Knoppix boot problems

[cvic]

Hello

I downloaded and burned KNOPPIX_V6.2CD-2009-11-18-EN on a CD-RW.

After like half an hour of "Loading Linux......" there was a new screen, but this one is totally stuck and has freezed the computer. It says "Searching for Knoppix 6 in: dev/sr0"
What is wrong?

Thanks,
Peter

[Harry Kuhman]

What is wrong?

For starters, your choice of subject line gives no clue as to what your problem is. Imagine how hard it would be if everyone used non-descriptive subject lines like that. You can and should use the "edit" function to change it, and that may get more people involved in helping you.

Since you burnt to RW media, I'll assume it was a low speed burn (2x or 4x). That takes care of one potential problem. And since it is booting at all you must have burnt it properly "as an image". So here are the things that come to mind for me:

Did you confirm that the ISO is good with the md5 checksum file and a simple md5 test? See the downloading faq for details. If you used a mirror rather than bittorrent this is extremely important, but it is worth doing for a bt download too considering your problem.

Since you used a CD-RW, I should ask, it was a 700 meg CD-RW, correct? A 650 meg CD-RW will not work.

Try another piece of media.

Your drive might be going bad.

You might have a memory problem. If the disk is OK then it will have a copy of memtest96 on it. At the boot prompt type memtest and hit return and let memtest run at least a full pass or until it fails.

[cvic]

Thanks.

Should it take so long time to boot? Half an hour it says "Loading Linux......"

Memory test was OK.

Yes, 700 MB CDRW. Guess I'll try another disc.

[Clinton]

Did you do the MD5 as well?

And if you're trying another disk it maybe worth trying a CDR. I trust them more than I trust CDRW-/+ (YMMV).

If you're using a CDR do remember that speed does make a difference - keep it slow.

[Harry Kuhman]

..Should it take so long time to boot? .....

First of all, thanks for editing your subject line.

No, it should not take anywhere near that lomg. Perhaps if you have an old memory starved system, such as a 64 meg system, it might thrash itself to death while trying to boot, but otherwise this is completely unexpeted. I once diagnosed a bad burn that was booting simply because the poster said it took 5 minutes to boot. See here. A proper low speed burn booted much faster for the user.

As Clinton said, I certainly would not burn another disc until I did the md5 test to confirm a good ISO file. Not sure why people resist doing that.

[cvic]

OK, guys, here we go again, one month later.

I did that MD5 test and it was OK.

I then bought new cd's as my first try was made on a cdrw which had some scratches...
I was glad to see that on the first try it booted very fast compared to the cdrw. But...after a while screen went black and computer didn't responded to any key inputs. Next try it again freezed already on the "Searching for Knoppix 6 in: dev/sr0" screen.
52x CD was burned at 4x speed.

/P

[cvic]

I gave up and installed BartPE instead. Works like a charm.
Thanks anyway!