Knoppix won't boot

[hiker_jon]

Hi,

Just want to let you know:
I have a new Dell Vostro 400. It has all sata devices, including DVD drive: HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-H73N.

This is a very common Dell computer. Knoppix cannot boot from it. Ubuntu works fine on the Dell, as does the Knoppix CD on my laptop.

Jon

[Harry Kuhman]

Did you burn at a low speed? And it might help to say what version of Knoppix this is. 5.1.1 should support SATA just fine, but if you're using an old copy of 3.x (and you would be surprised on how many new posters are), then a lack of booting on an SATA drive is not very interesting.

Just what happens when you boot? Any error message? How far does it get in the boot process?

[hiker_jon]

The version is 5.1.1. Right now I can't try it again, but I got the message that it can't find the KNOPPIX filesystem. It boots fine on my laptop or using qemu on the .iso file so the cd is OK.

Just checked with a slow burn CD, still can't find the CD. It searches for the CD and then stops with the Can't find KNOPPIX filesystem... message. The last blue message on the screen before the red error message is: Allowing slow USB devices ...

[Harry Kuhman]

...It boots fine on my laptop or using qemu on the .iso file so the cd is OK.

No, that's not valid logic. We see over and over again CDs burnt at high speed that boot OK on one system but do exactly this on another system. That why I asked about the burning speed. There have been some other reports about "can't find the KNOPPIX filesystem" that don't seem to be related to burn speed, but AFAIK these have not been resolved and the cause is not known. But I can give you plenty of references to high speed burns that cause problems.

[hiker_jon]

Hi,

I have tried a slow burn and it makes no difference. It is not the CD. I have to assume that Knoppix has the problem. I notice that others with new Dells are having this problem:
unable to find knoppix filesystem.

My guess is that this will become a bigger and bigger problem and that it will finally get fixed. Where should I look to see if the problem has been addressed and fixed?

Jon

...It boots fine on my laptop or using qemu on the .iso file so the cd is OK.

No, that's not valid logic. We see over and over again CDs burnt at high speed that boot OK on one system but do exactly this on another system. That why I asked about the burning speed. There have been some other reports about "can't find the KNOPPIX filesystem" that don't seem to be related to burn speed, but AFAIK these have not been resolved and the cause is not known. But I can give you plenty of references to high speed burns that cause problems.

[pmik]

Dell Vostro 200
I was having the same issue, 'Can't find Knoppix filesystem...', until I changed the SATA drive type from IDWE to RAID in the BIOS.
Knoppix 5.1 worked very well for me then as I was able to read and copy files off a drive windoze couldn't.
I did have to tweak write permissions and try a couple external drives however.
Ultimately an external western digital drive worked while an external LaCie[Samsung drive] did not.
I was inpressed that Knoppix saw my WD USB drive as I plugged it in.
That drive then mounted no problem and I was able to tweak permissions.
Change the [internal]drive type back to IDE when booting back to windoze or windoze may blue screen on you as it did for me...I had forgotten that.
Nice to be able to recover those files!
thanks

[MrMoke]

No new information, just agreement. I tried demonstating Knoppix to students in one of my IT classes the other day only to find that none of my new Dell workstations would boot 5.1.1. This was not the case with any of the older ATA-based boxes, but apparently is with the newer SATA boxes.
Interestingly, the CDWR/DVD drive IS recognized long enough to get Linux started, but is then unable to read the device. Looks like a O/S problem to me.
Changing the BIOS back and forth is unrealistic.

I'm going to download and burn 5.3.1, and see if that makes any difference.

MrMoke

[hedgehog]

If the new version solves this problem, a fix might no longer be needed, but I finally got Knoppix 5.1.1 to boot on my Dell Inspiron 530 using a tip found on another site. Typing

linux all-generic-ide irqpoll

at the boot prompt worked for me.

[Haz2a]

I also got Knopix 5.1.1 to boot with the 'linux all-generic-ide irqpoll' options on my Dell Vostro 200 with Core 2 Duo E4500.
I suspect that 'knoppix all-generic-ide irqpoll' would probably work the same.

I also got Ubuntu 8.04 to boot by adding just 'all-generic-ide irqpoll' to 'kopt' and the default (top) kernel entry in /boot/grub/menu.lst - which is why I was using Knoppix in the first place. After booting Ubuntu I did 'sudo update-grub' and kept the (new) local version.