5.0 boots but not 5.1

[maltmann]

My computer has a AMD 64 Sempron 3000+ processor and I used to be able to start Knoppix 5.0. Now I try to start Knoppix 5.1 from cd and the boot process ends with a black screen. Te Live cd starts o.k. on another PC with a AMD 32 processor. Does anybody know a workaround?

[Harry Kuhman]

I can tell you that it's not the 64 bit nature of the cpu, 5.1 and 5.1.1 boot fine on my AMD 64 x2 notebook. What it is I can't say, you might be in need of a cheat code or it may be something else. But it is very important to understand that just because a disc boots on one system does not mean the disc is good (as you seem to indicate). High speed marginal burns do exactly that, they boot fine on some systems and fail on others.

[maltmann]

yes I concluded that the disc would be allright. I accept the point that that is no safe assumption. But in the meantime I tried Live CDs of other recent distributions : Mint, Dream the same there...

Right now I suspect that there might be a problem with the graphic card. After I push Ctrl Alt Del the screen is works again and the system is going through its normal shutting down procedure.

I have been using Linux only occasionally in the past and would like to switch to Linux now when I manage... Its hard to troubleshoot when you do not know the operating system and you need to have the system working in a limited time span.

[Harry Kuhman]

If it's graphic related try some of the cheat codes in the cheat codes documentation that came down with your bittorrent download (also available on the mirrors). Also, maybe it is working just fine, but running your monitor at a frequency that exceeds it's operational range (try forcing a range that you know will work, both resolution and scan frequencies). If you have a higher range capable monitor available, try that.

[maltmann]

Thanks for the cheatcode hint. I will try that.

There is another thing I tried in the meantime: I installed an Knoppix 5.0 (form the aforementioned older Live cd that does start) to an old an small hdd testwise - with knx2hdd in the console. That worked fine. I tried to lower te resolution for the monitor to 800x600 (the monitor is pretty old and small, although it does feature colours and runs now with a scan rate of 85 hz). The scan rate was set to 75 hz should be fine: system crashed, - black screen, the system offered to start a new session.

I can get hold of a better monitor and I will try that too, but with your remark about high speed marginal burns in mind..., maybe I should order a cd or something and try that. It just does not make sense that all my new Live Distributions don´t want to start...Thanks for your help

[Harry Kuhman]

It's not scan rates alone, it's scan rates and resolution. A monitor that might do 640x480 @ 85 might go black with 1024x768 @ 75 and only be able to do 1024x768 @ 60, or not even be able to deal with that resolution at all. Some old monitors would try to display at settings that exceeded their specs, but the screen was garbled. Running the monitor at higher than it's maximum rating could also do physical damage to the monitor. So in many cases circuits were added that detected the attempt to exceed the monitor specs and blank the screen to prevent damage. You discription of the monitor is pretty old and small certains supports that this might be the problem. I would suggest using cheat codes to force something minimal, even 640x480@60 and see if that works. If it does you can try increasing things to see if you can come up with an acceptable combination.

[maltmann]

I tried the cheat code knoppix screan=800X600@85 and than the monitor worked fine under Knoppix 5.0.
I tried the cheat code cdtest with my newer 5.1 cd and it found corrupt data.

I want to compare the image file with the md5 sums, so that I know whether the problem is with the download or the cd burning.

And I think that I will try a Poor Man´s Installation first. Maybe a way to get acqainted with Linux without the pressure of getting everything working immediately.

Thanks for your help.

[maltmann]

I thought I found a way to tackle this but things a getting stranger and stranger... I checked the md5 sum of the Knoppix 5.1 iso file and the md5 utility under windows generated the same md5 as in the md5 file.

When I boot Knoppix (in a PMI setup from hdd) and run the cheatcodes in the menue.lst script testcd and screen=800x600@75. There are no errors reported, no cloop, but two directories are missing - went two quick don´t know which.

Now the strange thing is that after booting the first time, the installation seems to work. After the second Knoppix start, the mouse does not work anymore, while i did not change anything Knoppix-wise. This is a complete miracle to me. An on and off error points to a hardware defect doesn´t it? Is the IDE controller defect? It seems to work under windows...