I am the newest of newbies when it comes to Linux, but I have managed to stump some of my programmer friends with this one. Sorry for the length, but this starts as a Win / Mandrake problem and becomes a Knoppix problem:

I am attempting to run a dual boot Win XP / Mandrake 10.0 on a Gateway Solo 1450 laptop with 256mb of RAM. Using Partition Magic inside Win XP I attempted to create the appropriate partitions on my 20 gig HD. I don’t remember exactly, but I think in the end I used Mandrake’s partition maker to create the appropriate swap, boot, root, and whatever partitions. Mandrake is installed, but here’s where the problems begin.

When the computer boots, the first screen I see is the Gateway BIOS screen. Then I am sent to the Windows safe mode picker. If I attempt to start Windows normally, I go to the Windows XP Home loading screen, where it quickly messes up, flashes a blue screen with some grayish text, and gets caught in an endless loop of reboots. I don’t know why Mandrake does not start at load up. Does Gateway’s BIOS get in the way, trying to start Windows from a partition where there is no Windows? I feel like I have to change the Master Boot Record, so I attempt to use Knoppix…more problems.

In attempting to use Knoppix 3.4, I have tried passing numerous things at boot, but have only successfully gotten “inside” Knoppix once. If I start Knoppix without passing anything the first thing I encounter is the phrase “You passed an undefined mode number.” It gives me the option of pressing <return> to see video modes. There are 6, arranged with different numbers of columns and rows. I pick one, then it starts to uncompress Linux, and boot the kernel. The next phrase I get after the colored Welcome to Knoppix is “Probing SCSI….aic7xxx.o” From there it will hang indefinitely.

If I pass knoppix26, using the experimental 2.6 kernel, I see a lot more text load. It checks all sorts of things before the Welcome to Knoppix (hda, mice, serio, input, etc. etc.). Then it will hang at “Probing SCSI….advansys.o”

Obviously I have tried to boot while passing knoppix noscsi and knoppix26 noscsi. That results in a unique bunch of text passing, but eventually it hangs at a black screen. Passing expert or failsafe at boot, I feel like I get slightly “closer” to getting inside the Knoppix OS. Passing expert I see that INIT and a kernel version 2.78 are close to the last lines of text before the screen goes black. When I pass failsafe the kernel begins decompressing again, there is a loading bar when it auto configures devices…all sorts of fun stuff happens. Then the screen goes black again. Interestingly, it is not the same black as when I pass expert or noscsi. It is the black where the monitor is on, but there is no visual data to display. Kind of a “white” black. When I pass expert and noscsi, it looks as though the monitor is simply turned off, it is blackly black.

I have been inside Knoppix once before, I just don’t know how I did it! I left Knoppix hanging for a very long time once, but I don’t know what I passed at boot. When I returned I had a desktop that took up a very small portion of the screen. There was probably a 2 inch black buffer around the desktop of monitor space that wasn’t being used, but Knoppix was fully loaded. I think my only option right now is to let it hang with various things passed until I finally get back inside Knoppix and can hope to change the MBR or do whatever I need to do. But this is a terrible way to go about booting what should be a live CD. So what do I do? Thanks a lot people…