laptop won't recognize CD

[Harry Kuhman]

....What is the determining factor in whether it boots from the CD or not on yours? Is there any fundamental difference in the way the OS starts to "unpack" itself, so to speak?

I'm not certain. I don't think it has anything to do with unpacking anything or even with how the programs are structured, it seems to be failing on a more fundamental level than this, before any of it ever happens. I can tell you that my system that needs XOSL (or SBM) to boot all CD's had a real poor track record before I started using it, and would fail on more than just Knoppix. Even some DOS and related disks would not boot. It might end up being something as simple as ISO9660 vs Joliet or some other file system issue. Maybe if you build up two stacks of CD's, one that will boot and one that doesn't, you can figure it out (and, of course, maybe not). My solution was XOSL and I started working on other problems when I found that.

[Delian]

HI,
I have an old Dell Inspiron 3800.
I was having an issue where it would detect my hard drive and cdrom and then hang while trying to boot the cdrom. I used the cheat code mentioned in a previous post - knoppix nodma, and it boots fine.

Just an FYI for others.

Thanks.


Delian

[rdaneel]

Based on the two stacks method, I'm thinking maybe syslinux (PHLAK & others) vs. isolinux (Knoppix & others)? I was, however, able to find an old docking station for the laptop, and I can now use more than one drive, so I ended up installing Slackware instead. Thanks for all your help, though, Harry.

R. Daneel Olivaw