Help with a REALLY Old Machine

[ewangr]

Am trying to help my sister-in-law with getting Linux on an HP Vectra VL/133 (Pentium 133 Mhz with 64 Megs of RAM, 2 Gig HD, 1 Meg video card) that I added a DVD-ROM/CD drive to.

I can boot a Windows CD and a Disk Partition CD using the DVD/CD drive, but can't seem to boot either Knoppix, DSL, or SystemRescueCD. These CDs work ok on my newer machine at home, so I think they're ok. Is there some magic that folks on this forum are aware of that might explain this behavior? Is there some type of floppy bootloader I should be looking at? Other suggestions?

Thanks,
Ewan

[Harry Kuhman]

Am trying to help my sister-in-law with getting Linux on an HP Vectra VL/133 (Pentium 133 Mhz with 64 Megs of RAM, 2 Gig HD, 1 Meg video card) that I added a DVD-ROM/CD drive to.

I can boot a Windows CD and a Disk Partition CD using the DVD/CD drive, but can't seem to boot either Knoppix, DSL, or SystemRescueCD. These CDs work ok on my newer machine at home, so I think they're ok. Is there some magic that folks on this forum are aware of that might explain this behavior? Is there some type of floppy bootloader I should be looking at? Other suggestions?

I've seen some old machines around that vintage that have problems booting some bootabe CD's but not others (My Pentium based system is that way), I would suggest using a boot manager that can boot from CD. I have XOSL installed on my Pentium and it works great (can boot Knoppix CDs that the computer will not boot directly). Another program that will do it too, although is less rich in features and not as nice looking (but slightly easier to setup) is Smart Boot Manager.

[UnderScore]

The PC may be too old to boot from the CD. I have had to use boot floppies on an old Pentium 75MHz. Try Smart BootManager http://btmgr.webframe.org/

What is it
Smart Boot Manager (SBM) is an OS independent and full-featured boot manager with an easy-to-use user interface.

I hope this helps.
James

[haveaniceday]

Hi Ewan,

try the cheatcode "atapicd" or "ide=nodma".

I had some Vectra which worked with this option. ( The boot stopped soon after the CDROM had been detected and used ).

Best regards,

haveaniceday