it doesn't go through the hardware detection things - and not even failsafe starts the Laptop...

Anyway, I explicitly tried all the no* (e.g. nousb) options but no success...

btw, there's a thread in the german forum (yes, it's in german

) and the gist of it is: no solution either, maybe it's the nVidia Graphics driver kernel module... any gurus here to help me out? I wouldn't know how to change this...

There's a page for all the Toshiba 2410 users out there concerning Linux on Toshiba Satellite 2410 - the hardware is quite similar, but this page didn't help me out with knoppix... <sigh>

Any other suggestions?

-Dan.

**rickenbacherus** · 03-10-2003, 06:58 PM

I don't want to tell you something you already know but this:

I tried: knoppix xmodule=vesa|fbdev
knoppix screen=1024x768
knoppix 2
knoppix init 3
knoppix noscsi
knoppix mem=512M
failsafe
fb1024x768
knoppix-txt
knoppix vga=normal

isn't the right way to do it. It should be like this e.g.:

knoppix lang=us screen=1024x768 2 vga=normal mem=512M

and so on........

**Dave_Bechtel** · 03-10-2003, 10:29 PM

--Also: " I tried: knoppix xmodule=vesa|fbdev "
it's:
boot: ' fb1024x768 xmodule=vesa '
or:
boot: ' fb1024x768 xmodule=fbdev '
or:
boot: ' knoppix xmodule=vesa '

Originally Posted by rickenbacherus

I don't want to tell you something you already know but this:

I tried: knoppix xmodule=vesa|fbdev
knoppix screen=1024x768
knoppix 2
knoppix init 3
knoppix noscsi
knoppix mem=512M
failsafe
fb1024x768
knoppix-txt
knoppix vga=normal

isn't the right way to do it. It should be like this e.g.:

knoppix lang=us screen=1024x768 2 vga=normal mem=512M

and so on........

**nerbas** · 03-12-2003, 02:05 AM

Thanks for all your replies - I really didn't try to combine the options...

The results of my tests:

ext. Monitor - booting with no "cheatcodes": black screen after "Ok, booting the kernel"
fb800x600 vga=normal xvrefresh=50: last line on screen then machine freezes: "Ok, booting the kernel"
knoppix vga=normal xserver=XF86_SVGA: same as above
fb800x600 vga=normal xserver=XF86_SVGA: same as above
ext. Monitor - booting with the above codes: same as above

Hm. That's bad news, I thought that maybe one of your ideas would work...

Dave:
o Sadly the external monitor didn't help - but it was a good idea...
o The Toshiba website is of no great help, anyway I found the following link http://newsletter.toshiba-tro.de/main/index.html. There are quite a number of setup and installation tips (i.e. it's said that framebuffer 1024x768 16bit should work with the nVidia 420 Go). The only problem is that I couldn't find any hint/suggestion that would apply to the knoppix distribution. Maybe some of you gurus

could have a look? I'd really like to help but there seems to be no logfile/error with the laptop that could give me a direction where to look closer...

[as you might have read I first thought it might be a GraphicsDriver problem - which it shouldn't be now (framebuffer should work). I even read that installing SuSE 8.1 on this laptop works like a charm. Maybe it's ACPI, which is the problem? That was suggested on that Japan Mailinglist...]

http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/index.htm
http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/ML/tl...00/thread.html
It's said here, that there was a RedHat installation problem ("Ok, booting the kernel..." an then freeze) but after installing with custom kernel from fdd (no ACPI, special Graphics driver, no APM, some patches) to hdd and then changing back to the distribution kernel it works now...

o "just-too-new/ bring the laptop back"
Yeah, I thought about that too, seems that I'd have to wait a little more until someone else figures the problem or maybe I should go directly with a debian installation...

rickenbacherus:
Thanks, I really wasn't sure about how to combine the options. Tried that now, didn't work...

Dave:
The "|" in "vesa|fbdev" was meant as a logical OR... tried to save me some keyboard presses

Right then, waiting for even more suggestions... nothing helped yet...

-Dan.

**Dave_Bechtel** · 03-12-2003, 04:29 AM

--Sorry to hear it. Have you tried turning things like APM off in the BIOS?

Originally Posted by nerbas

Thanks for all your replies - I really didn't try to combine the options...

The results of my tests:

ext. Monitor - booting with no "cheatcodes": black screen after "Ok, booting the kernel"
fb800x600 vga=normal xvrefresh=50: last line on screen then machine freezes: "Ok, booting the kernel"
knoppix vga=normal xserver=XF86_SVGA: same as above
fb800x600 vga=normal xserver=XF86_SVGA: same as above
ext. Monitor - booting with the above codes: same as above

Hm. That's bad news, I thought that maybe one of your ideas would work...

Dave:
o Sadly the external monitor didn't help - but it was a good idea...
o The Toshiba website is of no great help, anyway I found the following link http://newsletter.toshiba-tro.de/main/index.html. There are quite a number of setup and installation tips (i.e. it's said that framebuffer 1024x768 16bit should work with the nVidia 420 Go). The only problem is that I couldn't find any hint/suggestion that would apply to the knoppix distribution. Maybe some of you gurus

could have a look? I'd really like to help but there seems to be no logfile/error with the laptop that could give me a direction where to look closer...

[as you might have read I first thought it might be a GraphicsDriver problem - which it shouldn't be now (framebuffer should work). I even read that installing SuSE 8.1 on this laptop works like a charm. Maybe it's ACPI, which is the problem? That was suggested on that Japan Mailinglist...]

http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/index.htm
http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/ML/tl...00/thread.html
It's said here, that there was a RedHat installation problem ("Ok, booting the kernel..." an then freeze) but after installing with custom kernel from fdd (no ACPI, special Graphics driver, no APM, some patches) to hdd and then changing back to the distribution kernel it works now...

o "just-too-new/ bring the laptop back"
Yeah, I thought about that too, seems that I'd have to wait a little more until someone else figures the problem or maybe I should go directly with a debian installation...

rickenbacherus:
Thanks, I really wasn't sure about how to combine the options. Tried that now, didn't work...

Dave:
The "|" in "vesa|fbdev" was meant as a logical OR... tried to save me some keyboard presses

Right then, waiting for even more suggestions... nothing helped yet...

-Dan.

**rickenbacherus** · 03-12-2003, 04:42 PM

Bummer you couldn't get it to work, Knoppix is awesome installed to a hdd. - I guess we must conclude that Knoppix simply doesn't like some machines. I have an old 366 w/64M ram that wouldn't boot Knoppix, Morphix and couldn't boot an install of Vector but I put Mandrake on it and it runs like a champ. Strange but that's how it is I guess. My only other suggestion is to perhaps try another bootable OS. Here is a pretty good link to some:

http://old.lwn.net/Distributions/index.php3#cd

Best of luck in your endeavors!