Strange problem: Remastered version boots only on laptops

**askadar** · 10-21-2005, 12:59 PM

Hi knoppix gurus,

I have encountered a strange problem while remastering Knoppix CD 4.0.2. The resulting iso can be booted on laptops, but not on desktops. I have tested this with 4 desktops and 3 laptops. The laptops behave perfectly as expected, but the desktops just show the boot cdrom: prompt for a second, I hear some CD seeking activity, and then they go on with their normal booting procedure (GRUB), ignoring my remastered Knoppix version altogether. At first I thought this is a BIOS problem, but double checking with the official knoppix 4.0.2 CD release revealed that the desktops are perfectly capable of booting live cds.

My modifications:
I changed the bootloader background image, some KDE stuff and removed some packages and installed some special software (OPAL, a programming language). I use the procedure described in the remastering how to, I've done this before and it worked so far. The iso has about the size of ~670 Mb, so it should fit on a regular cd-r(w).

I tried CD-Rs, I tried CD-RWs. I replaced my modified boot loader gfx with the original one from knoppix. I tried to master on Debian 3.1 and on Arch Linux with different versions of mkisofs. I tried different cd-recorders. I have no clue what else to try.

Please, what am I doing wrong??? Any tips? What could I try? What is so different between laptops and desktops???

- askadar

This is the script I use to remaster:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

PROJECTDIR="/mnt/hda9/knx"
ROOT="source/KNOPPIX"
MASTER="master"
PREPARER="askadar <[email protected]>"
SORT=""
#SORT="-sort mkisofs.sort"

CREATE_CFS=/usr/bin/create_compressed_fs


cd $PROJECTDIR
nice mkisofs $SORT -iso-level 4 -R -U -V "OPALIX filesystem" -publisher "freitagsrunde.org" -hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad "$PROJECTDIR/$ROOT"  | nice $CREATE_CFS - 65536 > "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX"

cd "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER"
rm -f KNOPPIX/md5sums
find -type f -not -name md5sums -not -name boot.cat -exec md5sum {} \; >> KNOPPIX/md5sums

cd $PROJECTDIR
nice mkisofs -pad -l -r -J -v -V "OPALIX 2005" -publisher "freitagsrunde.org" -p "$PREPARER" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -hide-rr-moved -o opalix.iso "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER"

kdialog -msgbox "OPALIX ist fertig gebacken!"

The remastered version: http://wiki.freitagsrunde.org/Opalix

tr · 10-21-2005, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by askadar

Hi knoppix gurus,
I have encountered a strange problem while remastering Knoppix CD 4.0.2. The resulting iso can be booted on laptops, but not on desktops.

I'm not sure what is causing this but I had a same kind of problem last summer. My fault was to make too big logo.16 (640x480). Now my logo is 640x400 and it works fine in laptops and also in dekstops.

Btw, nowadays I first check my remastered Knoppix using Qemu before burning it to CD:

Code:

qemu -cdrom /path/to/knoppix.iso

-tapsa-

**askadar** · 10-21-2005, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by tr

I'm not sure what is causing this but I had a same kind of problem last summer. My fault was to make too big logo.16 (640x480). Now my logo is 640x400 and it works fine in laptops and also in dekstops.

My logo.16 is 640x400, so I should be ok. Using the original knoppix 4.0.2 logo.16 doesn't change anything, either.

Originally Posted by tr

Btw, nowadays I first check my remastered Knoppix using Qemu before burning it to CD:

Code:

qemu -cdrom /path/to/knoppix.iso

Yeah, but my problem is, that it does not boot on some PCs, so if it works in qemu it doesn't mean that my problem is solved. It works in qemu, btw.

Thanks for your tipps anyway.

Meanwhile I checked the ukluug scripts for hints, but didn't find anything useful. I copied the code to sort the isolinux stuff to the front of the iso, but it makes no difference.

For the record, my remaster skript now looks like this:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

PROJECTDIR="/mnt/hda9/knx"
ROOT="source/KNOPPIX"
MASTER="master"
PREPARER="askadar <[email protected]>"
SORT=""
#SORT="-sort mkisofs.sort"

CREATE_CFS=/usr/bin/create_compressed_fs

if [ "$1" != "nocomp" ]; then
  cd $PROJECTDIR
  nice mkisofs $SORT -iso-level 4 -R -U -V "OPALIX filesystem" -publisher "freitagsrunde.org" -hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad "$PROJECTDIR/$ROOT"  | nice $CREATE_CFS - 65536 > "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX"

  cd "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER"
  rm -f KNOPPIX/md5sums
  find -type f -not -name md5sums -not -name boot.cat -exec md5sum {} \; >> KNOPPIX/md5sums
else
  echo "Skipping compression..."
fi

cd $PROJECTDIR
rm -f /tmp/knoppix.sort
echo "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER/boot/isolinux/* 111111"      >/tmp/knoppix.sort
echo "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX 11111"      >>/tmp/knoppix.sort

nice mkisofs -sort /tmp/knoppix.sort -pad -l -r -J -v -V "OPALIX 2005" -publisher "freitagsrunde.org" -p "$PREPARER" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -hide-rr-moved -o opalix.iso "$PROJECTDIR/$MASTER"

kdialog -msgbox "OPALIX ist fertig gebacken!"

**askadar** · 10-21-2005, 10:28 PM

Please, any tips? Any idea what could be causing this?

**askadar** · 10-22-2005, 02:53 AM

Further testing has shown that some desktops are OK. Desktops with an Award BIOS seem to have the problem, others don't.

Does anybody know any special caveats of Award BIOSes?